“Gone?” Ghleanna’s eyes narrowed. “Gone where?”
“I do not know. But I would not worry; she brought Court of Vipers with her.”
Now one of Ghleanna’s eyes twitched uncontrollably. “Court of . . . Vipers? And who exactly is that?”
“The Nolwenn, the Northlander, the She-dragon with white hair—the young one, not the queen—and the brown female who is size of hairless bear.”
Now Celyn and his sister were standing behind their mother, trying not to let her see their expressions.
“And you call them Annwyl’s Court of Vipers?” Ghleanna pushed.
“Yes.” Elina gestured to her sister, who was dragging two extremely large buffalo behind her. Gods, the woman was strong. And lethal. There was one arrow each in those buffalo. No more, no less. “Do we not, sister?”
“What?”
“Call the queen’s friends her Court of Vipers?”
“That we do.”
“And that’s a . . . what? Exactly?”
The sisters said together, “Compliment.”
“A compliment? Really?”
“Of course,” Elina replied.
Kachka explained, “Who would not want a court of plotting, vicious women standing behind them as they face their greatest foe? I know I would.”
“As would I,” Elina agreed.
“They will help Queen Annwyl to keep her sheeplike people fat and happy. Who could ask for more in such a decadent, imperialist place as this?”
“I . . .” Ghleanna, her mouth open, looked at her son, then her daughter, then back at the Rider sisters. Eventually, she shook her head and walked away.
With their mother gone, Brannie first hugged Elina, then Kachka, while both women stared closely at the She-dragon.
“Welcome to the family,” Brannie said around tears of absolute joy. “Now I must call to my sisters and brothers for the feast, because it’s going to be amazing!”
The Riders watched Brannie head off.
“Your sister is skipping like child,” Kachka noted.
“She is. She is very happy right now. And I owe that to both of you.”
“Why?”
“Just because.”“Whatever,” Kachka said. “I will get these buffalo to the kitchens.”
Elina caught her sister’s shoulder. “Annwyl has invited both of us to stay here. On Garbhán Isle. For as long as we want.”
“You have to stay,” Kachka replied. “You are now bound to this dragon like property, which means I have to stay because I am the sister of such a weak-willed female. How could I hold my head up anywhere with such knowledge?”
Celyn smiled. “And I love you, too, Kachka. Now that we’re family.”
“Shut up,” she said to him. But he saw her grudging smile as she dragged the day’s kills across the courtyard.
“You like to poke bear, do you not?” Elina asked the foolish dragon.
“I really do. It brings me such entertainment.”
She took his hand. “Then you best come with me. I must show you how to outrun my sister’s arrows.”
As they headed toward the training field, Elina was forced to stop when Celyn suddenly did. She could tell by the look on his face that something troubled him.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Do you really feel trapped here? I mean, after this ridiculous brand of a bear—”
“I like bears.”
“—I thought that you wouldn’t mind if I—”
Elina covered his mouth with her hand. “I have accepted the fact that I am a pathetic female who deserves nothing in life. I am sure that Glebovicha’s headless corpse is rolling around in her funeral pyre at being proven right about me.”
Celyn gazed at her with wide, confused eyes and removed her hand. “I have no idea if that means you are happy or unhappy to be mated with me.”
“I am extremely happy that I am mated to you forever—”
“Oh!”
“—which disgusts me.”
“Oh.”
She gripped him by his chain-mail shirt and pulled him close. “So you must spend the next few centuries, Dolt, making sure that I have no thought in my head but the pleasure you are giving my body. Do you think you can handle that?”
“Well, Elina of the Ridiculously Long Name, I am more than willing to try and try and try until we are nothing more than exhausted, sweaty bodies writhing on the ground to the great embarrassment of everyone around us.”
She stepped back and patted his wide chest. “Then I think we will be just fine.”
Epilogue
Talan stretched his arms over his head and yawned. He’d grown tired of examining these scrolls although they were filled with a bounty of knowledge. Brigida the Foul had an extensive library of arcane books and scrolls in her Outerplains cave that would help him expand his skills. But unlike his sister and cousin, he had no need to spend every minute of every day learning. Not when there was a world to explore. A new world.
Through the lines of magick, Talan felt Brigida’s return. He waited for her to enter the chamber since he had much to tell her. He heard easy footsteps approaching and said, “I didn’t think you needed that damn walking stick. I bet you just use it to beat people over the head with. Anyway, it’s a good thing you’re back. It’s getting a bit unwieldy out there, and you should—”