Page 132 of The Shadow Path
“Are you asking me for a favor?” Naida asked. “What will you give me if I ask this of him?”
Carys wracked her brain, trying to think of what she had that Naida might even be interested in. Ellyllon were notoriously hard to bargain with because they weren’t greedy.
“I’ll give you dragon scales,” Cadell said. “For the rest of our lives, if you need a dragon scale for healing, you may come to me.”
It was no small gift, but Naida still seemed reluctant.
“The unicorns think Cian’s boats have already left Éire,” Lachlan said softly. “He’ll be in Anglia in days, not weeks, and he’ll have an Éiren army with him. Once he is here—if he has dark fae allies—it will be even harder for Dru to take the crown and keep the Queens’ Pact from breaking.”
Carys saw warring emotions on Naida’s face.
Taking the crown meant that Dru would be in charge, and all of Briton would likely flourish because of it. Taking the crown also meant any hope of a relationship with the man she loved was well and truly dead.
“I’ll speak to him,” Naida said quietly. “But there’s no telling how long he might take to decide what to do. He has minions whispering in his ears now, and his relationship with the dark fae is complicated because of his father.
“I can get Dru to Yuten Woods in hours,” Cadell said. “I’ll fly him myself, and I will get him there safely.”
Cadell flying a fae prince in his current mood?
Risky but worth it.
Naida stood up. “All of you.” She waved her finger around the room. “I’m collecting favors from every one of you when this is over.” She pointed at Carys specifically. “Especially you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The wide green expanse of Saris Plain was marked by no human habitation save for the occasional simple stone farmhouse and a few footpaths that crossed between the ancient barrows and chalk outlines of horses visible from the air.
Far more than those that existed in the Brightlands, the horse outlines on the Saris Plain showed herds of equines, some big and some small, dotting the hills and overgrown forts they flew over.
“The people of this plain once worshipped the horse goddess.” Dru sat on the opposite side of the coracle, and Duncan sat to his left. The three of them were traveling to Yuten Woods to meet with the dark fae there and convince them not to lend Cian any people or magical creatures.
Carys looked up. “The people here don’t worship horses anymore?”
“They never worshipped the horses; they worshipped the goddess.”
“Who often took the form of… a horse?” Duncan asked.
“Yes. It is an old faith with few adherents in the modern world.” Dru’s eyes danced. “But you knew that already.”
He’s talking about your mother’s cult.
I know.Carys responded to the dragon’s voice in her mind.And please don’t call it a cult.
But that’s what it is.
“My mother revered Epona,” Carys told Dru, “before she left for the Brightlands.”
“I would be surprised if she stopped revering the goddess,” Dru said. “She is an easy goddess to serve.”
Duncan snorted. “As opposed to the gods that are difficult to worship?”
“Agrona used to require a sacrifice of newborn babies thrown into her rivers,” Dru said. “Matunos used to take the form of a rabid bear and eat the high druid who led his worship on the summer solstice.” Dru shrugged. “It was considered a great honor for the druid who was eaten.”
Carys was starting to understand how the old gods lost their popularity.
“And Epona?” Duncan said. “What did Epona want?”
“Offerings of burnt grain and chastity,” Dru said.
