Page 13 of Broken Veil
“I can help with the translation,” Naida said.
Carys flipped open the folder and saw color scans of a manuscript in very poor condition. “It’s a partial manuscript?”
“Verypartial. It’s eleventh century. Authorship unknown. It’s still being restored and translated. We only received it last year when Trinity passed on acquiring it. They have the majority of medieval Irish sources obviously, but this is early and it does mention the Morrígan.” Dr. Beck leaned forward. “Macha, to be exact. One of her aspects.”
“Yes,” Cadell said. “That is the one who was living in Gorne Wood until a few days ago.”
“Macha?” Dr. Beck asked. “The Morrígan is in the Brightlands?”
Carys nodded. “She’s the reason the barrow rose in Salisbury Plain. There was a battle there a few days ago, and Fomorian and fae blood was spilled.”
“Blood on Sarum,” she murmured. “That’s never a good thing. The Morrígan was bound by Epona’s daughters. She wasn’t supposed to be able to cross into the Brightlands.”
Every eye in the room turned to Carys.
“Yeah, that was…” She sighed. “That was my fault.”
Dr. Beck leaned closer and took a long sniff. “Now that I’m thinking of it, you smell of Epona.”
Carys blinked. “H-how?”
Luna Beck and Naida shared a glance, and both of them shrugged.
“You just do,” Naida said. “I noticed it immediately.”
“And you didn’t say anything?” Carys asked.
“Why would she?” Godrik spoke for the first time. “What would be the point?”
“I don’t know, maybe if I’d known that it was the job of Epona’s cult to keep the Morrígan in the Shadowlands, I wouldn’t have made a deal with the Crow Mother to get Seren’s journal!”
Everyone in the seminar room was silent.
Duncan grimaced. “That’s… a bit of a stretch, darling.”
“Okay, yes, but obviously…” Carys sighed. “I didn’t know that the aspect that I met—the Crow Mother—was a goddess. I thought she was a fae sorceress who wanted to see the Brightlands to look at the sun. And a fae sorceress?—”
“Would lose her power here.” Dr. Beck nodded. “Of course. That makes sense, and you can only make decisions with the knowledge that you have, Dr. Morgan. You had no way of knowing she was a goddess. The Morrígan is known for her cunning. She’s a very old and shrewd divinity.”
“And you are a young and stupid human,” Godrik said. “It was not an even negotiation.”
Cadell nodded. “Ignorance is expected from humans.”
“Okay.” Carys lifted a hand. “That’s?—”
“It’s true,” Naida added. “You can’t dwell on your foolish actions that have put the fae gates in danger. You didn’t intentionally put the magical barriers in jeopardy; you just didn’t know any better.”
“Hey!” Laura barked. “All the negativity is not helping, okay?” She turned to Dr. Beck. “The Morrígan was bound to the Shadowlands once, right? That means it can be done again.”
“Honestly, I do not know,” Luna said. “But though the Morrígan has never been defeated, per se, there is one hero in stories who thwarted her, and he was half-human.”
“See?” Laura spread her arms and looked around the room. “Humans do not suck. Humans can do things. Even against the gods.”
“He was also half-divine,” Luna added. “A demigod, if you will.”
Laura hissed, “Nothelping, Luna.”
Duncan had reservedthree rooms in a beautiful historic inn that overlooked the River Thames near the Folly Bridge. Carys was lying on the bed, staring at the plastered ceiling and listening to Duncan, who was speaking to his foreman at the smithy in Scone.
