Page 59 of The Wolf Queen

“Brought here by me,” Bryson corrected. “On my order, because I have seen them, the Reavers. I have seen their bestial shapes. I have heard their howls and I have cut them down with my sword. If the Lady Darcy says they are here, then they are here.”

And as if in support of his statement, a far-off howl had all of our heads whipping around.

“No,” I whispered, before turning back to Bryson. “Sort this out,” I ordered, stabbing a finger at the cluster of lords.

I could’ve broughtthem to their knees again, but the moment they got back to their feet, they’d be spouting this rubbish once more. Instead of wasting time on their petty issues, I focussed on what was important: my family. I took off at a dead sprint, knights spinning around to watch me go, but not knowing how to respond in all the chaos.

Why had I leave those most precious to me, most defenceless, in the chapel of the fucking Morrigan? Why did I leave them behind at all? If I’d kept them with me, I could be protecting them. I—

“How are we going to do this?” Weyland hissed as we went careening down the hallway towards the front door. The knights stationed there saw us and sought to stand in our way, but Axe pushed forward. With a roar he took the half-wolf form, then sent the two men flying as other Granians started to shout and shriek. We paid that little mind as we tore through the yard, men bellowing behind us as we went, before skidding around the shed and then down the hatch to the caves.

“Jan?”I shouted, my voice echoing as if to mock me. “Del? Selene!”

We moved much more slowly now, every one of us with our swords drawn. I jumped as I saw shadows shift in the crystals, my grip tightening as I heard a low hiss, and then we found them.

Each of the Maidens stood there, swords at the ready, she-wolves about to protect their cubs, but they weren’t what had my attention. Jan had plastered herself against the crystal wall, making a low keening sound I never wanted to hear again, but Del was stepping forward. He tore his sword free of its scabbard and went to stand next to the Maidens.

“Noooooo…”

The word stretched out so far it made no sense, the sound echoing and ringing in my ears as I threw myself forward toward the enemy. For, there, in the sullen darkness of the cave I could see the advance contingent of Callum’s Reavers.

It was as though time stood still for a moment and I could see everything clearly, despite the gloom. The string of drool hanging from the first Reaver’s jaws, the way his fangs seemed to gleam in what little light we had. Those piggish red eyes, unseeing and unthinking but for this. Death, pain, destruction, that’s all it and its fellows wanted: exactly the mindless beasts those Granian idiots had been twittering about. Those nobles looked down their perfectly formed noses at such things, but they would’ve pissed their very expensive breeches if they were facing this monster.

Facing imminent death.

As one shouldered forward, so did another and another, their number too many to count, The Reavers roared and my sword flared to life, burning bright incandescent blue as I rushed towards them.

There wasa bitter kind of satisfaction in cleaving a Reaver in two. The sword cut through the first one like a hot knife through butter, the body landing heavily on the ground, black blood seeping into the stones.

I bring you offerings, dread lady, I told the Morrigan as I charged forward, cutting through one Reaver, then another.I bring you death.

And I bring you a lesson, little queen.

Her voice was like nails dragged down a school room chalkboard, making my whole spine stiffen, and one of the Reavers took advantage of my distraction to swing a blade at me. Muscle memory from the drills I’d done over and over with Nordred, with the Maidens, came to my aid and I lunged to the side to avoid a heart strike. Its weapon caught the side of my bicep before I twisted and thrust my own blade straight up to end its life, spinning to avoid its body landing on me. I was forced to slice, parry, cut, stab and my mates were right there beside me.

Axe was at my left shoulder, roaring his disdain as the other Reavers tried to attack, then eviscerating several with a great sweep of his blade, leaving their pink guts to spill on the floor.

“You fucking bastards!” Weyland shouted on my right, rushing forward in an attempt to meet the Reavers before they could even get to me.

Gael stepped in, slapping a hand over a slice on my bicep, the skin knitting back together with a sharp sting, right before he parried the next blow coming for me, as Dane barked out the order.

“Stick together! We are stronger when clustered close.”

“We’ve no shields for a shield wall,” Selene barked.

“Wouldn’t matter if we did.” Gael gutted his opponent. “They’d cut through the fucking thing.”

But Del’s cry was what had me breaking formation. It came from his very soul, rising up from a place of loss and pain I had no way of understanding. The death of his parents, the destruction of his home, of the only life he’d known, it all came out in that ragged sound, right before he rushed forward to attack the beasts who’d been the cause of it all.

“No, Del!”

I injected all of the maternal command I had into my voice, but it failed to make a difference. He charged forward into the fray and I was forced to join him. The Reaver that he attacked curled its lips away from its muzzle in a snarl, knocking away Del’s sword before grabbing my son by the throat and that’s when I saw red.

Pepin had saidI didn’t belong to her any more once I was pregnant, but I hadn’t even been aware that I was, hadn’t had a chance to feel my child grow and kick within me, to adjust to the idea that I was growing a life inside me. I hadn’t given birth to Del, nor seen him raised, from tiny baby to the boy he was now, but that didn’t matter.

He was mine.

I’d found him in the rubble of Wildeford. I’d made sure he was safe. I’d even given him to a family that would’ve kept him from this danger, except I hadn’t been able to leave him there. He’d clung to me, wanted me to be his caregiver and it was only now I really understood the fierce burning love of the Mother. I would place my own throat in the Reaver’s grip any day of the week rather than see a single beast breathe in the direction of Del or Jan, and that was what I screamed out with all of my strength.

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