That’s what her mother had called it! “Sneaking around.” Like Arlais was a barn cat!
Arlais didn’t sneak anywhere. She walked. With purpose. Anywhere she bloody wanted to go.
Gods! She couldn’t wait for her father to get back so he could keep the great Dagmar Reinholdt busy. Arlais was tired of being that woman’s focus. Amazing since Dagmar had an entire kingdom to deal with, but somehow . . .
“Let my dog outside and then wait in the hall for me,” she ordered, but the guard simply stared at her. Petting the wonderful, furry beast pressed against her side that she’d raised from a pup, she added the warning, “Don’t make me unhinge my jaw.”
Glaring, the guard snarled, “Don’t try and run.”
Arlais smiled. “Wouldn’t dream.”
Once her nosy protection was gone with her pet, Arlais walked over to the main cook and took the bowl of fruit she offered her.
“Here to see me?” she asked the robed figure in a shadowed corner. “I’m honored.”
Arlais placed the bowl on the big worktable, pulled a chair out, and dropped into it. Popping several of the finger-sized pieces of fruit into her mouth, she said, “Well, greetings, Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-, plus ten or minus a few thousand Greats, Auntie Brigida. What brings you here to grace us with that face?”
Holding on to her big stick, the She-dragon in human form stepped out of the shadows, one leg dragging uselessly behind her.
Without saying anything, she looked over at the servants.
Arlais asked the small group of humans, “Could you lot leave us for a bit?”
The servants walked to a separate exit that would take them outside. That way they could get fresh eggs and milk from the chickens and cows being guarded in the fields and nearby barns.
When they were alone, Arlais put her feet up on the table and popped more fruit into her mouth. “So what do you want?”
“I wanted to talk to you about your future.”
“My future? What about my future?”
Brigida moved closer to the table, but she didn’t sit. Instead she simply leaned against it.
The old witch looked tired. Exhausted. Like just breathing was taking a lot out of her. But no one could live forever. Perhaps it was simply her time to die.
“Do you want to stay here, Arlais? Trapped with those who do not understand who and what you are? Living this life that means so little? All these royals and what can they offer you? Not much from what I’ve seen. You may have your father’s attitude, girl, but you’ve been gifted with your mum’s face. That won’t do much for you down the line.”
“But you can offer me more?”
“I can offer you anything. Because you can get anything. . . when you have power.”
“And what’s the price I’ll have to pay for all that delicious power?”
“Come with me. Find out.”
Arlais nodded her head and was about to reply when a giggle slipped out. She didn’t mean for that to happen but she simply couldn’t keep it in.
“I’m sorry,” she said around more laughter. “But . . . do you honestly expect me to give all this up”—she swirled her finger in the air—“so I can go and live in some slimy cave with you? Listening to you pontificate about magicks and power and making me read a bunch of boring, dusty old books?” She pointed at herself. “Do I look like my brother to you? Then again, you’ll never pry him away from my mother’s very dull skirts. But I’m not about to walk away from anything so you can have a surrogate hatchling of your own.”
Arlais swung her legs off the table, stood, and began walking around. She liked to move when she spoke. She didn’t really know how to sit quietly for hours.
“I have big plans for the House of Gwalchmai fab Gwyar,” she announced. “And those plans don’t involve boring books, ridiculous witch rituals, long-winded lists”—she said, thinking of her mother—“and they definitely don’t involve . . . you.”
Arlais gazed directly into her great-aunt’s eyes. She found that milky one kind of fascinating and could stare at it for an age, just so she could see what it would do at any given time.
“Personally,” Arlais went on, “I don’t believe life and the obtaining of power has to involve so much sacrifice. And look at you, dear auntie . . . you have clearly sacrificed so much for the life you lead. That body. That face.” Arlais shuddered. “I may have my mother’s face but at least no one looks away from me in horror. Besides, who needs to be beautiful when you’re a royal? When the whole world is open to you simply because your grandmother is queen. And why would I risk losing any of that merely to be the daughter you never had?”
Reaching a spot near her aunt, Arlais rested her ass against the table, crossing her arms over her chest. “I wouldn’t risk losing any of that. I haven’t not killed my mother for this long so I can give it up to follow you into a dank cave for the next few centuries.
“Of course,” she added, walking around her aunt and picking up the bowl of fruit, “you can always try to go after the Five but my daddy and uncles will tear your cave down around your ears, and I don’t even want to think what my mother would do to you. She can be really mean when she’s angry,” she mock-whispered.
Arlais pushed the kitchen door open but stopped before she walked out, looking back at her aunt. “Keep in mind one other thing, auntie dear. As long as you’re on our side—the right side—you have nothing to worry about from me. But cross me . . . and I’ll show you how much I truly am like my mother.”
Arlais smiled and waved. “Lovely seeing you, auntie dear. When this nasty war is over, we must have tea!”
* * *
Brigida had just passed the tower behind the human queen’s castle when a voice behind her pointed out, “I thought my grandmother made it clear no one was to be opening doorways and moving around mystically until this war was over.”
Brigida stopped walking and looked over her shoulder, but no one was there.
“Well?” the voice pushed and when Brigida looked forward she found Unnvar Reinholdt standing before her. He’d been calling himself by his mother’s name for a few years now. Although why anyone would want the name of a Northland warlord rather than the House name of a royal, Brigida had no idea.
“I do as I like, boy,” she told him. “I don’t answer to you or anyone.”
“It seems reckless,” he said, not even looking at her because his focus was on some parchments he held in his hands. His shoulder-length gold hair was pulled off his face and tied by a leather thong at the back of his neck. He wore black chain mail that must have been made for him by one of the better blacksmiths, and stood well over six feet. “I can honestly say I’m not sure the family would help should the Zealots manage to take you.”
“You seem highly concerned.”
“Only about how it would look to the other kingdoms.” He glanced down at her. He didn’t have the gold eyes of his father, but the shrewd, mistrusting gray eyes of his mother. “I’m sure you understand.”
“Don’t you worry. No Zealots can touch me, even if they try.” She grinned. “And none of them are brave enough to try.”
“Fine,” he said, focusing again on his papers. “Just be mindful.”
Brigida nodded and walked away from the boy. She was hungry and she’d seen some elk near one of the lakes.
“Did you and my sister have a nice talk?”
Brigida stopped again, looked back at the boy . . . but he wasn’t there.
She swung around and he stood in front of her again.
“Ain’t you wily.”
It had taken Brigida centuries to learn to do what the boy did so easily at eighteen. She’d learned it to terrify others. He did it to irritate. To let others know he was ahead of them.
The little prick.
“My sister,” the boy prompted.
“Don’t worry. She has no interest in what I have to offer. I’m sure she’ll figure out that mistake soon enough.”
“A mistake? Really?” He smirked at her before refocusing on his fancy parchments. “My sister is many things, but she always knows a good offer when she hears one. She could haggle the horns from the head of Rhydderch Hael himself . . . if she so wanted. She walked away from what you had to offer because she knows as well as I do that what you propose is hollow. Empty. You should know that vapid doesn’t mean stupid.”
Brigida decided to cut through it. Her stomach was grumbling. “What do you want, boy?”
“Stay away from my kin. My sisters, specifically.”
“Or what?” She leaned into the boy, lowered her voice to a whisper. “What are you going to do to me?”
The boy lifted those cold gray eyes and Brigida looked deep. Deeper than she’d looked before. And she saw it then. Behind all that coldness, locked deep inside the boy, was the kind of hidden rage Brigida had only seen once, maybe twice in her life. A rage the boy controlled with sheer will and reason. Just like his mum.
The only difference was that Dagmar Reinholdt had no mystical powers built into her bones, ready to be called up whenever needed. But this boy . . . he didn’t need spells. He didn’t need rituals. He didn’t need gods. It was all inside him, held at bay because he felt like it.
But unleashed . . .
Brigida took two painful steps back, away from the boy and his hidden depths.
There went that smirk again and the boy said, “I’m glad to see we understand each other, dear aunt.”
“Boy.”
Brigida moved away from the royal as fast as she could, dragging her nearly dead leg behind her. Now she knew! Now she was sure.
She couldn’t count on any of them to do what needed to be done. To hold this Clan together. It was down to her. Like always.
Her plans immediately changed as she considered the research she’d have to do. The spells she’d have to locate. She knew she was short on time, but now she knew . . . she had no choice. No choice at all.
* * *
Var walked into the middle of a typical morning fight as his mother and Arlais squared off across the dining table. The servants, so used to it all, ignored the pair completely as they began to place food down so that everyone else could eat while the pair squabbled.
Even their dogs got in on it. His mother’s dogs barking at Arlais’s dog. Arlais’s dog snapping back.
It was . . . ridiculous. But, like the servants, Var had gotten used to it.
“What’s going on?” Frederick asked, coming from the back halls behind Var.
Var opened his mouth to explain but all he could do was roll his eyes and sigh. “I’ll fill you in later. Is Uncle Bram up?”
“I think the question is whether Bram got any sleep. Rhiannon sent for him. He’s been at Devenallt Mountain since last night. Final plans being locked in, I guess.”
“What do they expect from a peacemaker?”
Bram the Merciful was known for his truce-making skills as far north as the Ice Lands and as far south as the deserts. He’d even negotiated the original plans for the Empress’s favorite son to travel from the Eastlands to Devenallt Mountain, where he’d met and befriended a very young Keita.
Var adored his great-uncle, could spend hours talking to him about philosophy and reason and knowledge. But he held no delusions about the dragon. His mate, Ghleanna, handled the battles and the wars that destroyed many a nation and Bram handled the clean-up and the eventual truces when the destroyed nations begged for mercy. Made sense because that was what he loved to do.
What didn’t Bram the Merciful love doing? Dealing with Var’s grandfather and grandmother, if he could help it. Bercelak the Great seemed to take great pleasure in tormenting his brother-by-mating.
“Just admit it!” Arlais screamed at her mother. “Just admit you don’t trust me!”
“Of course I don’t trust you!” his mother barked back.
Frederick chuckled but Var didn’t understand why his sister wouldn’t simply tell their mother the truth. She’d turned Brigida down. Even if the old She-dragon hadn’t told him, Var would have known that. His sister would never trust Brigida and, more important, she wasn’t about to go live in a cave. With anyone. For any reason.
But instead of simply telling their mother that, she decided to torment her instead.
Honestly, the pair of them.
“By the way,” Frederick said, as he removed the spectacles on his face and quickly cleaned the glasses on a bit of cloth. “Your off-putting aunt Brigida was in the book tower a few minutes ago and—”
Var grabbed his cousin’s arm, cutting off his next words. “What do you mean she was in the tower? Doing what?”
Putting his spectacles back on, Frederick shrugged. “I don’t know. She went into the stacks and then she was gone.”
“Which stacks? Which books was she looking at?”
Frederick closed his eyes and Var knew his cousin was going through the titles in his head. He only had to read or see something once and the Northlander could remember every detail. It was quite a remarkable gift and one that Var and his mother used to their benefit whenever necessary.
After a few seconds, Frederick opened his eyes and looked at Var. “Ancient spells.”
“Fuuuuuuck.” Var pulled his cousin toward the back hallway.
“Where are we going?”
“To find out what that old witch is up to.”
“Should we tell your mother what’s going on?”
Var glanced back at his mother and sister. They’d started throwing loaves of bread at each other while still yelling.
He pushed his cousin ahead of him. “I’m going to say no.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Aidan stroked Brannie’s back, cringing each time she heaved again into the ocean water. And after each heave, she said the same thing to him: “I hate you. I hate you for doing this to me. I hate you. I hate you.”
Then she’d heave again.
“Still?” Caswyn asked, sitting down across from Aidan and Brannie. When Aidan only nodded, “How could there be anything left but blood and her internal organs?”
Aidan honestly didn’t know. Even drunk, Branwen had never vomited so much in front of him.
Continuing to rub her back, Aidan noticed that she’d finally stopped vomiting. He leaned over the edge of the ship, trying to see how she was holding up, but her arms hung down, fingertips coasting across the waves.
He caught her before she slipped completely into the water and dragged her back into the boat.
“She passed out?” Caswyn took out a cloth from the top of his boot and poured fresh water from the canteen in his travel bag onto it, handing it to Aidan.
Using the wet cloth, Aidan wiped Brannie’s face and neck.
Aidan had never seen Brannie like this before and he didn’t really know how to handle it.
He pulled her into his lap, her head against his chest, and stroked her hair.
“You think she’ll be all right?”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine!” Keita crowed happily.
She walked past them and stood by Caswyn, staring out at the ocean. “Isn’t this delightful?” she asked them. “Such a beautiful day. And that fresh sea air.”
“Your cousin,” Aidan felt the need to remind Keita, “has been vomiting since she woke up after being hit by you.”
Keita faced him. “And?”
“Do you not care?”
“Of course I care. I love little Brannie.”
“Little?” Caswyn muttered.
“Look at her, Keita,” Aidan ordered. “Look at what’s happened to your cousin.”
“Why do you keep pointing out she’s my cousin? I know she’s my cousin.”
“And yet you don’t seem to care.”
“I care, I care. But so she has a little boat sickness . . .”
“A little boat sickness?”
“It’s not that big a deal. And, when you think about it, not actually surprising.”
Aidan let out a breat
h. “Why isn’t that surprising, Keita?”
“You know.”
“No. I don’t know.”
She shrugged her shoulders, raised her hands. “About her father . . .”
“What about her father?”
“He was once kidnapped by Sea Dragons.”
Caswyn blinked hard and stared up at Keita in shock. Uther, who’d been asleep against the hull, with his back to everyone, rolled over, his mouth open.
Aidan took a moment to calm himself. When he felt certain he wouldn’t yell, he said, “Her father was kidnapped by Sea Dragons and you didn’t say anything?”
“Why would I? She’s not Bram. She wasn’t even there. She wasn’t even hatched then. Bram and Ghleanna weren’t even mated. So what does it matter?”
“You don’t really understand . . . emotions, do you?” Uther asked.
“What does that mean?”
“For the first few decades of Branwen’s life,” Aidan reminded the princess, “she was raised by her father. Her mother was off in battle. You don’t think his fear of being kidnapped by Fins for a second time didn’t—”
“Third,” she cut in.
“What?”
“If I recall the story correctly, he was already kidnapped a second time, but that second time he was with Ghleanna.”
“Both her parents were taken by Fins?”
“I don’t know why you’re yelling at me.”
“Because you’re an idiot!”
“Well, that’s a tad unfair. It happened to them, not to her. I doubt they ever mentioned it.”
“A mated couple gets kid—”
“They weren’t mated.”
“What?”
“They weren’t mated when they were taken. They did, however, fall in love while they were there. Now isn’t that nice?”
“So of course her parents would never talk about the time they fell in love . . . to their offspring. While trapped underwater with the Fins.”
“I hear sarcasm,” Keita snapped.
“Because I was being sarcastic!”
“If she was so concerned, she should have said something.”
“She probably didn’t know.”