Page 26 of First Light
“As I said, the dragons live in Cymru. They don’t call it Wales here—it’s Cymru.” He stuffed food into a pack, adding apples and wrapped wedges of cheese. “Are you ready?”
Carys wore a pair of boots stuffed with wool, an oversized coat, and a heavy hood that covered her head. “As ready as I can be. How far is the walk?”
“Not far. Half an hour maybe.”
She wore her hair down at Duncan’s instruction. The long dark waves falling around her shoulders not only helped to conceal her face but also kept her neck warm.
As they walked, they passed through a small village and met a few people, all of them greeting Duncan in Gaelic. He waved back but didn’t introduce her, and they didn’t ask. Children ran around the village, climbing on wagons and running from house to house.
“Do you know these people?” she asked quietly. “Or know them in the other world?”
“Some but not all.” He nodded at a couple who was standing outside what looked like a butcher shop. “She’s a teacher at the village school. I think he’s a salesman of some kind.”
“But the same couple?” she asked. “Married here and there?”
“It’s fairly common,” Duncan said. “People seem to be drawn to each other. Families even. Humans in the Shadowlands can’t birth children, but the fae usually give children to their mother’s twin or another close relation.” He kept his voice low as they walked. “It’s not a rule. Remember, twins are different people.”
“That’s evident.”
Duncan was harsh and grumpy and borderline rude most of the time while Lachlan had never met a stranger and made you feel special just by smiling at you.
Still, she couldn’t deny that Duncan was protective, and in that moment, it was comforting.
“So Lachlan came back here,” she said. “On his own?”
“No.” He glanced at her. “At least I doubt it. I saw fae in the woods behind my house the day you say he disappeared,” Duncan said.
“You think the fae are the ones who took him?”
“They can travel from gate to gate differently than humans can. That’s why he could be in California one moment and Scotland the next.” Duncan nodded at a passing man with a handcart. “So I imagine it was the fae.”
“Why would they care if he was in the Brightlands?”
“They wouldn’t, but they’d be doing a favor for Lachlan’s father.” Duncan scowled. “Our fathers were the same on both sides. Arrogant, imperious, and commanding. But while mine was an aloof business mogul who is dead, his father is the living king of Alba.”
Carys whispered, “Shit.”
Lachlan really was a rich prince running away from responsibilities.
“King… Chieftain.” Duncan waved a hand. “They don’t have government the way we do. It’s not that organized. Things are much more fluid here. Robb is more like a chief of chiefs than a king, but because this area is closest to the other kingdoms in Briton, he’s the figurehead. It’s not like that in Anglia or Cymru. They’re more formal in the hierarchy.”
Carys nodded. “Right. Wales is Cymru here.”
“Yes. They use the old names for?—”
“And Wales is independent?”
Duncan scoffed. “Independent? They havedragons, Carys. No one fights a king who commands dragons.”
She felt a well of pride and satisfaction and could only imagine how her father would have felt. To the day he died, Gareth Morgan had been a staunch believer in Welsh independence.
“We have dragons,” she whispered to herself. And her mother had seen them. Maybe, as Duncan had told her, only in dreams. But maybe not. Maybe she’d also wandered through a gate without knowing. Just because Duncan didn’t think it was possible didn’t mean it didn’t happen.
A shout from a little boy had Carys looking up, and she saw that they’d turned on a road that led up to the great stone castle she’d seen from the hill. Standing below it, it seemed far more imposing and grittier than it had looked from a distance.
The road leading up to the castle quickly grew crowded with tradespeople, horses, and carts, and everything seemed to be made of wood. She glanced at Duncan. “Not much work for you here.”
“What’s that?”