Page 125 of Tears of the Wolf
Brynn had always known her mother was a schemer, but she had never realized how far-reaching or persistent her mother was. “Who is a part of this?” she asked, feeling oddly numb. “Do all the Mothers know?
“This plan has been in motion before your conception,” Selene answered calmly. “You cannot fight it.”
Brynn wrestled against her bonds all the same.
After her sister had died, she had stopped fighting.
Brynn had done her duty. Married a man she didn’t want. Had a baby. Accepted Paega’s quiet condescension and resentment. Even marrying Cenric was her way to follow the rules with the blessing of her king. For years, she had submitted to authority and bowed to the will of others.
But not anymore.
The desire to fight, to rebel—it burned inside her, hot, angry, and demanding.
Aelfwynn’s death had convinced her that was the cost of disobedience. Death and pain were all that had come from daring to challenge the rules.
So, Brynn had done everything she could to be a good daughter, a good wife, and a good mother, but it had made no difference. She still lost her son, and once again she had buried the person she loved most in the world.
Brynn had defied tradition and lost Aelfwynn. She had followed tradition and lost Osbeorn.
And Cenric…
He was gentle with her in a way Paega never had been. Cenric respected her. He listened to her even when he didn’t like what he heard. She was trying to make things work, but so was he.
Perhaps that was the difference.
Brynn had spent her whole first marriage reaching out to be met with emptiness. When she reached for Cenric, he reached back.
Closing her eyes, Brynn kept pulling atka.She dragged it into herself in great swaths. She pulled it in until her head went light, and she thought she might pass out. But whenever she tried casting, the collar consumed her spells.
Selene tsked. “You’re going to make yourself faint.”
Brynn didn’t care. She was not going quietly this time. She had found something in this remote northern land. She didn’t yet know what it was, but it was worth the fighting for. It was worth the daring.
Everything had limits, so perhaps she could pull enough magic to overwhelm the collar. Perhaps if she forced it to consume enough of her spells, it would break or stop working.
Gritting her teeth, Brynn kept reaching. Her abilities to sense and drawkawere unhindered. She could pull on as much of it as she wanted, reach as far as she wanted.
She could count all ten of her mother’s soldiers and feel the mild spells being worked by Tessaine and Anselma. Brynn could tell the horses were mostly healthy, though one of them might be developing saddle sores.
Past them, she could feel the forest. The trees were alive, blooming, and bright. Woodlife scuttled through the greenery.
Brynn pulled power from all of it. She soaked in strength the way she hadn’t in a long time. She pulled in so muchkathat she felt her own aches and pains fading as her bruises and the chafing on her wrists healed.
Brynn kept reaching, reaching…
A burst ofkaflared into her awareness. Large and clustered together, probably a herd of animals.
Careful to keep her face neutral, Brynn kept reaching, prodding at the new source of power in her awareness. There were twenty or more large animals following them down the road. Horses?
At this distance it was challenging to tell, but Brynn thought she sensed additional shapes on their backs. Riders? Was it possible?
Twenty was too many for a casual group of travelers. Could it be? Dared she hope?
Cenric? Was he bringing his thanes after her?
Brynn wasn’t sure if she wanted it to be him or not. Her mother wouldn’t hesitate to cut him down and neither would Tessaine, Anselma, and the others.
It might be him, it might not. Either way, Brynn continued gathering and releasing spells as fast as she could.
