“No.”

Nodding, she said, “That’s what I thought.”

She walked off and, like well-trained dogs, the knights followed.

The wind picked up a bit, and Briec knew another storm was coming. He wanted to get back to Talaith. To see her beautiful face and perhaps start another argument over…he stopped to think a minute. Ah, yes. The fruit. He bet she ate all the fruit.

He shrugged. That would work for a good argument.

* * *

She looked up at the goddess who had been the bane of her existence for sixteen years now. She hated Arzhela, the goddess of light, love and fertility. Talaith hated the bitch for what she’d made her do, and what she still needed her to do. Talaith hated her for taking her away from her people and leaving her in that village where she would always be an outsider.

But what she truly hated the bitch goddess for most of all? Taking away Talaith’s daughter.

“You summoned me, goddess?”

Bathed in gold light, a wreath of gold and white flowers adorning her golden head, the goddess smiled at her. “You always say that with a sneer, my darling girl.”

“Do I? I hadn’t noticed.”

Talaith no longer looked at the goddess. She feared what her eyes would show. So she stared at her neck. Smooth, pale, and long, Talaith dreamed of dragging her blade across it.

“Of course you noticed,” Arzhela stated brightly. The goddess always looked bright and cheery. It hid the dark soul beneath. “But it matters not to me. For your time is coming.” She clapped her hands together. “And I am so excited!”

“Yes, goddess.”

Arzhela pouted. “You don’t sound excited.”

Cruel, heartless bitch!

“Whatever brings you joy, goddess, brings me joy.”

“There’s that tone again,” she remarked cheerily, but without a trace of genuine humor. “Be that as it may, everything is falling into place just as I planned.”

Talaith frowned, her eyes still focused on the bitch’s throat. “Sorry, goddess?”

“Well, your presence here. Did you really think a dragon would want you?”

Arzhela wanted Talaith to believe Briec was one of her many pawns like her priestesses or Lord Hamish who even now held her daughter in his fortress, and had these many long years—assuring her daughter was so close and yet so very far. But Talaith knew Arzhela’s power didn’t move past the humans. “If there is one thing I know, is that you do not control the dragons. Especially this one.”

She heard the guttural hiss a split second before the goddess used Magick to lift Talaith and throw her against the outside cave wall.

The wind knocked out of her, it took Talaith a bit to push herself back to her feet. But by then she understood completely what had been going on. Arzhela had no control over the dragons. Her Magick couldn’t breech what the dragons considered their very basic defenses. No wonder Talaith hadn’t heard from the bitch Arzhela in over a moon—she couldn’t touch her when Talaith was with the dragons. But as soon as Talaith left Briec’s cave and his protection…

“Don’t test me, Talaith. I am in no mood.”

“Sorry if I offended you, goddess.”

Arzhela took a deep breath, most likely working hard to control that monumental rage. Once she’d calmed herself, her voice again took on the light lilting tone Talaith had come to loathe.

“Oh, don’t apologize, dear. It’s all right. But perhaps I should make some things clear to you. He’s noticed her.”

Panic, cold and brutal, swept through her limbs, making her immobile. Making her helpless. For the first time in the last five years, Talaith looked the bitch in the eye. “What?”

“Hamish has noticed her. Not surprising, Talaith. She’s the same age you were when you had her. Although much more attractive, but you’ve always been a bit plain. Guess she took after her father, more so than you.”

Talaith fought her desire to scream. To fight. To kill. She even fought her desire to wretch.

“Now, don’t panic, love. I see it on your face. If you follow my instructions, you won’t have anything to worry about.”

“You promised you’d protect her.”

“And I will. Just as I promised.” The goddess’ face turned ugly as her true nature swept across it. “But don’t think for a moment that you’ll be able to get out of this. Don’t think for a moment anyone or any…thing can protect you from me.”

The goddess lifted her hand, two fingers out, and it felt as if Talaith’s throat was back in that noose, choking her. Killing her. Her fingers scratched at her bare neck, fighting to remove a noose that wasn’t there.

“You know what you need to do, Talaith. And you will do it. And you’ll do it well.” Arzhela made a fist, and the feeling worsened, getting tighter around Talaith’s throat. Not only cutting off oxygen but soon, crushing bone. “Do it well, or your throat won’t be the only one I crush. But I’ll make sure he has her first. I’ll make sure he makes her love it.”

Fear for her child overrode fear for herself. She no longer cared about her death. She only cared about her daughter. The daughter they’d ripped from her arms before she’d taken her first breath. The daughter she worried about every moment of every day. The daughter whose name she didn’t even know.

“Yes,” she tried to scream, but was only able to barely choke out.