Page 67 of Highland Queen

I entered at once.

Madelaine’s face was deathly white, her eyes ringed red. She rose when she saw me. “Corbie,” she wailed. She rushed to me, wrapping her arms around me. She buried her head in my neck. “He’s gone,” she whispered. “He’s gone.”

“Oh, Madelaine,” I said, unable to choke back my own tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“Whatever will I do?” she whispered.

I hugged her tight but didn’t answer. There was no good reply to her question.

Madelaine shuddered and wept miserably.

Eventually, Uald rose and took Madelaine from my grasp. “Come. You’ll make yourself sick,” she said then helped Madelaine back into her seat. Uald turned to Ute. “Is there any mead about?”

“Yes, my la—I mean, Uald.”

“Let’s have some. All of us.”

“I’ll fetch it,” Ute said then left the chamber.

I cast a glance at Druanne who, much to my surprise, looked very sorrowful.

“I’m sorry,” she told me. “I did everything I could think of. He must have been out there for days. His blood was poisoned. There was no stopping it.”

Swallowing hard, I crossed the room and set my hand on Druanne’s shoulder. “Thank you, Druanne. Thank you for trying.”

She nodded then dabbed a tear from her eye.

Uald sighed then took a drink from her tankard. “There’s ale,” she told me, pointing to a pitcher.

I shook my head.

“Well, now that Corbie’s here, we should return in the morning,” Uald told Druanne. “Epona will be worried.”

“Take a wagon. You need to take supplies from the kitchen,” I said then turned to Madelaine. “They need whatever you can spare.”

Madelaine nodded mutely.

“Epona’s calculations were…off. And our crops didn’t grow as they should have this year,” Uald explained.

“Epona’s state…there are no words for my shock,” I said.

Uald nodded. “We are all in shock.”

Druanne shook her head. “After all these years, to see her magic leave her like that. It’s…disquieting.”

Druanne was right. If the gods would abandon Epona in such a way after she had dedicated her entire life to them, what did it mean for the rest of us?

I sat down next to Madelaine and took her hand.

Tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t say anything.

“Tavis will be sent to the gods in the morning,” Uald told me. “Ute arranged it.”

I nodded.

Madelaine moaned.

“Druanne,” I said, turning to her. “Can you fix Madelaine something? Something to help calm her?”

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