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Danu lowered herself to a rock, grateful for another rest. How weak this human body was! She could scarcely walk for an hour before becoming winded.
A water skin appeared before her, held out by the large hand of the commander in charge of their safety. Verden was a large, muscle-bound warrior with a gray beard and a bald head beneath his helm. “My thanks,” she panted as she raised it to her lips.
Verden nodded before returning to the distance he and his men kept from her and Anya.
The water was cold and refreshing as she gulped it down. Not long ago, their party had stopped in a wide cavern lit with daylight, which shone through a gap in the rock overhead. A deep, blue cold-water spring took up the majority of the space, and it was from this water source the men had refilled their canteens. She and Anya had knelt by the pool and used their cupped hands to slake their thirst. Immediately, the men near them had moved to the other side of the pool, as if they did not want to risk coming into contact with them.
Another stretch of walking through tunnels had brought them to their current location, a barren cavern the size of a modest bedchamber with two tunnels providing access. Rough rock made up the walls, and the ceiling hung so low most of the men had to stoop. The space was empty except for a few boulders, two of which she and Anya sat upon.
She’d lost track of their winding path through the mountain long ago, but she gathered they’d arrived at the cavern Magnus had shown them on the map. The men had stowed some of their gear along the walls and had spread out through the connecting passageways, no doubt to guard her and Anya from every direction. It seemed they would stay here awhile. Not too long, she hoped, because having her king away caused a pang of longing in her chest.
Today, the pain of separation was even sharper than when Magnus had left with his army. The send-off from Chroina felt like only yesterday for her, but in reality, it had occurred six days ago. Her moonstone had brought her and Anya through space and time, and during their walk today, she had been trying to sort out the reason.
Perhaps Magnus needed the moonstone for the coming battle, and now that he had it, their purpose was complete. Or perhaps there was more to it.
Could it be that she and Anya were needed in Larna? Certainly not to join the army in marching to the fortress. Their fragile human bodies could scarcely withstand walking this far from their camp. They could not have trekked another half-day without slowing Magnus and his men. Furthermore, if they met Hyrk and a battle took place, they would surely come to harm. With Anya carrying the first child to be conceived in years, risking her life would be the height of foolishness.
Thirst slaked, Danu fastened the water skin. Only a few of the men, including Verden, remained inside the chamber. With their furrowed brows and the darting glances they shot toward her, they seemed on edge. The distance they kept made it easy for her to speak privately with Anya.
“The men are uncomfortable,” she noted. “They do not like to come near me. Is it because Seona was so standoffish?”
Anya wiped her lips on the back of her wrist after a long drink from her water skin. “’Tis no’ you.” She stretched her legs out in front of her and aggressively kneaded one of them with a wince. “They dinnae like the lifemate scent on me. ’Tis like a mint candle to the gnats. My scent repels them.”
Ah. The lifemate scent. She’d forgotten about that, likely because her human senses were not sharp enough to notice it. But there seemed more to the tension in the mens’ shoulders than avoidance. They had kept their distance from her and Anya all morning, but here in the cavern, they seemed agitated in a way they had not been earlier.
Across the cavern, Verden held his helm under one arm while bending his head with some of his men. They kept their voices too low to be heard and peered around the cavern with narrowed eyes.
“Like a gaggle of hens they are,” Anya muttered with a roll of her eyes. “You’d think they’d be accustomed to my scent by now.” Clearly, Anya thought the men were speaking about them, but Danu was not so sure.
Her body craved rest, but a sense of unease made her loathe to close her eyes. She could not help feeling as if there were something obvious in front of her that she could not see. In her breast, there was an urge to leave this place. Perhaps the men felt it too and were on edge because they could not leave. Their king had commanded them to wait here for his return.
She gasped with realization. An unsettling feeling. A sense that she was missing something obvious. A desire to leave a place. It all made sense now. Someone had cast faerie glamour over this cavern.
“What is it?” Anya asked. “Are you well?”
Danu held up a staying hand for silence while she observed the men more carefully. As they came and went, they never crossed the cavern directly. They always kept to the perimeter, as if avoiding some obstacle. They sensed the glamour too, even if they were unaware of it.
“There is faerie glamour in this place,” she whispered. As an afterthought, in the event Anya did not know the term, she added, “Like the guise Duff uses to hide from Arwan.”
Anya stiffened. “Gravois is here?” she asked.
Danu shook her head. Duff had vowed to remain with Seona until Hyrk’s cell failed. Glamours were not indefinite. Whoever had cast this glamour was nearby or had been not long ago. “Not him, but someone of the Fae.”
Magnus had assured her the caves were long abandoned. What if he was wrong? The Larnians fear them. They claim the surviving rejects from Jilken’s breeding experiments live there.
Not for the first time, Danu considered the offspring of Jilken’s magical breeding experiments. She had been imprisoned, so she had not witnessed the abominable undertaking, but Hyrk had crowed about it.
“Darling, they are magnificent! You should see them. The prize pups are large and strong. Their bloodlust runs deep. Their jaws are powerful. Their hands can tear through rock. On the outside, they appear like your wolfkind, but on the inside, they are ravening wolves ready to tear apart their foes on my command.
“They are so much more than you intended, so much more powerful than your creation. More wolf-like. More Fae. And they can be ours. All you have to do is become my bride, and we will rule them as one.”
“Never.” She forced her voice not to reveal the rage boiling in her breast at this perversion of her creation.
Hyrk went on a tirade at her refusal, shaking the bars of her prison with his screeching. After composing himself, he said, “Have it your way. But know this. Not all those born of my magic and Jilken’s obedience are prize pups. Those who come out of their mothers deformed or weak have been quickly and mercifully disposed of. If you bind yourself to me, no more pups will be discarded. All will be cared for. Continue to deny me and I will ensure those pups suffer before they die.”
She had almost broken. It was not the fault of those children that Hyrk had manipulated their breeding. The thought of those innocents suffering had almost made her agree to Hyrk’s demand. But if she had done so, she would have taken his wicked soul into herself. True, he would have taken her soul into himself as well. Perhaps her goodness would temper his evil. But perhaps his evil would snuff out her goodness. She could not take that chance, could not condemn her people to the rule of a joint deity whose nature she could not predict. Nor could she condemn herself to an eternity of intimate oneness with her enemy.
“As long as you treasure love, I will always be proud of you.”
“I will, Papa. I will treasure love forever and ever.”
Hyrk treasured wickedness and hatred. Union with him could not be her fate. It would not.
Still, her decision haunted her to this day. So many children had been harmed, abandoned, outright killed. Perhaps whoever had cast this glamour had descended from those times. They might be survivors of Hyrk’s mania and cruelty—victims of her choice.
“Are we in danger?” Anya whispered. Her friend’s arm wound through hers, a slight tremble in it.
“I do not think so. But whoever cast this glamour does not wish for us to take any special notice of this cavern.” She studied the rocky wall, noting how her gaze jumped over certain places.
In her goddess form, she could easily identify glamour and decipher it to see what lay underneath. Apparently, she could sense it in human form, but could she see through it? She focused on one such place, a large boulder not far from where she sat. Her human eyes strained to look away, but she forced them to remain. The object was not a boulder. She insisted on seeing the truth, and suddenly, the image of the boulder wavered. It became a rough-hewn, wooden table with a cabinet beneath.
A thrill of success warmed her. Now to see if Anya could decipher the glamour as well. She instructed her friend to do as she had done. When Anya’s grip on her arm tightened, she knew her friend saw the table.
“’Tis like Gravois’ camp,” Anya said with wonder. “Some things, and even some of the other tinkers, are not what they seem. They want the world to see them a certain way, and the magic makes it so.”
“Yes.” Danu let her gaze move past the table and continued to unlock glamour around the cavern. Beside her, Anya did the same.
A cold fireplace appeared where only rock had been. Black shale formed a chimney that rose to a hole someone had carved into the ceiling. The boulders they sat on became a wooden bench, lovingly engraved with the shapes of trees and plants. Folded cloth padded the wooden surface, and the moment Danu saw it, soft cushioning took the place of the hard surface. The center of the cavern became an eating pit set into the floor, explaining why the men avoided that space. On the wall was an elk’s rack that might serve as a place to hang cloaks. A well-maintained, tidy home emerged where only moments ago an abandoned cavern had been.
Suddenly, Anya bolted from the bench. “Travis!” Limping wildly, she rounded the cave and squatted at the far end of the table.
The image wavered and the youngest boy alive came into view. Tears streaked his dirty face, and ropes bound his ankles, and presumably his hands behind his back. Another rope tied him to the table, and a rag had been stuffed in his mouth.
Instantly, Danu dashed to his side. Anya was already cutting at the ropes with a dagger pulled from her dress. Danu pulled the rag from between his chapped lips.
“You heard me!” he whimpered, looking between them. “It took you so long!” He shuddered and sniffled while Anya shifted his small body and sawed at the robes behind his back. “I was shouting and shouting, but you didn’t know I was here. I was so frightened!”
“Och, love, we’re here. We’re here. You’re safe now,” Anya cooed. With Travis freed from his bonds, she gathered him to her chest and smoothed his straggly, blond hair.
Travis sobbed into her shoulder, and Danu could not stop herself from rubbing soothing circles on his back. Someone had tied up the youngest wolfkind and had not wanted him found. Anger darted through her. Like the warrior women of old, she craved blood. Whoever had done this would suffer.
“What in the name of the moon!” Verden clomped to where the three of them huddled together. “Travis? Where did you come from? What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded, as if she and Anya had somehow brought him with them from Glendall.
Anya got to her feet and puffed up her chest, forcing Verden back. “Dinnae fash at him! He’s been captive here and you did naught about it!” She poked her finger in Verden’s chest. Tears ran down her cheeks.
Danu held Travis, and he clung to her, wide-eyed gaze darting between Anya and the commander. “The commander did nothing wrong,” she said with a tug of Anya’s skirts. “The cave is under a glamour,” she said to Verden. “Someone doesn’t want us to know they live here.”
“The Remnant,” Travis said. He sniffed bravely and clamored to his feet. He faced Verden. Fading bruises marred his pale cheeks. “They came from the breeding experiments, and they live here in the caves. They don’t want us to know about them, and I think they’ve gone to the fortress with Vera to collect Braeden. You have to stop them. They’ll hurt the other children.”
Danu’s head spun. She’d been right about who lived here. Worse, it seemed this Remnant was a threat to the children.
Ignoring Anya’s ire, Verden knelt and took Travis by the shoulders. “Tell me everything.”
