“I mean it, Warden,” she says fiercely.
“I know you do.” I get to my feet, and the Warhorse arrives, its hooves thumping on the ground, snorts which fog in the cold air.
We rear up, pawing the air, testing it with our shoes, shoes which haven’t been used for a very long time and which cannot wait to taste the end of the Thegn.
“Brag? Are you with us?” Long Meg, true to her name, holds a shining bright broadsword.
I release a loud whinny.
“Then it is time to send him back to the Beneath,” she thunders.
We charge, as one. Long Meg, her daughters, and Linton. I check over my shoulder to see the Laidly Wyrm, her tail curled protectively around my mate, and I know the Yeavering will keep her safe.
“Come one, come all,” the Thegn rages.
And then the sky explodes.
HAZEL
“Do it again.” Linton hops from foot to foot with glee as Warden scrubs his hand down his face.
“I am not exploding another Thegn. I don’t want there to be another Thegn, Linton,” he rasps.
Warden is covered from head to hoof in black soot. I’m still not entirely sure what I witnessed, but certainly the Thegn is no more, the sky has cleared, and I feel like a weight has been lifted. My body feels lighter than light, as if I could float away.
“You should not conjure one again either, Brag.” Long Meg growls at him.
“I did not conjure anything. It came to me, like the parasite it was, looking for something to take.”
“In that case, now you have your mate, she can keep you out of trouble.” Long Meg gives me a rather dirty wink. “Especially with your young on the way.”
“Does literally everyone in the Yeavering know?” I grumble.
“That’s how it works here.” Long Meg grins.
“Warden is having young?” Linton asks, peering at me.
Warden’s growls rend the air.
“My mate’s status as being with foal is nobody’s business save for hers,” he says, wrapping a sooty arm around me.
“You are very dirty,” I say, looking up at my smut-covered, handsome Brag.
“I am. I exploded a Thegn,” Warden says with not a little pride.
“It might be the case I exploded a Thegn by giving it back its sword.”
“About that…” Warden cocks his head on one side. “Why did you do it?”
“I might have been carrying that thing around for a long time, but until we got here, I never heard it.” I lean my head against his chest, not caring I’m going to be covered in soot. Warden wraps his hand around my forehead, and I feel him press a kiss to my hair. “Here, it told me, it no longer wanted to belong to the Thegn, and it had its fill of violence and death.”
“A weapon with a conscience?”
“A weapon with soul.” I sigh. Despite the dirt on him, Warden still smells like leather and spice. “It was forged…well it wasn’t sure how long ago, and imbued with a soul by a Faerie who thought it would be a good idea. It wasn’t. It was made to do terrible, awful things, and then the Thegn had it.”
“And we were able to trick it from the Thegn,” Long Meg says, sitting down heavily on a stone seat which has appeared out of nowhere. “But none of us could wield it. None of us had the distinct magic it would accept, until you, my dear.”
“Lord Soulis,” I breathe, as yet more of a memory slips back. “You offered him the sword in the hope it might destroy him, but instead it wanted me.”
