Page 95 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“I wasn’t entirely sure back then,” he replied, taking a sip from a metal cup full of tea. We had our own warming our hands. “But the passage of time certainly taught me well.” His eyes met mine. “I’ve never loved a woman like I did the queen. It was the only way I could…”

“Now is a good time as any to spill your secrets, old man,” Axe said and I blinked at his brusqueness. “What? One or more of us could be dead, left staring at the Morrigan and her flock on the battlefield, if things don’t go our way. If there’s something to be gleaned from this story, I want to know it.”

“And the use of Darcy’s power. We aren’t leaving until we’ve discussed that in detail,” Dane said.

Nordred shook his head.

“Eleanor was pregnant with Regina when she went across the border,” Nordred said. “Two-souled women bear children for longer, so ‘King’ Magnus thought his seed caught early into their marriage. She only bore the one child, mine. Regina married one of the stronger new lords at court. A man who’d distinguished himself in battle against the dreaded wargen.” His lips twisted at that. “That diluted blood allowed her to bear more than one child. The current king is a distant descendant of one of her sons.”

He stared at me then.

“You come from Eleanor, from me. What’s inside you…” I remembered that cool empty place that rose when battle fever was upon me. “It comes from us, but mostly from you.”

He shook his head slowly.

“The line of queens was weakening before Eleanor took the throne, but she put the nail in that coffin. The man I am loved her, gods, how I loved her, but the advisor? At her heart, Eleanor was just a silly girl, wanting to be fussed over and petted. In a time of peace, she would have been a gentle but unremarkable queen.”

“But you needed a warrior,” Dane said. “You got one in Callum.”

“The power behind the throne?” Nordred shook his head slowly with a wry smile. “Courtiers talked of my undue influence, but Callum? If the gods had been kind at all, he would have been born a daughter. It was odd enough that the queen mother bore twins, worse still, that she died having them, leaving their grandmother to pick up the pieces.”

“And now he’s back to push his advantage,” I said grimly. “But why? Eleanor is dead. You’ve been hiding out as a horse master of all bloody things. Strelae is run by a self-indulgent king and his bitch wife.” I shot my pack a slightly remorseful look, but they just smiled in response. “Why is all of this stuff happening now?”

“Because you came back to Strelae,” Dane said, staring at me with a strange kind of curiosity. “A wolf queen is finally returning to take control of our land. My father is a pawn that doesn’t realise he’s about to be wiped from the board, my mother has already been sacrificed, even if she hasn’t realised it. But there’s something about your return that has triggered Callum’s.” He frowned slightly. “When was your first vision of the Reavers?”

I racked my brain, feeling like I was slipping between one vision, then the next before one rose up. My finger tracing the carved symbols in the rocks by the pool beyond the keep gates. Axe dipping his fingers in and performing that little benediction.

“When I was with Axe,” I said, looking at the man and catching his look of surprise. “When you took me out on Poll.”

“To the sacred pool.” He nodded then.

“Sacred pool? You neglected to mention that, brother,” Dane growled.

“It was one of those old places, where the stones were carved with sacred symbols and such. It was nestled within a grove of trees…” His face fell as he realised the significance of that day. “I wasn’t thinking too much about the place, to be honest. I’d had Darcy riding up front and—”

“All you could think with was your dick,” Weyland drawled. “We all remember that feeling.”

“I said a little prayer.” Axe shrugged. “I was feeling a little superstitious and Darcy… Well, it meant I had an excuse to touch her.”

“That would’ve been when Callum returned,” Dane said. “Whatever he was doing out there in the world, he was drawn back then.” He looked out beyond to the wheat field. “Because in the end, that’s what it comes down to, doesn’t it? He rules Strelae.” His eyes slid back to me. “Or Darcy does.” His focus was jerked back to Nordred then and those blue depths burned with a new intensity. “You’re Nordred the wise, famed wizard, lover of one queen, father of another. I grew up listening to tales of your exploits.”

“All lies, lad, I’m sorry to say,” Nordred replied with a wry smile.

“No, not all of them. There’s a kernel of truth in every lie, always. What can you show us, teach us, give us to ensure us Darcy rules and not Callum? How can we stop that bastard from eradicating every single person in this country and in Grania, that does not meet with his approval?”

“I’ll teach you how to connect with your pack,” Nordred replied, then drank down the rest of his tea before casting the drags into the flames.

“Connect?” Weyland looked at me with a combination of alarm and speculation. “What the hell could you hope—?”

“Not mating, lad.” Nordred smiled. “That part is for the five of you to work out, but…” He stared into the flames for a moment. “A queen typically took a pack as her consorts early in her reign. It was theorised this was because it gave her strong allies to support her position, that being mated gave her stability, but I propose it did something else again.”

His attention returned to me.

“I taught you over and over how to connect with the power inside you when you learned how to fight. You took to the lessons all too well, wanting to dissociate from the life your father and Linnea set out for you. But that is just the first step. The Maiden is a powerful figure, harsh and intense, full of strength. Her own strength,” he said for emphasis. “These are good qualities for a princess to have. She questions the existing world order, making us reconsider if the paths we are on are the right ones. She draws attention to the plight of those overlooked. Her preoccupations, her interests, her passions rule her and she inserts them into the public discourse.”

I stared into his eyes then, seeing young women, so many of them, arguing fiercely in open court and in the presence of their mothers, trying to change the world.

“But a queen who is focussed entirely on herself and her responses is no fit ruler. She must connect with the people she seeks to rule and serve, or face becoming a petty tyrant.” His eyes slid then to my pack. “That begins with her pack. When she claims each man as her mate. When that bond snaps tight between them, she is forced to feel, perceive another’s perspective.” He noted the bites on my neck with a nod. “You’ve begun the process.”

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