Tears of the Wolf (Wrath and Weeping #1)

Chapter 32 Brynn

Brynn

Brynn felt the group of animals veer into the forest and her heart sank. Perhaps it had been a herd of deer.

“Did you do anything to Cenric?” Brynn looked straight to her mother.

Selene exhaled sharply. “You need to forget about him.”

Brynn straightened, her back resting against the wagon as she glared up at her mother. “Did you or your people do anything to my husband?”

“He is not your husband,” Selene snapped. “You married him without my permission.”

“He was fine when we left.” Anselma volunteered, looking down from her white mule.

Selene narrowed her eyes at the girl, but she only smiled down at Brynn.

“We created a distraction and there were a few losses with that, but the alderman was alive.”

Relief flooded Brynn’s chest along with dread. Who had been hurt? Kalen? Gaitha and Edric? The people in the village? Hróarr and Vana? Brynn might not like Hróarr, but he was important to Cenric.

Selene scowled. “You slept with him last night, didn’t you?”

Brynn’s first impulse was to look away, but she forced herself to hold her mother’s stare.

“How many times did I tell you not to be sentimental about sex?” Selene demanded. “Nothing good comes of it.”

Sex with Cenric was different. It had been true intimacy, with vulnerability and trust in both directions. Paega had touched her like it was a wretched chore, Cenric touched her like it was an honor, an indulgence of the most decadent kind.

Whatever it had been, Brynn wanted more of it. She hadn’t guarded her heart because she felt her heart was safe with him. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe even if she escaped and found her way back to him, he would break it.

But she had gotten just a taste of what a life with him could be like and she wanted it. Wanted it desperately enough to risk, to dare. To hope.

The horses trundled to a stop. Esa whimpered at Brynn’s side as Selene stood.

“The road is too narrow for the wagon ahead.” Selene jerked her chin at Brynn. “Stand, girl.”

Brynn watched her mother, not moving.

Selene grabbed Esa’s hair, and the girl cried out in the sorceress’ grasp. “Will you cooperate?”

Brynn pressed her tongue against the top of her mouth, her mind racing for a way to save Esa. “You leave her behind when we board the ship. Unharmed.”

Selene rolled her eyes. “You want me to abandon your ward away from civilization?”

“Esa’s a clever girl.” Brynn kept looking at her mother. “She’ll be fine.”

Silent tears fell down Esa’s face, but she remained silent—steady.

“Fine.” Selene rolled her eyes. “You come with us, and we will leave her behind on land.”

It wasn’t much, but it was something. If Brynn didn’t have to worry about her ward, she would be free to resist. Her mother would have nothing to hold over her anymore.

Brynn rolled onto her side, awkward with her hands lashed behind her back. She crawled and flopped her way to the end of the wagon.

Neirin grabbed her arm as she reached the edge. “Sorry,” he muttered, pulling her after him.

Brynn studied her mother’s hound. He was a sorcerer, the son of a sorceress who had served Selene for years. At one point, he was supposed to serve Aelfwynn when he came of age, but she had been dead before then.

Neirin took her on foot into the trees, another of her mother’s guards grabbing Brynn’s other arm.

Brynn kept pulling at ka, drawing it into herself and letting it gust out of her. The collar kept soaking it up, gluttonous and insatiable.

She feared wearing herself out by the time she was able to get free. What if she managed to break the collar but was too tired to use magic by that time?

Selene led the way, still holding Esa by the hair. Guards flocked around them, Tessaine and Anselma close at their heels.

They left the horses behind with a few of the servants. Those would probably travel the slow route down south, planning to meet Selene in Glasney, or perhaps Orland.

Brynn felt sick at the thought of Orland and Torswald, its alderman. The alderman her mother wanted her to marry after she had a daughter by Paega. She wouldn’t do it. She would die first.

They marched through the forest, weaving between trees, over fallen logs. Selene’s skirts caught on sharp twigs, and she cursed, yanking them free.

The forest was alive with a haze of ka to Brynn’s senses. Life glowed all around her. It rushed in to meet her as easily as it ever had, but she still couldn’t force spells to form.

Selene and the twins had to be able to sense her gathering massive amounts of power. But they were either confident in the collar’s ability to hold her back or good at disguising their concern.

The only hint they noticed was Anselma’s wide eyes as Brynn drew in a particularly large surge of power. The girl glanced to her sister, who remained predictably impassive.

Brynn pulled in more power. There had to be a limit to this device. There were limits to everything. Nothing was truly infinite.

They stumbled through the forest. Brynn could sense the bodies of men up ahead and the lazy, winding ka that marked fresh water.

They broke out of the trees to the back of a narrow inlet. It wasn’t deep or large enough to be truly useful and appeared too shallow for much use outside of high tide.

The ship was unfamiliar as were the men on board. Hyldish men, from the look of them. Not that it meant anything.

Brynn dug her heels in, shoving back against Neirin. “Let my ward go,” she ordered. “If you want me on that ship, you let her go.”

Selene cast Brynn a dark look over her shoulder. “Do you not trust me?”

“No.” Brynn growled back.

Selene heaved a sigh. “Neirin, bind the girl to one of the trees back there and then join us.”

“You said she would go free,” Brynn protested.

“No,” Selene purred. “I said I would leave her on land.”

“You bitch!” Brynn spat.

Neirin took a coil of rope from his belt and stepped toward Esa. The girl wept as he dragged her to a sapling hidden from view of the river and forced her to sit back against it. He set to lashing her in place, her hands bent backward around it.

“Let her go,” Brynn pleaded. “Mother, please.”

This inlet was remote and away from any nearby settlements. Esa would be left alone in the wilderness with little chance of rescue. She might be able to free herself, but she had been beaten and Neirin looked to be taking his job seriously. She’d likely be here until thirst or the wild animals finished her off.

“I have already made one concession, child,” Selene reminded her. “I will not be making another.”

Brynn wanted to argue, but she had few options. Her mother might change her mind and decide to bring Esa after all—or kill her.

Brynn allowed herself to be led to the edge of the water. They had to wade into the river, the icy water past their knees. The ship was lightweight with only six oars, meant for speedy movement and navigating shallow rivers.

The crew appeared to be regular men, though another sorceress waited at the prow. She was dressed much as the men in tunic and trousers, but Brynn could sense the ka fluttering around her like fireflies. Her eyes were lined in kohl, as were those of her sailors. Her tanned face was framed by gold rings that hung from her silken headband. “Lady Selene,” the seafaring sorceress bowed to Brynn’s mother. Her accent had an odd tone Brynn couldn’t place. “Everything go according to plan?”

“So far,” Selene sighed, even as she shivered with the cold water. “Are you ready?”

“Ready. The tide is going out, so we had best move quickly.” The stranger looked to Brynn, squinting like she was used to the glare of the sun off the water. “Lady Brynn?”

Brynn didn’t answer.

“This is my daughter,” Selene said.

The seafaring sorceress took in Brynn’s bound and collared state. “Why is she bound?” The stranger’s gaze snapped to Selene.

Brynn opened her mouth to reply, but the collar around her throat twitched. It was slight, but she’d felt it.

Something was happening.

Brynn focused on dragging in more power and letting it flow out of her again. She no longer bothered with trying to shape specific spells. Brynn tried to blast power out of her in a tidal wave. The collar kept drinking her magic, lapping it up greedily.

The stranger’s frown deepened at Brynn, probably able to see her feverish efforts at magic.

“Let’s be going,” Selene said quickly. “No sense in waiting.”

“I didn’t agree to abduct or enslave anyone.” The seafarer looked to Selene. “I’m not Valdari.”

Selene’s mouth pinched. “You want answers. I understand. I will happily provide them, but just right now, we are being pursued by some twenty armed men.”

Brynn’s chest jolted. Was her mother lying? Or had she sensed the riders as Brynn had?

The seafaring sorceress sucked her teeth. “When we get out to sea, I expect answers. And if your answers don’t suit me, the deal is off.”

Selene’s nostrils flared, but she demurred. “Of course.”

Neirin splashed up to the vessel and climbed over onto the deck. He settled at Brynn’s side, taking her other arm once again.

Esa remained on the riverbank hidden behind the trees, tied and helpless. Brynn was trying to help. Had she doomed the girl?

The seafarer set to calling the oarsmen, giving orders for the ship to be pushed back out the way they had come. The water grew deeper the farther they went, moving fast—too fast.

The collar around Brynn’s neck twitched again. She was close to something. So close.

“Brynn.” Her mother came into her vision, standing in front of her with eyes wide. “You need to stop.”

Brynn met her mother’s gaze. She kept drawing in ka .

The world was alive. So alive. So full of power.

The collar rattled faintly, shaking against her collarbone. It warmed against her skin.

“Lady Brynn.” Anselma stepped forward, then stopped, hands wringing in front of her. “Lady Brynn, no.”

Selene spun on the girl. “How is she doing that?”

Anselma blanched. “I don’t—”

Selene didn’t wait for a response. She whirled on the seafarer. “Get us out of here!”

“What is happening?” the seafaring sorceress demanded.

Selene ignored her and spun back to Brynn. “Brynn, stop!”

Brynn didn’t stop. She reached and dragged and released power even as her head became lighter and her thoughts muddied.

Selene spun to Anselma. “Do you have more of the sedative?”

“I—”

“Quickly, girl!”

If they drugged Brynn again, they might undo whatever she’d managed to do. They might find a way to permanently bind her.

The ship sailed swiftly, carried by the current. It rounded a bend in the river and the ocean came into view. Brynn fought, straining to gather more power as the ship glided ever closer to the open sea.

Anselma fumbled with her bags as they swept toward the sea. The ship jostled and she dropped her pack.

Neirin forced Brynn onto her knees, clutching her hands behind her back. “Stop!” he hissed in her ear. “Stop!”

Brynn had no intention of stopping. The ship swept by the last of the pines and the quiet forest. Past…

There were living things in the trees. Things larger than squirrels or deer. Brynn might have missed them if she hadn’t been reaching for ka so desperately.

There were men in the trees. Too many to be an idle hunting party or a harmless group of fishermen.

Selene shook her head, crouching in front of Brynn. “Brynn, if you keep fighting, you risk—”

The ship slammed to a stop.

Everyone toppled off-balance.

Neirin stumbled, slamming Brynn down into the deck. Selene screamed and the sorceresses raised defensive spells. Shouts rang across the deck and the familiar sounds of clanging steel burst around her.

Growling, Brynn dragged still more magic into herself, still pinned by Neirin.

“Stop!” the sorcerer panted, trying to pull her up.

A scream overhead cut him off.

Brynn kept dragging in power. She didn’t care what happened. If she died, so be it, but she would take her mother with her.

The collar buzzed as Brynn continued to feed it magic. It heated, stinging her skin. She braced herself, pulled in yet more power, then released it.

Neirin was becoming frantic even as a battle raged around them. “If you overpower the trammel, it will—”

The collar exploded in a surge of golden light.