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“No!” I said sternly, stepping forward.

Several of the priestesses gasped.

“No!” I called again. “I forbid it.”

“Cartimandua!” Môd chided me harshly. “You disrupt the rite. Step back. This is not your place.”

“Not my place? Everywhere I step in this land is my place. I am queen here, and I say these girls will not be sacrificed.”

“You do not understand,” Môd told me harshly. “The Cailleach must have a sacrifice, or she will not act. We must continue. Corva,” Môd snapped, gesturing for the priestess to pull me back.

I looked at Corva. The expression on her face told me she understood me better. She did not move.

My gaze shifted to the girls once more. They were too young, too innocent. My heart ached at the thought of their deaths.

“We are willing to do what is necessary to protect our people, Queen Cartimandua,” the dark-haired girl told me.

“Brave girl, I thank you, but you are far too young to be asked to make such choices.”

I turned back to Môd. “I am queen of the Brigantes. I will not allow these girls to die this night.”

Môd stared at me long and hard. “The rite will not work unless great magic is called forth here,” she said, gesturing to the center of the stones. “It is our only chance, Cartimandua.”

“Does it have to be blood?” I asked. “Why must the blood of innocents be shed? Is there no other way?”

Môd stared at me. “Perhaps there is another way. But it is you, Cartimandua, who must pay it. You must take their place. We will not take their lives, but be warned, it is the Cailleach who will decide what priceyouwill pay.”

I swallowed hard, then went to the girls, taking their hands and lifting them from the ground. One dark, one fair. Just girls. Looking from one to the other, meeting their eyes, I said, “I am queen and mother to all this land and all her people. I honor your willingness to protect our people this night, but I cannot allow it.”

“Let us bleed now to save others,” the blonde girl told me.

I smiled gently at her, pushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “No, child.”

Môd gestured to the priestess standing nearby to take the girls away.

I turned and watched them disappear into the night.

Môd joined me. “You do not know what you have done, Cartimandua. You are the queen and can command me, but you cannot command the Cailleach. Hope that the sigil over your heart is enough to protect you,” she said, then took my arm and led me to the center of the circle. “On your knees, Queen of the Brigantes. Hold fast to the stones, and may the Cailleach be merciful.”

I lowered myself to the ground where the girls had knelt and then closed my eyes.

Cailleach, whatever power you need, take it from me. You have already taken my heart. Let me be the one to protect my people. Let it fall on me, not on the innocent…

The carnyx sounded again, and once more, Môd began to call as the priestesses chanted. They spoke an incantation in a language I did not know. Around me, the wind started to blow again, as Môd called.

“Cailleach, rise! Rise now, great mother of darkness. Rise now, lady of night! Rise now, lady of winter! Emerge from your deep sleep and be filled with rage. I summon the little people of the hollow hills to rise with us! Rise and lend us your power! Rise, and through the very body of the queen, let us do what must be done! Far away, Rome rides. We must stop this flood before it reaches our shores. Rise, Cailleach. Rise from the depths. Show us what we must do!”

The wind around me whipped harder. I gripped the stones at my sides as the wind threatened to blow me over.

Overhead, the sky rumbled, and the ground below me began to tremble. The cold wind, kissed with snow, pulled at my hair. I kept my eyes closed and waited.

Lightning cracked across the sky.

The priestesses continued their chanting.

It grew louder and louder.

My skin rose to gooseflesh as the wind pulled on me.