Ravenmarked (The Taurin Chronicles) by Amy Rose Davis Page A

Forbidden. When the Sidh queen died, her people saved the stone from her crown, and when the Syrafi chieftain died, his people saved his tears in a jar. Cuhail, the tribal chieftain, died during the final battle. His own blood mingled with the earth of Taura on his sword. When the sword was recovered, it was placed in a box with the queen’s stone and the Syrafi tears. The relics were rumored to be stored somewhere on Taura and protected by the Sidh. Only a human with the blood of the rightful ruling line could touch them. Or so the stories say. This is so much to believe. Mairead put her food aside. “You say it’s safe?”
    “For now. The Sidh queen keeps it hidden, and she would rather be flayed alive than give it to anyone but the one in the prophecies. But the Sidh village is only hidden as long as there is peace—or at least political stability—on Taura. With Braedan bringing chaos to the Taurin government and the Sidh and the tribes still at odds, the protections around the Sidh village weaken every day. If the village is visible and the Sidh are unprotected, anyone can find them and try to force Queen Maeve to reveal the reliquary.”
    “But someone would need me to carry it, you said. I would never do that.”
    “Are you sure?”
    She couldn’t answer.
    “Be careful, saya. Namha is beguiling.”
    She drew her knees close to her chin. “I don’t like this conversation.”
    “Too real?”
    “Perhaps. Tell me about you. Did you grow up with the Brae Sidh?”
    “I spent much of my childhood with the Sidh, but my father lived in the town of Kiern.”
    Mairead’s stomach lurched. “Did you have family there when . . . when they came?”
    Connor nodded. “My sisters and my father died that day.”
    “What have you done since then?”
    He shrugged. “Hunted. Wandered. I’ve traveled through Culidar, through Sveklant, to Tal’Amun and the Aldorean Seas. I’ve escorted nobles or merchants who need a ready man-at-arms, and I’ve fought in a few battles.”
    “Your mother is Brae Sidh?”
    “Yes. My parents knew each other for many years before my father’s wife died. When my father was widowed, my parents confessed their affection for each other. I was the result.” He paused and drank from his waterskin. “What about your parents? I know one of them must have been the Taurin heir.”
    She nodded. “I don’t know which one, though. My father worked as a butcher in the town of Endar. My mother worked as a seamstress, but she died of a fever when I was four. My father left me at the sayada. He never visited me. I think he must have died.”
    “How do you know you’re the Taurin heir?”
    “I was anointed. Sayana Muriel took me to Macha Tor when I first came to the sayada. I have this vague memory of a man in white robes walking up the other side of the tor. He took some kind of oil from a bottle and rubbed it on my forehead.” She smiled. “I remember it smelled sweet—like a flower.”
    Connor leaned back against the tree. “And the sayas taught you everything about the kirok, but nothing about magic? Did it ever occur to them to ask the Sidh or the tribes or someone else for help? Or to have the kirok give you an army and help you take back your throne?”
    Mairead’s spine stiffened. “The Order of Sai Atena is devoted to caring for the poor, not to building armies. Those women would never—”
    He held up his hands. “Calm yourself, saya. I’m only asking. I don’t care what happens to Taura—I don’t live there, and I have no allegiance to the throne. It just seems to me that they raised a saya, not a queen. I’m curious what they thought you would do.”
    She bit her lip. “I think they only wanted me to marry and have children. I doubt they expected all of this to happen.”
    “And who would you have wed? Some farmer or merchant or shepherd?” He snickered. “What a fine royal bloodline that would be.”
    She turned away so he wouldn’t see the heat rising in her face.