The Keys to the Realms (The Dream Stewards) Read Free Page A

winning the post on his own merits, and it showed.
    Hywel spoke without taking his eyes from Alwen. “A soldier of merit is always properly prepared, most certainly in times of war. Surely the security of this compound is not dependent upon whether or not I am expected—or any other guest of your palace for that matter.”
    He turned to glare now at Emrys. “As it stands, Captain, yo ur defe nses have been breached. How do you account f or th at ?”
    “If evil crossed our walls we will know soon enough. I’ve sent Rhys to scout the grounds.” Emrys had recovered his command, personally and professionally. The Cad Nawdd was an unequalled regiment and worthy of his pride, though the castle guard had suffered great losses in the battle for the Fane. “He will report to us here.”
    “So we wait.” Alwen had a look of deep thought. “In the meantime, let me hear from each of you your own account. Perhaps we may glean something useful from the details. Were you awakened in your rooms, Hywel, or did the wraiths assault you in the hall?”
    Hywel crossed the room to the hearth and back again. He paced as if he didn’t know what else to do with himself, as if the frustration he must be feeling would explode inside him. It made Glain nervous and she braced herself against the shame he was surely about to place at Ariane’s feet. There was no saving her friend now.
    “It came upon me in my rooms, as if it passed through the closed door, and without a sound. By the time I sensed any presence at all, I was already in its grasp. I’ve never faced a thing that holds form but has no substance. How does a man fight a foe he cannot strike?”
    Glain felt gratitude for Hywel’s discretion, though she could not imagine what advantage keeping Ariane a secret would give him. Hywel was not known for his selflessness.
    “There were two,” Ynyr spoke up. “Glain went to the king’s defense while I tried to free Ariane.”
    Glain glared at her brother acolyte. If Hywel could be discreet , why couldn’t Ynyr?
    “It was Nerys who saved us all, really. Had she not come when she did—well, I’d rather not imagine.” Ynyr made no attempt to hide his disdain. “Ariane was apparently overcome by the shock of the attack, though I am at a loss to explain how she came to be there in the first place.”
    Glain half expected the king to say that Ariane had been there at his invitation, but it seemed Hywel’s gallantry did not extend that far. Not that Ariane’s was a singular indiscretion; it could have been one of a dozen other women of the Stewardry in Hywel’s bed on any given night.
    “The three of you are accountable to Glain. It falls to her to address an acolyte’s conduct when need be.” Alwen frowned, but offered no further comment on Ynyr’s concerns. “Something alerted you two to the threat?”
    “I dreamt of danger,” Glain recalled. “But there was something else, something that caused me to wake. Ynyr, did you not say you heard a noise?”
    “I cannot honestly say whether I heard anything, but I did sense that there was something amiss. And there was that awful smell.”
    Alwen nodded. “The Cythraul leave a scent in their wake. They can be tracked once they have entered the earthly realm, but it is impossible to anticipate their coming. How were the wraiths destroyed?”
    “Dispelled by word and wand,” Glain explained. “But it took the three of us combined.”
    Rhys arrived and Glain’s heart leapt, though he cast only a passing glance in her direction before addressing Emrys and his mother. Their friendship was a poorly kept secret, but out of respect for Alwen their relationship was private. Not that there was much to hide aside from a few stolen kisses, but there was the promise of more. At least Glain thought there was, one day when they weren’t all caught in the throes of chaos. But for now, Rhys maintained a serious devotion to his service in the Cad Nawdd, and Glain was committed first to her