Page 54 of Raven in Midwinter

“Because you’re a witch, but you want to be a hedge-rider, and not a normal one, but one just like he is.”

Taking hold of my arm to stop me, she spun me around to face her. Her deep brown eyes met mine, holding my gaze.

“He’s not here,” I reminded her. “He won’t hear, and I certainly won’t tell him.”

Her sigh was long. “How did you know I was a practitioner of the dark arts?”

I was so proud of myself that I didn’t roll my eyes, didn’t groan, kept my feelings about “dark arts” to myself, because, as a witch, you either did the best for others and yourself with your magic or you did not. Hard to romanticize causing pain with your power. “I can feel magic in others. It’s one of the blessings I received from my lord Arawn.”

She scoffed. “You would have done better to belong to a god like Agrona, who is fearsome in battle and drinks the blood of her enemies.”

“Are you pledged to this goddess?”

“I am her disciple.”

“And have you spoken to your lady?”

She laughed. “You pledge yourself and your practice, Xander, and receive blessings, but you don’t speak to whom you worship.”

I didn’t say a word.

“Giles says Arawn rides over Corvus, but I know he means that the land is sacred to him. We do not see gods or goddesses.”

“And in the realm you came from, you didn’t see them there either?”

“My realm is older, wilder, and where all manner of monsters roam.”

The way she said it, I could hear the wistfulness. “Why do you want to be a hedge-rider?”

“To learn all the secrets of the universe.”

I squinted at her. “Try again.”

She stared at me.

“Why not say? You can’t honestly think I’ll live much longer.”

“That is true.”

“What’s the harm, then?”

Long exhale, and I knew she’d been holding the truth in for some time. “I want to be a hedge-rider, the kind Giles is, so that I may return to my realm and take back what was stolen from me.”

“Who stole it?”

“My mother died, you see, and my father married a cunning woman who had a son.”

“Did she kill your father?”

The pain in her eyes was fleeting, but it was there. “She killed a great man and then put her son on the throne.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Giles saved me from death, and I am thankful, but I must return and put things right.”

“Have you considered that time moves differently in every realm? Those you seek revenge on may be dust by now.”

“I could still regain my place.”