Return of the Danu Page 5

  Ansgar took two long strides and had his hand on the bolt when she reminded him. “He’s my brother, barbarian, are you really going to open the door with a sword in hand?”

  He paused before throwing the latch and gave her a raised brow. “Any chance he came without those knives he seems so fond of?”

  Not a chance in hell, Elena mused, but kept it to herself. “He’s young and full of pride,” she said instead her tone as mild as she could make it. “Surely you at least are old enough to know better?”

  Again he bared those teeth at her in a parody of a smile. She nearly rolled her eyes, but he at least dropped the sword and leaned on it, point to the ground when the door opened. She could not see her brother for Ansgar’s broad naked back, but she did not need to see him to know he did not like the sight he was getting when her door opened. Not at all.

  “Why are you in my sisters’ room?”

  “How do you know this is your sisters’ room and she is not in mine?” As if that were better, Elena thought crossing her arms and glaring at the broad back blocking her way. “For that matter,” Ansgar went on, his voice an open hard challenge turning blatantly suspicious. “How do you know your sister is here at all?”

  “We are Danu,” her brother said provocatively. “It is difficult to keep secrets from our spies.” And her brother just said the thing most likely to have Ansgar the Bloody shooting straight to battle readiness.

  “Do not be any more absurd than you need to be Quain,” she called in clear exasperation. Then she said to Ansgar’s stiff back. “He is my brother, he can feel me in the weave as I can him. He always knows where I am, and when I am in distress. There are no spies living in Haven for you to force out of hiding and eviscerate.” Her voice rose as she addressed her brother again. “Honestly Quain, you are the worst at diplomacy of anyone I have ever seen, and I am counting the younglings in that and they will say anything that passes into their tiny developing minds. What is your excuse?”

  “If you had sent a message letting us know you had recovered from your wounds…” he trailed off and then growled with clear frustration. “Why are we talking through this barbarian cur? And why,” he added with more feeling. “Was he sleeping in your room?”

  “Prince Ansgar,” she said with clear distinction on his title. “Has been assigned to my protection. He takes that job very seriously and slept on the floor. Not on the bed, though really if he had slept on the bed with me, I would have hardly needed your permission or asked for your blessing beforehand. You are my brother, not my keeper.”

  “Will you get out of the way?” the growl was clearly directed at the warriors and not her, so she did not answer, but Ansgar did, by not moving a muscle.

  “She is in my care, which means I cannot allow you into the room armed, not to mention I would like to know how it is that you got past the warriors at the gate, and all the patrols to begin with.”

  Wisely for a change her brother ignored the questions he would not answer and answered the charge he could, with clear incredulity. “I am hardly going to hurt my own sister.”

  “I do not know you warlock. How would I know what you would or would not do?”

  There was a short silence as she could practically feel the two men sizing each other up. “I will see my sister, alone. Do not force me to move you myself. You will not like how I do it, Prince Ansgar the Bloody.” His emphasis on Ansgar’s title was a snide repeat of what her own had been.

  Ansgar stiffened even further and his voice was low and as cold as a glacier when he answered. “Your sister is too pretty to behead, and I have been sworn to her protection. You have no such assurances pup. You try a power play here and now and I will consider it an act of war and react accordingly. You will not likely be much of a bother with your head separated from your body. Even the Green could not put you back together from that.”

  Hearing the menace and feeling it in the air around her, building, Elena rushed forward and threw herself between the two men, careful to hold her grip on the weave of the kitchen garden lest her brother make a rash move they would all not live to regret.

  “Enough,” she said forcefully. Her back to the prince, but close, her eyes on her brother on the other side of the warrior that guarded the hall. This time it was the taller one with the scar on his throat and the rusty nail voice. She really needed to learn his name, but for now she had bigger problems. “I am fine, Quain, as you can see for yourself. The wound is not even a twinge now, and I have been protected well and treated as an honored guest. This home,” she went on before either man could object. “Is the home Katrine stayed in when she was in Haven as I am sure you could feel from the weave, so it is also the home of a woman and a child she counts among her friends. Do not bring shame to our family and death to this house by acting rashly. Hasn’t there been enough of that?”

  The silence that answered her question was not what she would call reassuring. More like a stubbornly proud silence where neither man was willing to give even a modicum of compromise.

  “Prince Ansgar,” she finally said. “Would you give me a moment with my brother, so I can send him on his way and we can get back to the days business?”

  “Not until he tells me how he managed to get here without being discovered.”

  “You are the great general,” Quain said snootily. “You figure it out.”

  Elena was ready to smack both of them upside the head. “Enough of this ridiculousness. You want to battle each other. I don’t have to watch.” Then she turned and walked out of the room through the garden. If they did kill each other she at least would have deniability. I have no idea what happened. King Morten. I was in the garden. Yes, she was sure that would fly well with a man who had named his blade “witch killer.” He was known for his leniency with magic users after all. Hah!

  Chapter Seven

  To her surprise it was her brother who joined her in the garden. Though she was not surprised to note that there was more than one pair of ears stationed at the various doorways and windows to the home.

  “How did you get him to let you come in here alone?” she asked mildly enough, her hands busy weeding the garden.

  “If you think we are alone you are not as bright as I have always known you to be.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I told him I used magic to scale his pretty walls far from the soldier posted.”

  She smiled at that. It was not exactly a lie. Though it told the prince nothing. “As you can see, I am fine, so you can go back to Katrine and tell her all is well.”

  “I have seen that you are well, but I have also seen the look in that warriors’ eyes when he barred my way. He does not just see you as someone to protect.”

  “I can take care of myself,” she started only to be interrupted.

  “Khalon has that look in his eyes when he looks at Katrine.” He said grimly shutting her up. “It is even less welcome when it is Ansgar the Bloody about my sister.”

  She turned then and looked her brother in the eyes. “You are imagining things.”

  “Then why didn’t you move him out of the way when he stood in yours. We both know you could have.”

  “I do not think attacking him with the magic of the weave so soon after the last time is the most diplomatic move we could make.”

  “So soon?” Quain looked mildly intrigued and then darkly pleased when she raised a brow at him in answer.

  His smiled turned wicked and satisfied. “I take it you have been forced to put that barbarian in his place before this moment?” he went on before she could speak. “That is something anyway.” He went on again without giving her time to speak. “I don’t like you being with these warriors on your own. The queen and her barbarian have already started the trek through the Green to the deep wilds. I am told that we will see you on the other side, since you will be accompanying the barbarian horde on the road,” he shrugged, “until you run out of road and must take the edge of the Green the rest of the way. I
am not sure I like that you are forced into this company alone for so long, but at least the area for the new city is close to the Western Sea. We will be close by once you reach Roads End.”

  Elena absorbed that information and merely nodded. Roads End was the last human settlement, and literally the end of the North Road where it curves West from Haven. After that the wild and overgrown Green stood like a solid wall of wild untamed land. The dense forest was some of the wildest of the Green and even the Danu did not usually venture through any but the very edge of it as it met craggy mountain and finally twisted around to the rocky coast and the Sea.

  She had been waiting for word of their first journey since she had been forced into the ambassador role, but so far her brother knew more about what was happening than she did. She sighed. The western Sea was quite a journey. And her brother was right, she would be taking the soldiers into at least the edge of the wild at the end of the trip. Which added a few new worries to her already colossal share of them.

  “You should know better than anyone that I am never alone. Not really.” She reminded him. I will send word if I have anything to share. In the mean time I have a job to do here and you are making that harder and more time consuming, not less.”

  Her brother huffed out a breath in annoyance. “Fine, I will leave you to your diplomatic mission, but I will expect regular word on how you are doing, or I will return.”

  Before she could tell him what she thought of his dictates one of the warriors stepped into view at the edge of the garden. “I will escort you to the gate.”

  Elena held her tongue. She did not need to tell her brother to be careful when Ansgar was not going to give him the chance to make any mistakes. Her brother raised his brow at the escort and then smirked just a bit. A look that had always infuriated her when he sent it her way. The warrior was either made of sturdier stuff or was better at hiding it because his eyes stayed glacier cold and trained on her brother.

  She saw the moment Quain decided to say something to poke at the warrior and she spoke up, her own voice a warning tone. “No.” Her brother looked her way with that smirk and she gave him her most severe warning glare. “No,” she repeated.

  “You used to be more fun.”

  “And you have never had any sense.”

  When her brother had finally stopped playing and allowed his escort to walk off with him, she turned to look at Ansgar. She had known he was there and would have even had he not been leading a horse that was so closely linked to the wild weave he could not have been but one generation removed from it. The eyes might not have the red fire in their depths as the wild animals of the Green would, but it was there just the same, banked like cold cinders waiting for the smallest puff of air to set it ablaze.

  He was a beautiful beast, as to that, she thought with some self-deprecating humor, they both were. The horse was nearly as black in mane as the prince who lead him, with nearly the same question in his eyes. She did not have to look far to see the connection between the beast and his rider. They had formed a bond these two, and whether he knew it or not Prince Ansgar the Bloody had just given her an advantage she had not foreseen. She smiled at the horse, ignoring the glower of one beast in favor of the other. She sent her magic down the line between them and brushed against the prancing beast until he calmed at her magic touch and stood at peace. Ansgar sensed the sudden change in his horse and turned to look at him. The horse looked back at him solemnly.

  Ansgar turned back to her with narrowed eyes. “Do not bewitch my horse,” he warned.

  Elena laughed at him. She could not help it, he looked so disgruntled suddenly, and truthfully, his connection to a beast of the wilds made her happy. He was not so against magic and the wilds if this was his choice of stallion, and the bond between them was strong. It gave her a hope for the future her brothers visit had nearly flattened. And she was in the garden, a wild animal of the Green in her weave once again. With the way her power worked, it was no wonder that such a surge of power made her a little giddy. “As if that horse would ever turn against you. He is descended from the Frendi, and you are bonded. That is no small thing.” She tilted her head as a sudden thought occurred to her. With this horse connected to him as it was and it being so much a part of the wild magic, Ansgar the Bloody would have no trouble traversing the wild places. The Green would be open to him if it was just him and his horse.

  “What has that look of worry suddenly in your eyes?”

  Elena looked away. The man saw far too much, and this was not something she would tell him, not until she saw more proof than his choice of mount for trusting him. Though admittedly it was enough to reassure her on several levels that he was not precisely who she had thought. “Where have you been hiding this one?” she asked, motioning to the horse and ignoring his question. She wondered if Katrine had met this horse and seen the connection. Perhaps not, Katrine had been raised outside the truly wild places, and might not have ever seen a Frendi, not to mention Elena had a connection to the beast of the wilds that no others of her kind had ever shown, so even if Katrine had known what the horse was, she might not have felt the same connection outside the wilds that Elena did.

  Ansgar of course, knew she had ignored his question. Frustration and suspicion was lighting his eyes again, mostly frustration. And a heat that had nothing to do with anger that she continued to ignore. “What is a Frendi? And why does the sight of my horse make you happy, and worried at the same time?”

  Damn him, did he miss nothing with those cold raptor eyes of his. “A Frendi is a wild horse of the Green. The legend among my people is that if you are very lucky, and worthy of their trust, a Frendi will deign to bond with you.”

  “Bond?”

  “Welcome you into their weave. It is a said to be a sacred bond between horse and rider. Once one is made it will never be broken short of death.” She looked him over questioningly. “How did you earn such an honor?”

  Ansgar snorted. “He is a horse, I took him from a horse trader with a heavy hand and trained him myself from a colt. That is not a mystical bond. Simple loyalty and shared history.” The horse nudged his shoulder almost in reproach. Ansgar gave him a warning look. Elena smiled.

  “You forget I can feel the weave, what connects you is more than that, though that too is no small sharing. And he is Frendi,” Elena added, bowing her head slightly to the beast who threw back his head in a wild proud sweep of mane, prancing a bit, taking the tribute as his due. “Royalty in his own right.” She smiled again looking back to Ansgar. “You are well suited.”

  “What I am is called to my father’s side,” he said brusquely, looking her over and then around the garden and the empty street beyond. “I do not suppose there is any chance you will stay out of trouble while I am gone?”

  Elena swept her hand around the over abundant garden. “If I am not needed at this meeting of yours, I will be doing what the Danu do best. I will tend the garden. Should any trouble come my way it will not be of my doing.”

  Ansgar sighed, clearly not believing her words. “Beck will be watching, and as soon as Lor is finished escorting your brother out of my city he will return and watch over you as well until I can return.”

  Elena filed away the names of the warriors and tilted her chin at his horse. “What is he called?” She should probably insist on being at the meeting with his King since she was technically there to finalize the accords, but the garden had been neglected too long, and it was clear from his tone and words that she was not welcome.

  Foolish man, she thought. As if that would stop her.

  She was content to remain where she was for the moment. Soon enough she knew they would both be moving on. She would take a small snippet of peace where she could find it. She knew in her gut that it would not last.

  Elena sent a surge of power through the weave and waited for the small mouse who had answered her call to nose his way carefully through the underbrush. She was not surprised to see it was the same mouse she had healed
the day before. After a bond has been formed the animals tended to stick close to her. She smiled at the little mouse but did not draw him out of his hidden place among the herbs. Aware as she was that she was under close watch, even if she could not see the watcher. She closed her eyes and willed him to understand what she wanted. When she was done the mouse left on his errand, and Elena went back to the garden, content that between the information the mouse would bring her and the connection she had forged with the Frendi she would have the information she would need to accomplish her mission. If what she found out was important enough, she would choose another sturdier beast to brave the Green for her. She sighed and went back to the garden weave.

  ***

  Amelia found her in the garden. Elena had no idea how much time had passed but the lady of the house smiled pleasantly at her when she felt her enter the weave and looked up. It took her a good amount of time to adjust to the here and now.

  “Katrine used to do this,” she said wistfully. “Working in the garden, or when she would weave. She was so lost in what she was creating I would have to remind her to eat.” Amelia nodded to a plate she placed on the low stone wall. “I realize you probably have all you need here, as a Danu, but I prepared you some herb tea that Katrine favored.” She smiled again. “It is Katrine’s blend from the wild.”

  Elena was buzzing with energy from the loop she had formed with the garden and other things, but the thought of tea from her home, rather than the pale imitation she had tasted last night had her smiling huge at the Northern woman. “Where is your Jaak this morning?”

  Amelia took a seat beside the stone wall when Elena motioned her an invitation to join her. Elena sat on the other side of the tea tray and inhaled the wonderful Green flavor of the brew. She closed her eyes in appreciation before she lifted the cup to take a sip. Hot and just a note of the bitter grasses that grew at the edge of the wild. The rest were the sweet Greens and minty brush of the deep. Elena sighed in pleasure, holding the taste of home in her mouth for a long moment before swallowing blissfully. She opened her eyes and smiled big at the other woman, who watched her with a pleased blush to her cheeks. “I had my brother by marriage come and collect him early. He will enjoy following him around the warrior grounds, and it will keep him from pestering you incessantly.”