Page 118 of Tears of the Wolf
Brynn disliked violence. Hated it. But even she knew when the time came for it.
Selene had made herself Brynn’s enemy. There was no going back from this. As soon as Brynn got the chance, she would kill her mother.
Cenric
Cenric’s thanes were dead.
They found the four men lying in puddles of blood, throats cut and still warm. Whoever had attacked them had done so in the early morning hours when they were most tired, close to the end of their watch.
Edric swore, crouching beside the body of Handal, a man who had supported Cenric from the first days of his return. “Olfirth?”
Cenric wished it was Olfirth. It would give him an excuse to fight the old man instead of suffering through awkward dinners, but he didn’t think so.
He had four new widows to care for and at least six children between them. But who was to blame?
As they made their way back across the field, Cenric spotted a familiar figure rushing toward them. He dared to hope for just a moment, but then Kalen’s face came into view.
The boy arrived breathless, face betraying that he had bad news. “Lady Brynn is missing, lord.”
“Missing?” Cenric spoke the word slowly, sure he had misheard. A sick dread tightened in his chest. The foretelling of her pale, lifeless body flickered before his eyes.
“Esa is missing, too.” Kalen made a coughing sound. “That’s her maid.”
Cenric looked across the cattle pens. Someone had broken the fence in multiple places before driving the animals uphill toward the village and the field with the camped Valdari. “Where are the Istovari? The sorceress Selene?”
Kalen glanced over his shoulder. “They left yesterday, lord.”
“They took her.” Cenric raked a hand through his hair. “They created a diversion and took her.”
“Are you sure?” Theodren, one of his thanes, glanced around at the damage. “After seeing what she did to that Valdari, I doubt anyone could have taken her.”
“Are you saying my wife left me?” Cenric demanded, whirling on the man.
Theodren flinched. “No, lord.”
“Cenric.” Edric’s tone was level, but stern. A warning.
Cenric shook his head, taking a step away from Theodren. “She was taken.”She wouldn’t have left me, he thought silently. Not after last night.
Last night had been too intimate. She’d let him see her fears, secrets, and desires. It had been more than baring her body, she’d bared her soul.
The memory of his foretelling flickered across his thoughts—Brynn drowned on a beach, and her hands tied.
“Where’s her puppy?” Cenric whirled on Kalen.
“Her puppy?”
“Her puppy wasn’t there when I woke this morning. Where is it?” He still hadn’t heard from Snapper.
“I’m not sure, lord.”
Cenric spun back to Edric. “The rest of you get back to the village and post guards. We might be attacked again. I will join you shortly.”
“Cenric…” Edric looked between his lord and the house back up the hill. “If she has been taken, we can’t chase after enemy sorceresses.”
Cenric knew that, deep down. He didn’t have the men to attack Brynn’s mother and her entourage. Before the attack, they would have been hard-pressed on such short notice, but now…
In the vision, he had been searching alone on that beach. Was this why?
