The Crow Queen by Melanie Karsak EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Melanie Karsak
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical Fantasy Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 4.7 MB
- Price: Free
My body trembled, the unseasonably cold wind piercing through my thin
mourning dress, as I stood barefoot before Morfudd’s mound. The
sound of the funeral dirge sang by the sisters of the Cailleach filled the
night air. Their dark robes swirled around them, their torches flickering as
they sent my mother to the Otherworld.
How would she be received there?
Would our ancestors shun her ignorance, or would she be forgiven for
her transgressions?
I stared at the mound of stones.
In the span of one moon, I had become an orphan.
The chilling reality reminded me that death was a season. It could
override the warmth of the summer sun or even make the bone-chilling cold
of winter feel like a bright spring day. When death comes, it swarms over
life like a plague.
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In this dark season, it was difficult to find the light.
Duty and responsibility could make one rally through the pain.
Necessity could move a person.
But neither could heal.
Nothing but time could remedy death’s sting: Brigantia and the
Cailleach, the spring and winter goddesses, forever dancing together.
I shuddered, the pain of my losses mounting, but I held it all behind a
wall. I tried not to feel anything, but there were times when the surge
pressed on the cracks.
While my father had gone to the tomb with honors, games, feasts, and
witnesses, Morfudd was put into the cold ground in private. I stood before
my mother’s mound, surrounded by the priestesses of the Cailleach and
Brigantia. Along with us were Ystradwel, Ulixes, Conall, Eddin, and the
guards, maids, and servants from the fort.
The people had not come.
Whispers abounded that my mother had plotted with Gallmaul to kill
my father. The granddaughter of Bellnorix went to her royal tomb
dishonored. As I stood there, the events in the great hall replaying through
my mind, I could not ignore the doubt in my heart.
My mother had sworn she was innocent.
Guilt drove her to take her life.
But guilt over what? That she had acted rashly and endangered us, or
that she had been complicit?
I wanted to believe my mother had been innocent, that she had fallen
into a trap. I wanted to believe her only guilt was that she had lusted. But
something nagged at the back of my mind. I was not alone in my doubts.
The priestesses shared them as well. Because of that hesitation, we stood
here on the windy plane of the Three Sisters Henge alone.
Môd shook a rattle, signaling the end of the lament.
Everything grew silent.
The wind blew, causing the torches to flicker in the wind, two of them
burning out.
The dark-robed priestess of the Cailleach turned to me. “Princess
Cartimandua, tomorrow Brigantia and the Cailleach will summon you for
your trial. Return to Rigodonum and mourn this night, but prepare yourself.
To rule the Brigantes, you must pass the twin goddesses’ tests. Only then
may you take the crown of your forebearers,” she told me in an ominous
tone.
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