Page 128 of The Shadow Path
Is he light fae or dark?
Light in name, dark in spirit. Perhaps they are more alike than different.
“Hide the children,” the prince repeated, speaking to the brownies. “The houses in Anglia who don’t have house spiritsmustbe protected, or my brother will take more children and hold greater sway over the humans.”
“They are weak,” a brownie with a gnarled face said. “They offer no sacrifices to the hearth.”
“They are ignorant, not weak,” Dru said to the wizened old fae. “The ancient ways must be revived. In this, my brother is correct. The humans have grown too mundane, too fascinated with the Brightlands.” Dru’s eyes rose to Carys. “Some Shadowkin even desire to leave this place and live under the sun. We must remind them what magic can do.”
“If we protect the human children” —a long-haired fae with willow branches strewn through her hair spoke up— “who will protect our young?”
“Take them to the unicorns. If there is a safe haven in this world, the pure folk have created it.” Dru’s eyes went back to Carys. “Leave me with the dragon and his lady. You know what you must do.”
The fae creatures in the round barrow slipped away into the shadows, leaving Carys, Cadell, and Dru alone save for the cadre of watching owls.
“My messengers.” Dru glanced at them. “They are loyal to me. Crows and ravens are not to be trusted in these times.”
“Owls are swifter and more silent in flight,” Cadell muttered.
Carys thought about sitting, and as if the earth had read her mind, a twisted bunch of roots crawled from the earth, forming a makeshift bench behind her.
“Sit,” Dru said. “Did my message reach your uncle?”
Carys nodded. “All the human families in Cymru have been told to go to houses guarded by wild fae. Brownies mostly, but a few houses have different familiar spirits or animal spirits that guard them.”
“Cian will target the children first,” Dru said. “They know that, don’t they?”
“More have disappeared,” Cadell said. “Not dragons or wolves, but more humans.”
“He won’t eat them,” Dru said. “Not around Orla. He’ll use them to threaten the other thrones.”
Meaning Cian would eat the children if Orla wasn’t around? Carys pictured the handsome, golden-haired fae prince from Harold’s coronation and shook her head at the thought.
“You’re thinking he’s civilized,” Dru said. “You are thinking he is a pretty face with more care for his long hair than his wife’s throne.” Dru shook his head slowly. “You are very wrong. Cian is Elatha’s son, and Elatha was of Fomorian blood.” His eyes reached out to Carys. “Do you know what that means, daughter of two worlds?”
“It means that his father was old.” Fomorians were another magical race that were older even than the Irish fae in myths and stories, but Carys hadn’t heard mention of them among the modern people of the Shadowlands.
“They came across the sea, grasping for power,” Dru said. “My fatherwasthe sea. Elemental. Eternal. Erratic but enduring. Lir has no need for power because he is power.”
“But the Fomorians were conquerors?”
“Cian is hungry,” Dru muttered. “He was always so hungry.”
“Your brother has glamoured the queen of Éire,” Cadell said. “She wouldn’t risk her throne if she was in her right mind.”
“Don’t be fooled into thinking Orla is a pawn.” Dru’s eyes glinted in the blue fire. “The Alban prince killed the queen’sdaughter, a daughter she believes was given to her by the gods. A daughter she valued above her other children.”
“Because Regan was Orla’s natural daughter with Cian?”
Dru nodded. “If open war breaks out, they could very well go to Alba first to seek revenge for Regan’s death.”
“How will they fight?” Cadell said.
“With magic,” Dru answered. “With the shadows and with whispers. That’s why it’s so important for humans to seek the protection of their house spirits.” Dru leaned forward. “The humanswillturn on each other. Cian will poison their crops. Their animals will die. Soon they won’t be able to help it.”
True to Dru’s prediction,shadows grew deeper all over London even as the wolves and wild fae were retrieving many of the children and returning them to their homes.
Carys, Duncan, and Cadell were walking through the green market near the Tamis with a list from Laura, herbs and roots she needed to reinforce the wards around Dafydd’s house.
