Page 27 of The Shadow Path
“Oh, fantastic.” There was something going on, and Carys didn’t feel like facing it on horseback when she wasn’t an expert rider. “Hello?”
The darkness and the fog were immense. There was something supernatural happening, but nothing was telling her instincts to run.
She slid off her horse, keeping one hand on the reins as she led the creature under the low-hanging branch of a hawthorn tree. “Hello?”
Just as she passed under the tree, a black crow landed on her shoulder, letting out a rude “Caw!” before it flew away.
Carys felt her before she heard her.
“Hello, Carys Morgan.”
She spun around to see the Crow Mother sitting on a tree stump, stirring a pot that hung over a cooking fire.
“You.” Carys looked over her shoulder, listening for Cadell, for the river fae. For anything other than the drifting silence of the fog that enveloped her. “Why am I not surprised?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.” The woman looked up at Carys, her black eyes shining from a face surrounded by dark, curly hair. “We have unfinished business, you and I.”
Carys’s horsenudged her shoulder, but she stood frozen in front of the powerful fae woman who had lured her into some fold of shadow that not even Cadell had detected.
Usually fae ground had some wards or warnings that her dragon could detect. This hollow in the Shadowlands had given him no notice at all.
“Who are you?” Carys asked. “Are you really fae? Or are you something else?”
The Crow Mother tsked. “It’s not the time for questions, Carys Morgan. You made me a promise.”
“I know.” Carys spoke carefully. “Have you decided to collect on that promise tonight?”
Carys had traded a single passage to the Brightlands to this powerful fae in return for Seren’s lost journal. It was the journal that had revealed her killer, so it had been worth it. But then Carys had left for the Brightlands without fulfilling her debt.
So seeing the Crow Mother wasn’t exactly a surprise. Carys had fully expected to run into her again, but a little warning would have been nice.
The mare at her side whinnied, and the Crow Mother, who sometimes called herself Branwen, looked at the creature. “I see you, Epona’s kin. This child is not one of your daughters, and she and I have struck a bargain of our own free will. This is not your concern.”
The grey mare neighed, stamping her foot a little bit.
“Nevertheless,” Branwen said, “she will uphold the old laws or I will take payment in the way that I see fit. If your mistress objects to this, she can fulfill the debt herself.” Branwen’s eyes lit up. “Oh wait. No, she can’t. She’s as stuck here as I am.” She turned her gaze back to Carys. “You have a debt to repay.”
Carys was tired of the double-talk. “So what do you want to do? We’re not that far from the Night Bridge. I’ll take you right now if you want.”
Was she dreaming, or did her horse’s neigh sound a little bit like a laugh?
“So eager to be rid of your obligation?” Branwen asked.
“You seem eager to collect,” Carys said, “so come on.” She waved in a hurry-up gesture. “It’s morning in the Brightlands.I can’t guarantee you’ll see the sun because it’s England—it was pouring rain when we left—but if you want to go, I’ll take you.”
Branwen smiled, her eyes lit with amusement. “You’ve grown in confidence. I enjoy this, Brightkin.”
“Okay, cool.” She took her horse’s reins again and started to turn her around under the hawthorn branches that encircled them. “Follow me and I’ll take you right there.”
“What’s the rush?”
Carys turned when she heard an unexpected male voice. She frowned at the last person she’d expected to see. “Dru?”
The tall fae had a brown wool cloak wrapped around his shoulders and pulled up over his head. The blue sigils that marked his forehead and cheekbones sparkled in the light from the cooking fire that Branwen tended, and his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, reminding Carys of the fairy lights dancing over the river.
The Crow Mother rose when she saw the fae enter her clearing. A sly smile took over her face. “Is it Diarmuid himself before me? The wandering Oberon returned at last? What, has the stubborn Mab finally returned your affections, dear boy?”
Dru pulled his cloak closer around his body, but he didn’t take his eyes from the Crow Mother, nor did his face register the slightest hint of worry. “You’re speaking nonsense, Badb. Why do you trouble my friend tonight? We all know your plans are still in the nest.”
