It swung open, revealing Rowan. Shit.
Cenric suddenly remembered he hadn’t bothered with a tunic before running down from the longhouse. “Rowan.”
“Cenric.” Rowan’s face had gone hard, impassive. She held eye contact with a rigid determination, not looking below his nose.
He asked the same question he had asked at each house. “Are you and your family well?”
“Fine,” Rowan answered. “Our goat pen was broken, but nothing else. We will be heading into the village to help the others as soon as we catch the last of the animals.”
“Good.” Cenric looked back toward the harder-hit portions of the village. “Have you seen Brynn?”
Rowan swallowed, just the slightest tick of emotion. “No.”
Cenric tried not to show anything at that, though recollections of his foretelling flashed before his eyes. “Thank you. You and your family’s help would be most appreciated at the house of Deidrei. Her wall was broken down and I’d like that to be fixed by nightfall.” Deidrei was an elderly woman currentlyraising three of her grandsons, ranging in age from four to eleven.
Cenric stepped away from the door, ready to head to the next house.
“Is Lady Brynn missing?” Rowan took a step after him.
Cenric wasn’t sure why he felt like he shouldn’t answer. “I’m not sure.” He inclined his head once before marching away and back outside the fence. He shut the gate after himself out of habit, though it wouldn’t do much good with the smashed fence.
Edric and three other thanes met him back on the path between houses. “Lord!”
All four men carried swords and spears, like Cenric had instructed. They appeared unhurt, if a bit disheveled. They’d probably been helping to put out the fire and move broken slabs of wood from smashed buildings.
“Let’s go see what happened.” Cenric led the way through the village and up to the cattle pens.
Brynn
Brynn’s head smacked against the side of the wagon again. Grunting, she rolled onto her side. Her mind worked slowly, trying to remember how she had gotten here.
“Are you waking up, my dear?”
At her mother’s voice, Brynn snapped upright, her hands yanking backward.
Her hands had been tied from wrist to elbow behind her back and a metal collar locked around her neck, not unlike the thrall collars the Valdari used. Brynn reached forkaand it came to her, but no spells formed. The collar around her neck soaked up her power as soon as she wove spells.
Brynn faced her mother, nostrils flaring.
The first thing she noticed was Esa. The young girl’s tear-streaked face watched her, trembling at Selene’s feet. Her hands had been tied and a dark bruise spread over her eye and another over her jaw.
Selene had one hand on Esa’s braid, holding it like a leash.
“Esa?”
“I’m sorry, Lady Brynn,” Esa whimpered. “I’m so sorry.”
“You should be proud of your girl,” Selene sneered. “We wanted to have her draw you out and make this whole thing easier, but she refused. Even when I threatened to kill her.”
“Esa.” Brynn straightened. “It’s alright. You’re going to be alright.”
Tears tracked silently down the girl’s cheeks.
“Yes,” Selene agreed. “You are going to be perfectly alright because your guardian is going to do exactly as I say.”
Brynn inhaled and exhaled ever so slowly. “What did you do?”
“We needed a distraction. It took a bit of effort. Anselma and Tessaine had to rile them up for nearly an hour and it was a miracle no one heard, but we were able to use those cows.” Selene glared at Brynn. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, Brynn. I hope you understand this.”
