The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga, #1) - G.A Aiken Page 0,45
about that.”
* * *
The valley came into view and Keeley had to halt the gray mare so she could gaze in wonder.
She really hadn’t known what to expect. Ever since she was a child, she’d heard about the Witches of Amhuinn and the valley they lived in. She’d heard they lived in caves so she was expecting . . . caves. What she didn’t expect was that the side of the entire mountain at the end of the valley had been carved into some sort of castle. Not like her uncle’s, which was mostly tower, but an actual castle. Like something the king himself would have.
“By the gods,” she breathed out. “That’s . . . astounding.”
“It is,” Caid agreed. “I never tire of coming here.”
“I can understand why.”
Beatrix rode her horse up to Caid’s side, her gaze moving over the travel party before she asked, “What are we doing?”
Gemma motioned to the witches’ home. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’s lovely,” she replied. Then she immediately ordered, “All right. Let’s go.”
She rode down the hill while the others followed. But Keeley waited a bit, watching her sister ride off. It took her a moment to realize that Caid was still beside her.
“Your sister isn’t one for taking a moment to enjoy the beauty of things, is she?”
“My sister finds beauty in books.”
“I understand that. My brother is the same way.”
“Is that why he didn’t come with you and Laila?”
“No. He didn’t come because he didn’t give a flying fuck who the next ruler was because they’re all bad. According to him,” Caid added.
Keeley laughed. Her first since the day before. The closer they got to the Amhuinn Mountains, the sadder she felt. She missed her family. She missed her shop. She missed the wild horse herd. She missed just being able to take hammer to steel. Even though they’d burned their family home to the ground, it could be rebuilt. But even without the farm, just being with her kin would make her feel better. The gentle bickering of her parents. The screams and laughter of her siblings. She needed to feel that love again. The love of family.
“It’s going to be all right, you know,” Caid said.
“What is?”
“All of this.”
“What if they don’t want her?” Keeley finally asked.
“Don’t want her?”
“As queen. What if they change their minds?”
Caid raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to help them change their minds?”
“What?” Keeley quickly shook her head. “No! No, no. I would never do that.”
“But you think she shouldn’t be queen?”
Keeley twisted her lips and tightened her grip on her reins. “Forget it.”
“Keeley, it’s all right. It’s good to question. It’s good not to take things at face value.”
“She’s my sister. I love her. I should want her to be queen.”
“No one doubts you love your sister.”
“But I’m a horrible person, yes?”
“No. That is not what I was about to say.”
“But I should want her to be queen. She’s so smart and, yes, she’s young, but what she doesn’t know she can easily learn. With her intelligence, she could be an amazing ruler. I should be helping her obtain her goals, not hoping the witches choose someone else.”
“You do know that most people would want their sister to be queen, but only so others would be forced to call them ‘m’lady’ or ‘m’lord’ or so they could have unlimited access to the Old King’s gold and jewels.”
“I wouldn’t mind having some jewels,” Keeley admitted. “I’ve always wanted to make my father a copy of his old battle sword from when he was a soldier. Only I’d include a jeweled hilt.” She grinned, nodded at Caid. “The mistake a lot of people make is that they want the entire hilt to be covered in jewels. In battle, that will do nothing but hurt your hand. But if it’s done correctly, you can display a jeweled sword on your wall or pull it down and destroy an entire army in case of attack. My da would love that.”
Keeley took a moment to think about her dream sword and that’s when she noticed that the centaur who never smiled had a grin so wide, she barely recognized him.
They stared at each other until she asked, “That isn’t what you meant . . . is it?”
Laughing, he rode off and Keeley followed.
CHAPTER 9
As they rode up to the front gates of the mountain fortress of the Amhuinn Witches, armed and armored guards glowered at them from behind full steel helms; their eyes a bright and extremely unnatural green.