Deceptions (Cainsville 3)

"Maybe," I said. "But I wouldn't want to."

"You won't need to," he said, and we finished the walk in silence.

--

Since I'd last spoken to Rose, I'd had at least three episodes--if I counted all the visions at the Villa as a single one. So, lots to talk about, right? Not really. They didn't boil down to much that needed her folklore expertise.

We discussed the fae massacre at Villa Tuscana and the result: the kelpies murdering Letitia. Rose confirmed that they were indeed kelpies. As for the blue fire used to slaughter the fae, she had no idea what it was. Some metal salts could turn fire blue. The only metal she knew that was supposed to affect fae was iron, and while I'd seen the men sowing iron filings to trap them, we were all a little confused about exactly how that worked. It seemed simple in the vision: the fae couldn't come in contact with iron. But there had to be plenty of iron in Cainsville, and no one made any apparent effort to avoid it. Which suggested the issue was more complicated than that.

What I really wanted to discuss was Mallt-y-Nos, Gwynn ap Nudd, and Arawn--who they were and what they had to do with us. I couldn't tell her about the Gabriel connection in front of him. I had to figure that out before I brought him into it.

"Arawn is from the Mallt-y-Nos folklore," she said when I finished describing what I'd experienced. "But Gwynn ap Nudd . . . ? There is a connection, but to Arawn, not Matilda." She got up from her desk. "The vision you had before the fever was a version of the Mallt-y-Nos legend," she said as she perused her bookshelves.

"Right," I said. "A young woman--Matilda--is about to get married. She loves to hunt, but has promised her future husband she'll give it up for him. But she wants one last hunt on the eve of their wedding. He says it's past midnight, and she made a vow. She thinks she still has time and leaves in spite of his protests. She loses him and is cursed to hunt forever as Mallt-y-Nos. Matilda the Crone. Very flattering. Except in my vision, she ran back to her betrothed and the palace was gone, and she fell into flames and perished."

"Or so it seemed. The hunt is the Hunt. We know that." Rose took down a book. "The Wild Hunt. Cwn Annwn. In your vision, it's represented by the man Matilda runs to meet. That would be Arawn. Lord of the Otherworld. Leader of the Wild Hunt."

"Which makes sense. But in the stories, the fiance she leaves behind is just some random nobleman. In my vision, he's definitely otherworldly. Blond guy, all sunshine and daylight and gold. Fae, I'm guessing."

"Gwynn ap Nudd."

"Right. He said that he was Gwynn and I was Matilda. We were getting married, and Matilda wanted Arawn to know, but Gwynn didn't want to tell him."

"A love triangle, then."

"I never got that impression. Matilda said she was friends with Arawn, but that he and Gwynn were also friends. When she went to meet Arawn that night, there was no sense that she was running off with a lover or reconsidering the marriage to Gwynn. She'd made her choice. It really was about the joy of the hunt--and sharing it with a good friend. Gwynn couldn't accept that."

"Jealousy."

"I guess, but it still boils down to the basic question: What the hell does this have to do with me?"

Gabriel had been silent until now, listening. He shifted, folding his hands on the table. "An answer I don't think we're going to get until you have the full story."

"Until I see the full vision."

He shook his head. "If Rose can figure it out, then there should be no need of the visions."

"Except Rose can't figure it out," his aunt said as she lowered herself back into her seat, book in hand. "It's only following the folklore to an extent. Matilda and Mallt-y-Nos? Yes. Olivia's vision is similar enough to a version of Matilda's story. Arawn fits, too. But Gwynn?"

She opened the book to an entry on Gwynn ap Nudd.

"Arthurian legend?" I said. "Please tell me I'm reading that wrong."

"It's one variation. Gwynn was said to be a member of King Arthur's court who annually fought another member over the most beautiful woman in the land. Who was also his sister."

"And he was fighting to protect her honor, right? Pure brotherly love."

"Depends on the version you're looking at. In some--"

"Let's stick with brotherly love."

"So there's that version, a reshaping of local folklore, like most Arthurian legends. In older accounts, Gwynn is the king of the Tylwyth Teg, which seems closer to what you've seen. But there's confusion there, too. Sometimes he's Welsh fae. Other times he's more closely associated with the Cwn Annwn and merges with Arawn. Even the etymology of his name is confusing. Ap Nudd just means 'son of Nudd.' Gwynn means 'bright or shining,' but he's usually described as dark--a great warrior with a blackened face. He's linked to woodland, again like the Cwn Annwn. And to owls, which would seem the arena of the Cwn Annwn, too, but . . ."

"They aren't," I said. "Ravens are Cwn Annwn and owls are Tylwyth Teg." I asked her to hand me the book and I skimmed the entry, seeing the same mess of contradictions that Rose described. I put the book down. "None of this helps."

"Because the answer isn't here," she said, tapping the cover. "Your visions reveal the truth behind the folklore."

Which did not help me one bit. More questions than answers, with no idea what difference those answers made to my life.