Calla

When we arrived at the outskirts of Taigoska, a convoy of royal sleighs was waiting to take us to the palace. We swept silently through the Wolf part of town. The frozen streets were pristine, and the silver townhouses were devoid of any color, so different from the vibrant human quarter that I’d gotten to know so well months ago. The memory of those humans we met on the road still consumed my every waking thought.

Grae’s warm hand covered my jiggling knee, and I frowned down at where we joined. I hadn’t realized I’d been bouncing it.

“Maybe I should speak with Queen Ingrid first,”

Briar offered.

I glanced between her, Hector, and Mina who sat on the bench across from us. Mina nervously thrummed her fingers against the silver armrest. Hector pressed his knee into hers in silent comfort. I knew Mina was eager to get Ora back, but I also knew the sight of those humans had spooked her as much as it did me. Whatever it was she was thinking about it, she didn’t let on, though.

“I should be the one negotiating with Ingrid,”

I said to my twin. Briar pursed her lips at me, her slender brow arching. “You disagree?”

“I think if I wanted to know the best battle tactics or rescue plans, I’d ask you first,”

she quibbled. The criticism was clear, if unsaid.

“This is a rescue plan.”

She shook her head. “This is kissing royal Wolf ass to help you with your rescue plan.”

She brushed a strand of her red hair behind her ear. “I’ve been training for this my whole life. You learned to convince others with force and me with flattery.”

She had a point there. While I was off training and sparring, Briar had been practicing her curtsies and how to endear people to her. She was beautiful, poised, strategic, and lethal when she needed to be—similar in demeanor to Ingrid herself in many ways.

“We’ll work together on Ingrid,”

I conceded, knowing it would be foolish not to play to my sister’s strengths. I glanced at Hector who sat with his arms folded over his broad chest and his shoulders bunched around his ears. He looked one second away from stabbing someone—clearly a familial trait. “Remember you are all here representing the Golden Court,” I reminded him. His shoulders dropped ever so slightly as he scowled out the window.

“What if Ingrid says no? What then?”

he asked. “How long until Nero’s Silent Blades are filling the streets much like Sawyn’s Rooks once did? She’s always been neutral to these things even with a sorceress at her border. So forgive me if I doubt she’ll side with you now.”

“She won’t say no,”

I insisted, trying—and failing—to keep my voice even. “She can’t. Letting Nero grow stronger will hurt her, too—she must know that. If Nero is forcing—destroying—Damrienn to follow the old Wolf laws, then Ingrid’s very throne is in jeopardy. Nero believes there should only be Wolf Kings; if he didn’t, he couldn’t dispute my claim to my throne, either.” Grae’s grip on my knee tightened. “We need to remind Ingrid that the future of her crown lies with which side she chooses.”

The sleighs rode in through the silver gates, swirling in the shape of sharp rambling thorns. We passed down a road of detailed ice sculptures illuminated by hundreds of miniature glowing lanterns.

I blew out a long breath. “Certainly different than the last time we were here.”

Mina nodded in agreement, her wide eyes taking in the winter gardens from the frozen fountains to the evergreen topiaries to the snowbirds that fed on winter berries.

I craned my neck up, watching the tall spires and jagged, frozen rooftops of the palace. It was incredible. The bottom half was made of white stone and the top constructed of what seemed to be pure ice. Warm firelight glowed through the carved-out windows, illuminating the crystals hanging in arches over the towering doorway.

We came to a stop directly in front of a retinue of guards and servants who all bowed simultaneously when our sleigh door opened. I couldn’t help but notice that Queen Ingrid wasn’t there to receive us. Was that normal royal protocol? Maybe I was just reading too much into it. I darted a look at Grae and he subtly shook his head. He didn’t know either and seemed just as on edge. Everything felt on tenterhooks. I needed Ingrid’s help and I needed it now.

I glanced at my twin as she glided out of the sleigh, ever the regal princess, and I was once again reminded how much better at this she was than me. Even though Briar didn’t want to be a queen, she was so much more suited to it. I knew many people in our court and beyond wondered why I was the one to assume the throne and not Briar. I was my own person now, but still, those old wounds were hard to heal and it was hard to compare myself to my sister without feeling lacking.

Grae stepped into my line of sight and found my hand, giving it a squeeze.

“At least Briar’s here,”

I whispered to him, feeling like a fraud once again.

Grae stepped in so close to me he could barely be heard even to my ears as he rumbled, “You died for your court, . You are the most deserving ruler in all of Aotreas.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn’t know how he knew exactly what I was thinking, but he’d done it so many times now that I couldn’t really be surprised. When those old nagging thoughts started to rise to the surface, Grae snapped me back into reality again. Sometimes all I needed was that little reminder. I wasn’t Briar. I was my own sort of ruler. I knew who I was; now I just needed to figure out how to share that with the rest of the world.

We followed the guards in through the palace, the sweeping vaulted ceilings making the space echo against the hard ice and stone. It was incredible, otherworldly, all icicles and crystals. Diamonds dripped from giant chandeliers, crystal candelabras stood on white marble pedestals, a silver carpet glittered beneath our feet with not a single stain or footprint on the entire thing as it led deeper and deeper into the space.

Despite the perpetual cloud cover, the palace was incredibly bright, if not a little cold. This was a completely different perspective than the one I received the last time I was there with Galen den’ Mora, when we were forced to change in a room that was worse than a farmyard barn.

We twisted up the glass staircases, the ground below our feet moving farther and farther out of view, and I squeezed my hands tighter behind my back to not grab on to Grae. We were climbing so high. Each clink of my shoes on the glass made me flinch. What if it cracked and we plummeted to that perfect silver carpet below?

Finally, we landed back on solid white stone, and we processed down another shimmering carpet to what I could only presume was the guest wing.

“Your Majesty,”

the first guard said, bowing at an archway painted with the moon phases. A maid held the door open to a fantastical-looking silver-and-white suite.

“Your Highness.”

Another guard showed Briar to the room across from ours and then Hector to the room to my left.

“And you can follow me,”

the guard said to Mina, his voice tinged with disdain.

I immediately intervened, stepping up to Mina’s side with such ferocity that the guard took a step backward. Good. He should think twice before messing with a member of the Golden Court.

“All of my courtiers will stay on this floor with me,”

I insisted, staring daggers at the guard who at least had the good sense to look a little embarrassed.

The guard beside him cleared his throat and took a step forward. He had sky blue eyes, white-blond hair, and skin paler than milk that covered his sharp features. “There are no other available rooms on this floor,” he said.

I cocked my head at him. He didn’t seem to back down the same way the other guard did. He was clearly high-ranking within the pack. I assessed his uniform. He wore more badges and insignia than the other guards, his cape made of finer material, his boots bearing not a single scuff mark.

“What’s your name?”

“Klaus,”

Grae answered for him, clearly already knowing the prick based on the venom in his voice.

Klaus flourished another bow. “I’m the Queen’s second cousin.”

“Of course you are,”

I muttered under my breath. I pointed at the last door across from Hector’s room. “Who is staying in that room?”

Klaus cleared his throat. “No one currently, but—”

Mina tapped on my arm. “It’s fine,”

she signed.

“It is absolutely not fine,”

I signed back.

Klaus just glanced between us, confused. Clearly he didn’t know the language of signs.

“Mina will stay there,”

I said to him. “Bring her things.” I turned to the more sheepish of the two guards and asked, “Where is Queen Ingrid? We have urgent matters we’d like to discuss with her.”

Klaus leaned in front of the other guard and answered for him. “The Queen wanted you to get settled in first.”

His smile was predatory, his canines glinting. “And I presume you’ll want to get changed?”

I stared down at my outfit. I wore black leather trousers, shined black boots, and a golden tunic that hit me just above the knee. My fur-lined jacket was intricately embroidered and detailed in golden lace. My hair was braided up and a golden crown sat atop my head, my neck dripping in golden jewelry and my fingers covered in gemstones.

I arched a brow at Klaus. “What is that supposed to mean?”

His smile widened. “I can send up some dresses if you desire. Perhaps something more regal—”

Grae let out a feral growl and stormed up to Klaus until they were chest to chest. Despite them being the same height, Grae was twice as broad with muscle and clearly the dominant fighter from his skilled stance. Klaus had the audacity to wink at Grae anyway, daring him to make a move. In a flash Grae grabbed Klaus by the back of the neck and twisted him to face me.

“Say the Golden Court Queen isn’t regal,”

he snarled, his voice promising the violence I knew he could deliver so well. He shook Klaus by the neck and Klaus winced. “Go on.”

“Grae,”

I snapped, giving him my best cutting look. Despite his anger, Grae instantly released Klaus.

Grae’s fingers twitched at the hilt of his sword as he said, “The Golden Court Queen wears what the Queen wishes.”

Briar breezed over and intervened as Klaus rubbed the back of his neck.

“Apologies, Klaus,”

she said in her flirty, high-pitched voice as she sauntered over to him and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder. Klaus blinked at her once and then, as if under her spell, he melted under her touch. His scowl morphed into an intrigued smile. “You know how we Wolves can be when cooped up in a sleigh for too long.” She laughed as if she’d just told a joke and he smiled along with her. “I’m sure after a good run, we’ll all be feeling much more settled. Thank you so much for all of your help.”

Klaus flashed her a puppy dog smile, all his bite disappearing. “My pleasure, Your Highness.”

He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it as Briar demurred; then he gave us one more much less threatening glance before swaggering off with the rest of the guards and maids in tow.

Once we heard their footsteps clinking far enough into the distance down the glass steps, we all let out a collective sigh.

“You are too good at that,”

Hector said to Briar with a snort.

“You need to teach me your ways,”

Mina signed with a smile.

“He knows you have a mate,”

Grae started. “If Maez were here . . .”

Briar pinned him with a look. “If Maez were here, she would say to use every tactic to our advantage and trust me to handle myself when it comes to any hound that comes sniffing my way. Let me handle the puppies like Klaus.”

She turned back to her room and said over her shoulder, “You said we came here for allies. Starting a war against the Queen’s second cousin will do us no favors in the actual war that Nero is bringing to our doorsteps.”

Grae opened his mouth to protest but my hand landed on his forearm. “She’s right,”

I said. “Let him misunderstand me for now.” I hated the words even as I said them. Maybe there would be a time and place for me to be myself with these Wolves, but I wouldn’t risk their allegiance for it. I didn’t know if that made me a better or worse person; all I knew was there was too much at stake. “Tolerating him and his jabs right now is for the greater good. And they don’t hurt me.”

“But they do,”

he murmured so only I could hear. His eyes were full of concern, and I reached out to touch his face.

“Only so much, though, love.”

“I should’ve slaughtered him for questioning you,”

Grae growled. “He’s lucky I didn’t reach down his throat and pull out his spine.”

Hector snorted and said to Mina, “Mates.”

She nodded in agreement as she turned to the last doorway and entered her room.

As each of the members of the Golden Court disappeared into their accommodations, I leaned in closer and murmured into Grae’s ear. “You can defend my honor another time.”

“I’ll take your honor another time.”

His smile broadened, the cavalier, wild side of him bleeding through.

“I’ll take you up on that,”

I said, any memory of the insult melting away in his warmth.