The Kaulish captain only nodded his head. His face looked haunted. Whatever he had found in the cairn had clearly spooked him.
Matteo helped Elea and then Nora onto their horses. Nora wasn’t used to needing help and he could tell it irritated her. Matteo sensed it and pulled her head down for a gentle kiss. She patted down his hair and dropped a kiss on his brow. He swung up onto his horse and they waited for Gerard. He walked like an old man over to his horse and pulled himself into the saddle.
He watched as Nora waited for Elea to go first. He and Nora rode side by side behind her, Gerard taking up the rear. Matteo kept glancing behind him to make sure the man was still on his horse. He was barely holding on to the reins.
Nora glanced back at him. “I hope that he can reconcile himself to whatever he saw in the cairn quickly, for we will need him to hold up his corner of the trigon.”
Matteo huffed. “He can barely hold up his own head. Was it terrible for you too?”
He watched Nora grit her teeth and cock her head to the side. “Meeting Orla was not so terrible as it was sad.”
She paused and he waited for her to continue.
“Orla lost everything because of hate and warned me if I did not forgive, I might suffer the same fate.”
They rode in silence for several minutes. Matteo was unsure if Nora wanted his advice or just for someone to listen to her. He was glad that he kept his mouth shut, for he heard her sniff and saw one tear and then another fall down her swollen cheeks.
“I am filled with hate. For my dead grandfather. For my abusive father. For Elea. I am not worthy to wear Queen Eleanora’s armor.”
Matteo reached out his hand and patted her leg. “I have seen the dark corners of your soul. I have experienced your joys and your sorrows, and I can tell you for certain that you are not filled with hate. Love and loyalty are written on the very marrow of your bones.”
Nora laughed and cried at the same time. “Orla said something similar.”
She didn’t speak again, but he felt the burden on her soul lighten—for he had taken part of the pain inside himself.
38
NORA
It was dark by the time that they reached Donnelly Castle. Their horses were spent, as was Nora’s own energy. She heard someone call out in Urkan and the gates to the castle were let down over the moat. She urged her tired horse over the last few wooden planks before they both would be able to rest.
Her grandmother and Laird Donnelly stood in the courtyard. They all dismounted from their horses and the castle grooms took their reins. Nora took the shield from off her horse. One did not leave the armor of a goddess lying around just anywhere.
Laird Donnelly bowed first to Elea and then to Matteo.
“Is it done?” Grandmother asked. She was never one to waste time over the niceties.
Nora, Elea, and Gerard held up their hands with dried blood in the palms. She felt an energy in the air. A surge of power from their Holy Trigon.
“It is done,” Elea said.
“Then you all know what you must do,” Grandmother said.
Knowing what one must do and doing it was not the same thing. Nora knew that she was supposed to fight her father’s armies and return the throne to Elea. She was also supposed to forgive her cousin for a lifetime of barbs and slights. She could say the words easily enough, but she didn’t think Orla had wanted her to lie. Elea would know by her scent if she did. Nora had to forgive her cousin in her heart, something that was more difficult to do. Something that would take time.
“Yes,” Matteo said with his usual roguish charm. “And we all need to take a bath—desperately.”
A laugh tore out of Nora’s throat and she couldn’t stop from giggling. The four of them looked a mess. Tired, dirty, splattered with mud, and all of them appeared worse for wear. Elea laughed too and even the solemn Gerard managed to smile.
“Who are you, young man?” Grandmother demanded. “And why are you here?”
Nora felt her face grow warm, but before she could explain, Laird Donnelly bowed again obsequiously to Matteo.
“Queen Aris, may I introduce you to His Royal Highness, King Matteo of Sania.”
At least her grandmother had the grace to look chagrined. She bowed to Matteo and he to her. Everyone else in the courtyard also bowed to him, gazing at the Sanian king in fascination. Nora could not blame them. Matteo was fascinating.
“May I inquire, Your Majesty,” Grandmother said, “why you are here?”