The shadow familiar makes a low, mournful sound. Coinneach knows what I know now. He knows what's coming.
Tears blur my vision.
The lights of the town below smear into bright gold as I wipe them from my eyes.
Völundr. My hometown is going to be attacked first.
Seadragons will rise from the depths and tear through the harbor defenses. Three days from now, the docks where I used to play as a child will burn. The ships where I learned to sail will sink into the cold sea. The people I grew up with will die screaming.
A sob catches in my throat. It's impossible to contain this sadness. Everything will crumble to ash. I can see it so clearly.
Coinneach doesn't know what to do with my tears. His flight wavers slightly as if he's considering landing or turning back. He would do anything to fix whatever is hurting me.
"Take me to Svenn. Please."
He's reluctant. I can feel it in the way his wings beat just slightly off-rhythm. He wants to take me home where it's safe.
But I need Svenn.
After everything that just happened I need my mate. The eclipse is waning now. I can see the moon beginning to emerge from shadow, silver light spilling across the landscape. There's no reason to keep me away from Svenn any longer.
"I'll be all right," I say, keeping my voice steady. "Just take me to him."
Coinneach finally relents with a soft trill that sounds almost like a sigh. His wings shift, catching a different current. We change course toward the mountains. Somewhere in those peaks, Svenn is chained and waiting.
I press my face against Coinneach's feathers and let myself cry as we fly. The wind removes the tears from my cheeks almost as fast as they fall. I let the steady beat of his wings anchor me.
Soon I'll be with Svenn again.
We reacha cave high in the mountains. Coinneach sets me down gently at its mouth. He releases me with care before shifting back into his smaller form as Svenn's shadow.
He's inside, chained,Ken signs to me.But I doubt those chains will hold if the bond has taken over.
I need my husband right now.
I run into the cave, heart hammering. I pray he survived the eclipse madness without hurting himself.
The entrance opens into a small, surprisingly warm chamber. Wolf pelts are scattered along the walls and floor. I think it was an abandoned den once, claimed and remade. Despite its isolation, the space feels almost livable. Aelfric and Garrett chose well.
Lanterns hang from natural hooks in the rock, casting golden light across the chamber. A bed of pine boughs rests against one wall, layered with blankets to dull the chill.
At the very center, wrapped in enough chains to anchor a ship, kneels my husband.
"Svenn!"
He looks up at my voice. Relief floods his features despite the strain evident in every line of his body. "You're safe."
I rush to him, dropping to my knees beside where he's chained to the stone floor. He's shirtless and his hair is soaked with sweat. The blood moon's glow shines on his bare back through the cave mouth, casting him half in gold and half in crimson.
My hands immediately go to his face, assuring myself he's here and whole.
He pulls against the chains, making them rattle. "Coinneach said you were in danger. What happened?"
"Völundr," I say breathlessly, the words tumbling out in a rush. "They're attacking Völundr first, with seadragons. In three days."
I tell him everything I heard in the war room.
"Then a frontal assault on the capital with wyverns and mammoths," I finish breathlessly.
