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the case. King Owain, and his father Gruffydd before him, had chosen to defend what amounted to the only useable ford on the Conwy River.
    Gwen checked the sky as they turned into the entrance. The long summer dusk was upon them, giving them perhaps another two hours of light. They’d traveled all of ten miles the whole day—a few hours’ walk when things were going well. A pity they hadn’t. Particularly for Anarawd.
    “How long before we must ride?” she asked Gareth.
    “Give me an hour, two at most,” Gareth said. “Both Braith and your father’s horse need food, rest, and the comfort of a stall for a short time at least.”
    Gwen nodded and turned towards the dining hall with some of the other men, looking forward to the opportunity to sit down. She bent at the waist, stretching her back. Her hair had come loose and she pushed it out of her face, and then looked up to find Gwalchmai planted in front of her.
    “Father says you’re going on without us.”
    “Yes,” Gwen said. A wave of soldiers swept around and past them and she wrinkled her nose at the press of humanity. Maybe she wasn’t hungry after all if she had to eat with all of them.
    “I’m sorry about Father,” he said. “You know he doesn’t mean anything by what he says. Or doesn’t say.”
    Gwen smiled at her brother. He was only an inch or two shorter than she was. By next year he’d top her and the year after that he’d be a man, according to Welsh law. “Thank you for trying to protect me, but there’s no need and you’ll only make Father angry.”
    “It’s time someone stood up to him,” Gwalchmai said.
    “Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to do?” Gwen shook her head. “Leave that to me too. You have a great future ahead of you, from the moment you sing your first note in King Owain’s hall. And it’s Father who’s taught you everything he knows, who’s poured all of his love of music into you. There’s nothing there to feel sorry about or regret.”
    A man brushed past her and Gwen started when she realized it was Gareth. He glanced back at her and winked before entering the hall.
    “Are you sure?” Gwalchmai said.
    Gwen’s heart swelled with love for her brother. If nothing had gone the way she’d wanted in her own life, at least she’d done the right thing by him. “I’m sure. As I told Father years ago, I’m ready to follow my own road.”

Chapter Six

    G areth and Gwen had ridden through the dark and now reached the highest point on the road that led across the high, windswept moors of Gwynedd from Caerhun to Aber. The standing stones of Bwlch y Ddeufaen stood stark in the moonlight, looming over them eight feet high on either side of the road that wended among the hills. Those stones had guarded the pass from all comers since before the Romans came. At least the fine weather continued, and they weren’t forced to ride these ten miles in the rain.
    “What did my father say about me traveling with you?” Gwen said.
    “This and that,” Gareth said, having no intention of sharing anything about that conversation.
    At first, all Gareth had done when he’d encountered Meilyr standing with his hands on his hips, blocking Gareth’s retreat from the dining hall, was hand him the few coins Madog had set aside for Gwen. Gareth hoped she’d accept them later, even if they made her uncomfortable now. Although he didn’t like Meilyr, the man was neither a wastrel nor a miser. He would save them for Gwen.
    “Fine time for you to appear,” Meilyr had said. “You mind telling me what you’ve been up to all these years before I allow my daughter to go off with you?”
    Gareth could read nothing in Meilyr’s face but his usual suspicion, so he ventured to reply. “You heard I was a mercenary?” Gareth asked the question even though he already knew the answer from his earlier conversation with Gwen.
    Meilyr gave him a short nod.
    “Those days are past,” Gareth said.
    “Landed on your feet, then?”