Page 104 of The Shadow Path
Carys tiptoed down the stairs, nodding at the green-clad soldiers who patrolled the halls, and walked out the back corridor to the kitchen where she borrowed a pair of heavy boots that were sitting near the door.
She found Cadell in human form, sitting on a stone bench and staring at the fountain in the center of the garden.
Carys sat next to him and took his large hand in hers. “I’m sorry.”
“I must believe they are not dead. The fae would be fools to hurt them.” He didn’t break his stare. “But they must be terrified. Dragons that young are never alone. Never away from their clutch.”
“You mean their brothers and sisters?”
He nodded. “Dragon children are raised communally, I have told you this.”
“Yes.”
“They have never been alone. Not for a moment. Not in their entire life. They have never been away from their family group. They are babies.”
“How old?—”
“Only ten years old.”
Okay, Carys wouldn’t classify ten-year-olds as babies, but dragons had much longer lives, so it made sense that the adults still saw them as babies after a decade.
“Have the fae ever stolen dragon children before? I mean, there is story after story in human mythology of the fae stealing children and replacing them with changelings or just stealing them for…”
So many horrible reasons.
“Never,” Cadell said quietly. “Why would you risk the wrath of the dragons to steal a child you cannot control with glamour or magic?” He frowned. “The human children can be lulled into sleep or glamoured to not know that is happening, but the magical children, the dragons and the wolves?—”
“They’ll know they’ve been kidnapped.”
Cadell nodded.
Carys squeezed his hand. “They’ll also know that their horde will come for them.”
“We cannot sense them,” he said. “One of the babes was born of Demelza’s own body, and she cannot feel her. They have usedpowerfulmagic to hide them, Nêrys. Very powerful magic.”
“Demelza is bonded with Anwyn?”
“Yes.” His head hung. “She is frantic. And she feels even more guilt than the rest of us, but I should have known?—”
“You should have known that the fae would do something they’ve never done in history at a gate that you didn’t even know was active?” Carys snapped at him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Cadell.”
He raised his face and looked into her eyes. “Tell me the king has a task for us. I know you have never been to war, but?—”
“War isn’t going to get those children back,” Carys said. “Dafydd wants us to survey the south and find as many gates as we can so Harold’s army can surround them and hopefully keep this from spreading further. Since you and Seren had experience surveying, he thought that would be the most immediate use.”
He nodded. “We can do that.” His eyes glinted. “And if we happen to kill any condescending, superior, marauding fae that might be passing through those gates, that cannot be helped.”
“Half the fae—maybe more than half—are in hiding, Cadell. Dru and Naida have disappeared. None of the fae who are normally at the market were there last night. I have a feeling that this was not a plan the majority signed on to. Theyknowthis is going to paint a target on their back.”
“Because it should.”
“Why?” Carys blinked. Her steady, levelheaded dragon appeared to have disappeared. “So that the Queens’ Pact crumbles to dust? So there’s another fae war where half the human population dies?” Carys stood. “We need to get those babies back, but killing every fae on sight is not going to accomplish that.”
He looked up, and his eyes flashed. “Do you forbid me from killing the fae as my nêrys?”
As his nêrys? As his commander?
“You’re like a knight.”
