Chapter Nine
Summer 520
On my way north, I detoured to Traprain Law to express my condolences to Lot and Anna over the loss of their sons. Not long after I arrived, word reached us from Avalon that Arthur was dead; even the ministrations of nine priestesses hadn’t been enough to save our king.
Anna and Lot shared my loss and understood my relationships with Arthur and Aggrivane better than anyone, so they allowed me to fall to pieces in ways few others would have tolerated. I did not sleep and refused to eat, taking only a little bread and water and only after Anna practically forced it down my throat.
I had lost my husband—estranged though we were—and the man I considered a son even though we were not related by blood. Mordred’s death brought back the stinging pain of losing my own
