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I wasn’t sure I could take the sight of more villages like the one we had passed through. But I didn’t say it aloud. Draven already knew what I was thinking anyway. He knew I was worried. He also knew I didn’t want to seem weak.
Draven was still watching me. “What is it, Morgan? I know you’re not afraid of fighting those things. We’ve fought worse.”
I stayed quiet.
“Are you afraid you’ll be like the woman? Is that it?” he asked softly. “That you’ll have to... what? Put me down?”
I flinched. His words had struck true. “You never know. How can we say it won’t happen? We have no idea how my father is making those things.”
“We don’t. But we have our own defenses. We’re not exactly helpless. We’re more prepared than those poor people were.”
“It’s my fault,” I said. “My fault that this happened to them.”
“You had nothing to do with it.”
“But I did! I did, Draven. None of this would be happening right now if it weren’t for me. He’s coming for me. Trying to get to me. The battle at Brightwind would never have happened if it weren’t for that. How many innocent men and women died that day because of me? And do they even know that’s what they died for? Will we ever tell them? Or will I just keep on hiding?”
“Hiding? You’re not hiding.”
“Oh, but I am,” I said bitterly. “I was born into hiding, Draven. All my life I’ve been hiding from things I never even understood.”
“You’re not hiding now,” he said firmly. “Look at where we are, Morgan. Is this hiding?”
Slowly I shook my head.
“No, it’s not. You’re going straight towards him. You’ve nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Perhaps not ashamed. But guilty? Yes. I could have given myself up. Gone with him. Just given him the grail and Excalibur.”
“And what do you think would have happened then? Peace and harmony throughout the land? No.” Draven shook his head. “What’s happening right now has been a long time coming, Morgan. Odessa tried to tell me, but I didn’t understand then. Your father wants you back because he’s weaker without you. He can’t truly strike—not fully. Not until he has you back. Going to him willingly and sacrificing yourself would only strengthen him more. And then what? His plans for dominating Aercanum would simply advance more quickly.”
“A world ruled by Gorlois le Fay,” I murmured with a shudder.
“He wants power and control. And he believes in his total superiority.” Draven stood up and slid the dagger back into its sheath. “We were closer to that sort of thing in Myntra. That belief in the superiority of the fae race. And it lingers.” He gave me a hard look. “It might be easy to stoke such a belief again. Only too easy for your father.”
I understood. Without Draven and me to keep the tide from turning, Myntra could just as easily become an oppressor to the mortals of Eskira.
“Besides,” Draven said, “think of the village. Your father has been positioned in Rheged for more than a hundred years, Morgan.”
The question lingered in the air. What had he done to this once proud kingdom? What else would we find down this dark road we traveled?
“Whatever we find,” Draven said softly. “I’ll be there by your side. To the end.”
“Will it be?” I whispered. “Our end? I won’t let him have me, Draven. No matter what.”
My mate leaned forward and brushed his hand over my cheek as softly as a butterfly’s wings. “I would never let that happen, silver one. Never.”
“No matter what?” I pressed him.
His eyes were steady. “No matter what.”
“And what cheerful matters are we discussing over here this evening?”
Lancelet brushed between us, moving to stand at the edge of the cliffs overlooking the rocks below.
“Hawl says dinner is almost ready,” she continued.
I glanced over at where Hawl hunched by the fire, stirring something in a large pot. “Hawl is no more than ten feet away and could easily tell us that themselves.”
