Page 99 of Queen of the Shadow

Scáthach smiled. “Uathach is very well. She misses you. As do I.” She wiped fresh tears from her cheeks.

“Well then. If you can forgive and see the goodness in them, who am I to turn them away?” asked her father with a proud smile. “I cannot guarantee the All Father’s judgment will not be harsh, but it will be just.” The Jarl of Lethra motioned to Drest. “Come, Drest. Lead the Wolfskins and the rest of my warriors here. Odin and Hel shall decide what must be done next.”

Drest took a step forward and stopped beside Scáthach. “How do I do it?”

Scáthach nodded at the opening in the veil. “Simply walk forward. The realm will do the rest.”

Drest began to do so, but paused, turned to Scáthach, and bowed deeply. “I will remember your compassion for eternity.”

Scáthach touched his shoulder and he straightened. “Remember to look within yourself honestly. We all tell ourselves stories about how we wish the truth would unfold. Hoping and wondering and wishing are natural, good even. But self-delusion is a type of living death, and those who trap themselves in it can never truly be happy.”

Drest nodded. “That I will remember, along with your wisdom and your mercy.”

He called his last command to the army of dead men. “Follow me home to Valhalla!” Drest strode forward, disappearing within the veil.

The army followed him. Each bowed to Scáthach. Some kissed her hand. Some embraced her. Even though they knew they would face punishment for their betrayal, they carried an air of excitement with them and strode joyfully into their future.

When the last man had passed through the veil, her father smiled down on her. “I’m glad you called. I thought I'd never see you again, my little lioness.”

“I wished I’d been able to tell you goodbye,” said Scáthach as Cuchulainn moved to her side.

Ardgeimm’s focus shifted to him. “Is that the Hero of Ulster I see?”

Cuchulainn dipped his head in a bow. “It is.”

“Are you dead as well?”

Cuchulainn smiled. “No, Jarl. Your daughter is escorting me through the Underworld on a quest.”

“Ah. Well. I’ll expect you to keep her safe on this quest,” said Ardgeimm.”

Cuchulainn snorted. “It isshewho usually keepsmesafe.”

“That is not entirely accurate,” said Scáthach.

Her father looked from her to Cuchulainn and his expression shifted to a knowing smile. “I see. Then take care of each other.”

“It will always be my greatest honor to have traveled with and fought by your daughter’s side,” said Cuchulainn.

Looking very much like his daughter, Ardgeimm raised a brow and smiled. “I can see that.” He turned his gaze to Scáthach. “I would say goodbye, but something makes me believe I will see you again. So instead I shall just say, go with my love, little lioness.” He kissed his hand and, as the opening began to fade and close, he pressed it forward, palm toward her.

Scáthach did the same. She kissed her hand and pressed it, palm raised, to the fading glimpse of Valhalla. “I love you, too.”

Then her father was gone and Scáthach turned to Cuchulainn, who opened his arms. Scáthach stepped into his embrace, and he held her while she sobbed.

Chapter 23

That night she erased Aife from his body, his mind, and his spirit. Aife would never haunt his dreams, would never shadow his mind or his pleasure again. For the rest of his life and beyond, that night would remain with Sentanta so vividly that he could call up the memory and smell the lavender on her skin, see the firelight on her face, and feel the slick heat of her accepting him... healing him... loving him.

* * *

The cliff disappeared and the Autumnal Realm returned to a gray expanse of rolling hills and never-ending gloom. Cuchulainn guided the chariot back to the road and they trotted on.

“That was a good thing you did for those spirits,” said Cuchulainn.

“It only happened because you stopped us. I would have kept going,” said Scáthach.

“But they would have kept following us.”