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many followed Her in these lands.”
    Xavier turned his face in Loren’s general direction. “She belongs not to just your kind, son of the dawn.”
    Loren paled.
    The man nodded. “The Lady gave me Her gift of sight, to see both what is as well as what may yet come to be.”
    “Xavier, what happened? Who did this?” Dara knelt by Mag and stroked her blood-matted grey hair. Her heart ached. Did Mag even know she was there?
    “Jalad. We barely got Moira out afore Safehold fell.”
    Dara gasped. “What? How?”
    “Someone poisoned the guards’ food and opened the gates. All male servants who resisted and the wounded survivors of the battle found within the keep were put to the sword. Those lost souls who bowed a knee to Jalad were spared. As was I.”
    Blood roared in Dara’s ears as she looked over to Loren’s white face. “Because of your gift?”
    “Jalad thought foresight useful to him. It let me warn them to get Moira out, but you know the Goddess’ gifts aren’t always predictable. Jalad tried his mightiest, but we couldn’t tell him what we didn’t know—where Moira went. Mag gave a false location, but Moira wasn’t there. Jalad was…displeased.”
    She nodded toward Mag. “I can do naught for her. I can help you.” She tried to tug his shirt up, but Xavier swatted her hand away. “Xavier.” Dara’s voice brooked no argument. “Let me see.”
    Xavier clenched his jaw and removed his shirt.
    Flogged and burned. Pain without permanent damage. Jalad’s methods of persuasion were brutal. Dara handed Xavier a flask of dreamwine, but the wounded man pushed it away after a single sniff to verify its contents.
    “I must stay alert,” he insisted. “Someone must warn Hengist and ensure Moira’s safe. Jalad shan’t stop ’til he finds her.”
    “I’m sorry. This will hurt.” Dara cleaned the raw, blood-encrusted wounds with hot water and soft sun-bleached rags. She couldn’t pain-block Xavier while at the same time working with her hands. She ground her teeth at the limitation and looked at Loren. He shook his head, and she remembered he could heal only himself.
    She tried to be gentle, but there was no help for it. Xavier hissed, braced against the pain. His knuckles whitened around the cup. His lips moved. Dara felt him withdraw. “’Tis how you resisted?”
    Xavier nodded. “I couldn’t give Moira up, not even for Mag’s life.”
    Loren’s voice was harsh. “They would have killed her anyway.”
    Xavier ran a hand through sweat-matted hair. “Jalad is more than he seems. Something else shares his skin, lives behind his eyes. A cold consciousness without heart. His presence brings hopelessness, utter despair.
    “There’s something you need know,” Xavier pressed on. “Moira’s with child. I see a son. Hengist shall have his heir by spring planting.”
    Dara’s blood ran cold. “Does Jalad know?”
    Xavier swallowed hard and nodded once. “Aye, from Midwife Lacey. Under questioning. Right afore Jalad slit her throat.”
    Dara thought of Lacey’s almost grown daughter. “What of Tegan?”
    “She lives still. Leastwise she did when we left.”
    She cursed as she snatched up a jar of cooling salve. “Jalad will tear this country apart looking for Moira now. Naught will stop him until she, Hengist and their son are dead. He won’t want any challenge to his path to the sea.”
    “Now you know why I can’t touch your drugs. I must find Moira.”
    “Nay.” Loren rose to his feet. “Moira needs a warrior’s protection to see her to safety. The Goddess can help you ride south for Hengist and Sezeny. Hani`ena and I can take you east to Jakop’s Crossroads.”
    “Jakop’s Crossroads is where some of our wounded warriors recover in secret,” Xavier stated. “Jalad knows not of their existence. He believes all resistance crushed.”
    Loren nodded. “Get a horse from the relay station. Take a mountain hunter cross-country, ride due south to Sezeny’s.”
    “I have