Page 49 of Boudicca

“My queen, the bairns would like a word,” said the warrior.

There, beside Briallen, stood Enfys and Ceri. My only sadness that night had been that they had not joined me for the meal but remained inside the lodge under Ashlynn and Ravenna’s watchful eyes. I was surprised to see them there, standing still and strong as they used to. Each cradled a wolf pup in her arms. The pups were asleep and I could see that they had been washed and their bellies were full and fat. I smiled at my daughters and cleared the sudden thickness in my throat before I spoke.

“I am always happy to hear from my daughters.”

“Well, Mama, it is not you we need to speak to,” said Enfys. I could see the strain of being close to so many men written on her pale face and how the little hands that held her pup trembled.

“Yes, Mama, we must speak with Maldwyn.” Ceri spoke with more confidence, and I noted that the darkness under her eyes had cleared and her cheeks were, once again, pink with health.

Maldwyn reacted to his name by turning to see who spoke. When he sighted the girls, his face gentled, and moving slowly, as ifthey were wild hares he did not wish to frighten, he clasped his hands together in his lap and then looked to me.

“Enfys and Ceri would speak with you,” I said.

“How may I serve the Iceni princesses?” Maldwyn asked.

“You already have!” Ceri said with such cheer in her voice that I had to bite my cheek not to gasp in happy surprise.

“Yes.” Enfys spoke with markedly less cheer and she didn’t seem to be able to look directly at Maldwyn, but she did not back away. Nor did she go silent. When she continued, her voice did not tremble, though her small hands still did. “We would thank you for your gift of Mona and Sunne. We did not do so earlier today as we should have.”

“Yes, thank you, Horse Master,” added Ceri, nodding so enthusiastically that her whole body bobbed and her sleeping pup grunted.

Maldwyn bowed his head. “It is my pleasure to bring you such gifts. Moon and sun—you have named them well.”

“Mine is Mona.” Ceri lifted the pup, who continued to grunt in annoyance before she buried her muzzle in the crook of Ceri’s arm.

“And this is Sunne,” said Enfys. As she stroked her pup her gaze finally went to Maldwyn.

“You are doing well with Sunne,” said the warrior. “He would not be resting so easily in your arms were he not full and safe.”

“I will always keep him safe,” said Enfys with a somberness that did not match her thirteen years.

“I believe you,” said Maldwyn.

Holding their pups close to their chests, my daughters nodded to me before turning to climb the stairs to the lodge with Briallen close behind.

I breathed a long sigh of relief.

“The pups are helping them heal,” said Rhan.

“Yes.” My eyes met Maldwyn’s gaze. “Thank you.”

My horse master’s cheeks flushed. “There is no need to thank me, my queen.”

Cadoc’s bearlike palm slapped Maldwyn on his back. “Well done.”

With a bow to me, Maldwyn returned to his conversation with the old shield.

***

As soon as I could without its being obvious that the queen was retreating, exhausted and sore, I did exactly that—retreated to my bedchamber and the steaming bath Phaedra had prepared for me. I sank into the tub as my servant handed me a warm mug of mead mulled with spices that I was pretty sure were going to cause me to sleep, though I didn’t need herbs to do that. Before Phaedra left me to soak I asked her to send for Rhan. As Phaedra did so, I finished the mug of mead and then settled back in the hot water. The sounds of women tending to the lodge drifted to me. It was a familiar sound that lulled me so much that I startled when Phaedra returned with Rhan.

My childhood friend laughed softly. “Remember the Aqua Springs?”

I stood, and Phaedra wrapped me in a hemp cloth and then began combing through my hair as I sat beside my bed and dried. I rubbed my eyes and yawned sleepily before answering Rhan. “I do. The water was so hot there it almost scalded me.”

“And yet you soaked until you turned the red of ripe strawberries—just like you are now.”

My hand found the heavy torque that rested around my neck. “Do you ever wish you could return?”