Only she could ease the aching pain inside his heart.
His aunt was dead. Mutilated. He'd found the body when he'd gone to look for her after she didn't show up for the midday meal.
If he lived an eternity, he would never forget the grisly sight. It would live inside him along with the memory of his mother dying in his arms.
"It's the gods' curse," Parth had whispered earlier that evening, not knowing Talon was close enough to hear him speak to his brother. "He is the whore's son. She lay with a Druid to beget a cursed lineage and now we'll all pay for it. The gods will punish us all."
"Do you wish to challenge Speirr's sword for leadership?"
"Only a fool would challenge one such as he. Not even Cuchulainn could equal him."
"Then you'd best pray to the gods that he never hears you."
Talon clenched his eyes shut, trying to dampen the whispers that had haunted him all the days of his life.
"Speirr?" Nynia stroked his face. "Are they all slain?"
He nodded. After he had brought his aunt home, he had gathered his men and ridden after the Northern Gaul tribe. He'd found one of their daggers near her body and had known instantly they were responsible.
"I really am cursed, Nyn." The words stuck in his throat. After a lifetime of trying to prove to others that he wasn't cursed for his parents' actions, he was now cursed because of his own. "I should have listened to you when my uncle died. I should never have taken vengeance against the Northern clan. Now all I can do is fear what their gods will take from me next."
But in his heart, he already knew. There was nothing on earth more precious than the woman he held.
She was going to die.
Because of him.
It was all his fault. All of it.
He alone had brought the wrath of the Northern clan's gods down upon their heads.
There was no way to stop it. No way to keep her by his side.
The pain of it was more than he could bear. "I have offered up sacrifices to the Morrigan, but the Druids tell me it isn't enough. What more can I do?"
"Maybe this is the last. Maybe it will end now."
He hoped so. The alternative...
Nae, he couldn't lose his Nynia. Their gods could have anything but her...
Talon groaned as his dream shifted forward, into the future. He held his wife as she labored to bring their baby into the world.
They were both covered in sweat from the fire and hours of exertion. The midwife had opened a window and let in a cool breeze from the snow that was falling outside.
Nynia had always loved the snow, and the weather had given them both hope that maybe everything would work out. Maybe the baby would be a new chance for all of them.
"Push!" the woman ordered.
Nynia's fingernails bit into his arms as she gripped him and screamed. Talon placed his cheek to hers, holding her close and whispering into her ear. "I've got you, my love. I'll never let you go."
She groaned deep and then relaxed as their son rushed out from inside her, into the hands of the midwife.
Nynia laughed as he kissed her cheek and hugged her tight.
But their joy was cut short as the child refused to respond to the old woman's attempts to wake him.
"The babe is dead." The woman's words rang in his head.