Page 1 of The Savage Queen

BEFORE

INA

The Sidhe queen knew it would storm the day she chased death.

She knew the skies would crack with brilliant light as thedragúnslithered through the silver linn––the first droplets poured across the earth by the cauldron of the Forge.

Yet Ina also knew Racatwouldn’t escape. Not this time.

The Sidhe queen dove into the Linn of Wanting and swam toward the beast. She bore no blades nor skills with said weapons, for the gods and the Forge had only ever gifted her with the sight and something else. Something Ina hid like a dark jewel in a trove of beasts. Something she treasured. So, while the other twelve Sidhe sovereigns partook in the Wild Hunt and stalked the threedragúnswith their axes, spears, bows, and knives, Ina only bore her ability to see into the realm of morrow if she wished to capture adragúnfor herself and claim victory.

Thedragúncackled beneath the lake’s surface, watching as Ina summoned thedraiochtto breathe where there was no air. Vulnerable to the wrath of the Forge-cast beast before her.

“Your fellow sovereigns have tried their hand with chains, blades, snares, and tricks. Yet none have ever followed me into Forge-brewed waters without a single weapon on their person. So, tell me, Ina of Iod, are you foolish or mad?”

He approached her, a sinuous shape, inky hair floating around its colossal head as it sparkled, even now, beneath the tempest’s roar above.

“I’ve come to strike a deal with you, Racat!”she cried, summoning a cloud of bubbles as she spoke.

Racat defeated the distance between them. Ina didn’t flinch nor hesitate even as thedragúnbrought himself nose to nose with the Sidhe queen. A behemoth, obsidian beast annealed with glistering scales, a mane of feral black, and two pointed antlers that dug into its temples.

“What deal could be of any appeal to me?”

“Power.”

Racat laughed louder this time, its cadence vibrating through the lake and electrifying the storm swirling in great winds above.

“I am power.”

“And yet, you could be more. More than a prize in the hunt. More than a beast in the wild. You could leave these waters and walk amongst the Sidhe of this realm. You could rule.”

The dragúnconsidered Ina more closely, narrowing its eyes.

Ina swallowed, steeling herself and balling her hands into fists at her sides. Braids of silver unraveled from their beads and clouded around her face as thedragúnsniffed her.

“You claim to wield such power?” it asked.

“The gods gifted me no blades. Instead, they offered me both sight and a treasure like no other.”

“What treasure?”

“A rare and powerful weapon.”

Racat scoffed, “All power is me, and I am all power. There is no weapon powerful enough to be of any significance to me that I’m not already aware of.”

“You don’t know it because I’ve hidden it away,” Ina said. “I can bind you to it, link you so that one day, you might embolden your might and live through my treasure.”

“Impossible.”

“Is it?” Ina challenged. Thedragúnhesitated, its scaly body moving more slowly in the undercurrents as it weighed the Sidhe queen’s words.

“I’ve foreseen it. Everything will come to passifyou agree to my costs.”

Thedragúnsnapped its jaws, quickening Ina’s heart.

“At what cost?”

“You serve Iod and Annwyn. You bless both kingdoms with your might.”

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