a doeskin bundle from the trunk, Sabrine knew what it held. The key to the Éan’s continued existence.
The sense of betrayal she felt was staggering. “You stole our sacred stone?”
Verica was not only Éan herself, she was Sabrine’s dearest friend, no matter how short the duration of their acquaintance. This woman had stolen the key to their people’s future?
“Not on purpose!” Verica’s face twisted with desperate emotion, tears standing out in her usually peace-filled eyes. “I thought I was protecting it.”
“Did you know that without it, we could not pass our Éan gifts on to the next generation?” Sabrine asked, giving her friend a chance to claim innocence.
“My mother said something about that, but I don’t see how that can be true.”
Sabrine was momentarily struck dumb by her friend’s words. “You would have destroyed our people because you do not believe in our ways?”
“No, it’s not like that.” Verica began to pace, her distress growing rather than calming with each step. “I didn’t know there were any Éan left. Not until you came here.”
“But I have been here for more than a sennight.” Near half a month. “You never once mentioned your theft.”
“I wasn’t stealing it; I worried the Sinclairs would find the chamber of the Éan and take or destroy the stone. It was before I knew they were not like Rowland, hating all who descended from a bird’s nature.”
“But you told me nothing.”
“Today . . . as soon as I realized what you were looking for, I brought you here for the stone.”
It was true, but Sabrine was still caught up in her horror at one of her own kind nearly destroying their people, good intentions or no. She shook her head, her body rigid with mental distress.
Verica held the bundle out to her. Sabrine took it, the power surging around them as she connected to the stone, even through the doeskin, as only one of the royal line could do outside their sacred ceremonies.
“I know I should have said something right away, but I wasn’t thinking of it.”
“You weren’t . . .” Sabrine’s voice failed her.
“So much has happened in the time since you came.”
It was true but no great comfort. “My youngest brother is due for his coming of age ceremony. It may well have happened.”
She had refused to dwell on that possibility, unwilling to consider that she might not be successful in her quest.
Anya-Gra had said she would wait to perform the ceremony until the next full moon, though all knew if she waited any longer, he might as well not have it at all. Sabrine’s brother was close to his final change into manhood.
And Chrechte magic did not always wait for the spiritual leader’s schedule; sometimes a different moon called to the raven within a Chrechte’s soul.
She herself had been called by the crescent moon, receiving a gift of unparalleled power for her generation during her ceremony.
“I’m sorry.”
Before she had come to this clan, Sabrine would have waved off both the words and the anguish in her friend’s voice. Her first and only priority would have been the Clach Gealach Gra.
She could not ignore Verica’s clear distress though. The other woman was far too intelligent not to realize the full implications of her actions and be not only horrified by them but struck with a terrible sense of guilt.
Which she did not deserve. “Disaster has been averted. That is what matters.”
Whether it had happened in time for her brother she would only discover upon returning to her clan.
The moisture in Verica’s eyes spilled over and she did not look even remotely convinced.
Sabrine placed the wrapped bundle on the bed with great care and then turned to face Verica and, drawing on instincts she’d suppressed for years, put her arms out.
The other woman accepted the embrace even as she started to cry in earnest. “I did not mean to hurt anyone.”
“I know. And no one has been hurt.” She prayed to the giver of life that her words were true.
“Your arm was when you got shot out of the sky.”
Sabrine awkwardly patted Verica’s back, much more adept at fighting than comforting. “It worked in my favor. Barr brought me among his clan without questioning my motives.”
Verica stepped back, wiping at her wet cheeks with the backs of her hands. “You planned to have Barr find you in the forest all along?”
“Yes. I knew it had to be this clan that had taken the stone. It disappeared before the Sinclairs had their first ceremony in the