“I cannot say.”
Reyna blew out a frustrated breath. “Fine. We don’t need a battle anyway. If I sneak up on him in the middle of the night—”
“That sounds far too dangerous, Reyna,” Thane cut in. “There must be some other way.”
“Yes, Queen Morgan,” Nollaig said intently, turning her rustling cloak toward the ruler of the hidden lands. “Mustn’t there be something else?”
Queen Morgan clucked her tongue. “Who are you?”
“Nollaig.”
The Dryad stared, her gleaming green eyes flickering with intensity. After a long moment, she stood and collected her spear from where she’d leaned it up against the tree. “Reyna, come with me. The rest of you stay where you are. My Shieldmaidens will attack you if you don’t do as I say.”
Reyna cast an apologetic glance at her sister and her friends, and then fell into step beside the Queen as she led her away from the mud huts and toward the stream.
“They’re Shieldmaidens?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Much like you, I’m guessing,” Queen Morgan said. “Good with the blade, expert at dodging arrows. When in battle, they’re as strong as any male.”
“I didn’t know there were Shieldmaidens in the Wood Court.”
“There’s not.” Queen Morgan smiled. “We aren’t part of the Wood Court. That’s for politics and scheming, wars and words. We belong to the land. It just so happens our land is part of a kingdom, but that does not mean we bow to that kingdom’s rules.”
“I’m surprised Molt didn’t force you to bow.”
“He tried,” Queen Morgan said, her laugh tinkling like the babble of the stream. “But no mortal king holds power over us. Only Seelie does.”
“I’m glad to hear it isn’t the other one,” Reyna said, casting her gaze around at the woodland farmers they passed by. They were collecting berries from the thorny bushes and pulling herbs up from the churned ground.
“You mean Unseelie,” Queen Morgan said with a punctuated tsk. “You will find no followers of blood gods here. We’ve seen what happens to those who are ensnared by the taste of bones. And we know where they go when this life ends and the next one begins.”
“Ifrinn?” Reyna asked.
“Indeed. A place of shadows and flames.” Queen Morgan came a stop at a small mound set into a hill. Water poured through a wide hole, cascading into the mouth of the stream. Silver flecks danced within the waters, and a steady hum pulsed beneath their feet.
“Is this where you speak to Seelie?” Reyna asked. Something about it reminded her so much of Inishfall, and the birthplace of the gods. It had the same twisting pulse to it.
Reyna winced away from it. The power of it made her want to run screaming in the other direction.
“Yes, but that’s not why I brought you here.” The Queen gestured toward the flowing stream. “Seelie never speaks when I ask. He speaks only when he feels inclined, and he would have made his intentions known by now if he wanted to speak with you.”
She was both relieved and annoyed. The last time she’d encountered Seelie, she’d made that horrible bargain, and so much had happened as a result of it. She’d defeated the Ruin, but it had come at a cost, and she wasn’t even entirely sure she should have defeated it in the first place.
Seelie hadn’t told her what the Ruin was. He hadn’t even said anything at all. Unseelie had been the one to speak to her. The god of light only pulsed quietly, watching her wrestle with a decision that would change the entire course of her life.
He could have told her what would happen. He could have warned her about the Namhaid. Hell, he could have told her who the damn Namhaid was. Instead, she was stuck guessing, horror-stricken and paranoid about everyone and everything. The Ruin had twisted her inside out, and Seelie had let it all happen.
“Unless Seelie can tell us how to cure the curse without spilling Lorcan’s blood, then I don’t think I want to hear anything from him,” Reyna said frankly, hoping he wouldn’t strike her down on the spot for blasphemy.
“Then, you might not like my suggestion,” the Queen said with snap, narrowing her eyes. “Seelie blesses this land with power. You wonder why we didn’t fall like the rest of Tir Na Nog. You’re curious about the immortality keeping us alive for hundreds of years. You cannot help but wonder at the wall of rain that surrounds our village like a protective cocoon. Magic is alive here when it is dead everywhere else. Why is that, Reyna? Why is it alive here?”
Reyna’s lips flatlined. “It’s obviously because of Seelie.”
“And he holds no ill will toward you. He showed me your face. He told me you were coming and that you were not a threat to Ionad.”
“Did he warn you about Ulaid Molt?” she asked.
Queen Morgan didn’t answer. She turned her gaze on the flowing stream, her face full of adoration. “These waters hold magic. Drink from it and Seelie’s power will return to you once more.”
