Page 47 of The Wolf Queen

A trap?I asked in the world-weary way common to children who are used to being maltreated. They don’t dare expect a lessening of the abuse, instead they merely wonder how often it will occur.

A challenge, she replied.You wish to be heir to my power, little queen. Show me that you are worthy of it.

By what? Allowing myself to die at the Reavers’ hands? That seemed inevitable, but it wasn’t going to stop me. A soldier couldn’t allow themselves the luxury that was afforded to a civilian—to value their own life over all other things. And a civilian would never have done this.

“Darcy!”

I heard my mates call as I took off at a dead run, but I kept my head facing forward; facing my destiny. If this was my fate, I’d meet it head on. The world would go on without me. Other leaders would rise and take my place, fighting against the dread Reavers. However, I allowed myself one little sob, and it seemed to power me on, at least until I reached an open section of road.

The place where I would make my last stand.

The Reavers howled, the sound so deafening it felt like it shook the whole world. This had to be the sound the wolf of Granian legend made, right before he swallowed everything. It felt like the world grew darker somehow, dimming at the edges, or perhaps that was just the impact on my vision as I stopped right in the middle of the road.

“Come on…” I muttered under my breath. All I needed to do was hold them off for just long enough for the others to get back through the cave, to safety, I thought furiously. “Come on, you bastards. Come and get me!”

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at?”

To say I was surprised to see the Crown Prince of Grania standing at my shoulder was an understatement. My astonishment increased as he grabbed my sword hand and the flames changed colour to become an intense green.

“You’ve got the power of the land. You wield the Sword of Destiny: so bloody use it to its full advantage.”

Our hands stabbed the sword down and what came next was something I could never have expected.

Power erupted from the point of the sword, exploding out with a boom the whole world could hear, I was sure of it. And as the sound emanated out, the wolf form of every Reaver was stripped away, leaving just my men and the Maidens, my grandfather and his knights.

Bryson’s eyes burned into mine, willing me to see it, before his focus was drawn down the road.

All the Reavers had been transformed from beasts to men. Men who were weak, naked, dazed and confused, who shied away from those around them, or fell to the road in a dead faint. One Reaver seemed to fight what had happened, clawing at his body, trying to emulate the powerful pose of his beast form, but instead he remained a weak little man. But whatever I might have been about to say about that, the words stuck in my throat as the prince made a small sound.

“Gods…”

I felt his grip slip, watched his eyes roll backwards and was forced to pull my own hand free of the sword in an effort to try and break his fall. My arms went around him, holding him as we both slid down to the ground.

“Darcy! Darcy!”

My mates appeared by my side, taking in the whole situation before dropping down beside me.

“What the hell was that?” Dane asked.

Chapter28

I couldn’t answer him, nor respond to my other mates as they clustered closer. All I could do was blink, staring blindly at the prince who now lay draped across my lap.

Well, not completely blindly.

I felt him, obviously. His massive frame was a heavy weight I’d chosen to bear and his armour was pressing hard into my knees. But beyond that. I felt both exquisitely aware and not at all, at the same time. I wondered why had I never noticed the small smattering of freckles across the tops of the prince’s cheeks? That was a strange thing in itself, as wealthy southern Granians strove to keep their skin pale as milk, to differentiate themselves from the common man. His skin had a healthy bronzed glow and those freckles were a legacy of that. Then there was that thin scar that bisected one eyebrow. Had he gotten that in a training fight or some other youthful indiscretion? I stared and stared at him, keeping my mind preoccupied with noting all these little details rather than trying to work out what had just happened.

“One minute there were all those Reavers…” Gael said, in a hushed tone. “Then there was…”

“So men do live within those beastly things.” My grandfather dropped down on one knee beside us. “I saw that it was true each time one was killed but—”

“He’s a conduit.”

Selene appeared with a frown on her face, hissing when one of the former Reavers tried to come closer. His action wasn't aggressive, but confused and that’s when I remembered what I’d seen that time Rath had tried to use Del to manipulate me. How my sight had taken flight to show me Callum with a group of men and boys he’d taken from the battle at Aramoor. He’d worked his magic on them, brutalising them until they became Reavers and I’d… I’d somehow stripped his power from them.

No, not me alone. Together, Bryson and I had done it.

“A conduit?” I asked, then looked at her intently. “What’s a conduit, Selene?”

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