Calla

After an entire day spent twiddling our thumbs, finally, finally, we were summoned to afternoon tea with Queen Ingrid.

We wandered through the cold, austere palace, twisting and twining our way until I was completely lost.

Grae seemed to know where he was going, though, even asking the maid, “Greenhouses today?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,”

she mumbled, keeping her head bowed.

“I can lead the way,”

he said. “You’re dismissed.”

The servant’s whole body slumped like he’d just saved her life, and she murmured, “Thank you, Your Majesty,”

before rushing away.

“What was that about?”

I asked as we followed Grae down a long, white hallway.

“Ingrid can get a bit temperamental with her staff,” he said.

I cleared my throat. She’d seemed cold but friendly enough when we’d met before. Now, I wondered if I’d misjudged her. Was it wrong of me to have such high hopes for her support? Or perhaps, like her second cousin, she was different to humans and Wolves.

When we turned the final corner, I gasped. Suddenly, we were confronted by the riot of green and vibrant rainbow hues of the greenhouse. Tropical plants and lush flowers blossomed through the space. When Grae opened the door, the heat blasted through, sweat instantly beading on my brow at the humidity.

“This place is incredible,”

Hector said, craning his neck up to stare at the giant palms shading us from above.

“How?”

Briar exclaimed, staring at the rays of sunlight that beamed from the rafters. “What sorcery is this?”

“Faery magic,”

a sharp voice said, and we turned the corner to find Queen Ingrid sitting at a white iron table in the center of her little oasis. Two guards, one of them Klaus, stood at attention behind her. Klaus gave a little half wink to Briar as she came into view, and I had to bite back a snarl. He seemed determined to ignore that my sister had a mate. For her part, she somehow both ignored and acknowledged that wink so that he didn’t feel dismissed, and I tried not to marvel at the magic of my sister’s courtly etiquette.

“Graemon,”

Queen Ingrid said with a surprising amount of affection as she stretched her arms out to Grae and kissed him on both cheeks.

I couldn’t help but note that she greeted him first. Traditionally, kings were always greeted first . . . but I was the sovereign of Olmdere, just as Ingrid was of Taigos. I didn’t know if it was pointed or simply out of habit, but I didn’t like the way Ingrid turned to my mate first instead of me. Finally, after a long embrace, the Ice Wolf Queen turned to me.

“,”

Ingrid said with equal laud, greeting me as if we were old friends. “Please do sit.”

There were four seats left at the table, and I was about to open my mouth to demand another chair for Mina when she waved me down.

“I’d prefer to play than converse anyway,”

she signed, nodding down to her violin case that she clutched in her hand.

“Are you sure?”

I signed back.

“Music will help lighten the mood.”

I snorted at that. “It certainly would.”

She bobbed her chin and started getting set up.

“And you must be the Crimson Princess herself,”

Ingrid said, leaning into Briar and giving her hand a squeeze. She acted as if she hadn’t noticed the exchange between Mina and myself at all. “I can’t believe we are only just now meeting. I feel like I’ve known you your whole life.”

Briar’s smile was forced but only I would know it. She had such a practiced ease about her.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty,”

she said with a curtsy.

Hector was already scarfing down the finger food as we sat, and I kicked him under the table. Now was the time to act like a courtier, not a Wolf. He kept eating but slowed down ever so slightly.

Briar and Ingrid carried on chatting for several minutes as the rest of us listened to Mina’s violin in tense silence. Briar fell into the role of Ingrid’s best friend as if it took nothing to crack through the Queen’s icy exterior. The music helped calm my nerves a bit as I tried to politely sip my tea. I knew if Sadie and Maez were here they’d be laughing at me. There’s no way the two of them could’ve handled a tea party in the Taigoska palace gardens. When Briar had heard from Maez last, they were still in Taigos, too. That had been days ago, and I wondered if their trip was still going on uneventfully.

I worried, too, about Navin. I thought he was my friend. I thought he and I had grown close over our travels together. But it was clear now that there were many secrets he was hanging on to. Secrets that he and Ora shared and I wondered how much I really knew about my friends at all. Did I know them well enough to start a war to get them back? What secrets were so important that the world would burn if Ora didn’t keep them? Whether out of friendship or strategy, I felt bolstered once again in the decision to rescue the head of Galen den’ Mora.

I caught Briar’s gaze and held it for a split second, which was enough to tell her everything she needed to know. Our twin communication was still strong.

“As lovely as this impromptu visit has been,”

she said, “there’s a reason we’re here beyond a social call.”

“I figured as much,”

Ingrid said. “Given the haste with which you came.” She looked at me, her eyebrow arching, before turning to Grae and asking, “So what happened?”

“Our friend has been kidnapped by King Nero,”

Briar said.

“Friend?”

“A member of the Golden Court and my council,” I said.

Ingrid let out a smug laugh. “I’m guessing that means that this person is a human?”

“They are,”

I said. “They were ambushed in Nesra’s Pass.”

“Nesra’s Pass is Damrienn territory,”

she said. “Nero has every right to deal with humans in his court as he sees fit.”

The music seemed to pick up tempo as Ingrid spoke.

“So you know,”

Grae said, leaning his elbows on the table.

“Know what?”

Ingrid asked even though it was clear from her frown that she knew exactly what we were talking about.

“What Nero is doing to the humans in Damrienn,”

Grae said.

“I’ve heard rumors,”

she said with a shrug. “My guards tell me of an abnormal volume of humans crossing our borders, but—”

“He’s slaughtering people,”

I snarled.

Ingrid kept her gaze locked with Grae’s. “Maybe Nero got a little overzealous, but I honestly don’t believe it’s as bad as they’ve said.”

“Where are these humans?”

I asked. “Why don’t we go see them and ask them for ourselves?”

“They’re being taken care of.”

Ingrid finally turned toward me, her mouth pinched. “I treat my humans well here. We are on the same side, Marriel.” She took a sip of her tea and set it back on the saucer so delicately I didn’t even hear a clink. “Two women who chose to rule.”

I pressed my lips together into a thin line. I wouldn’t correct her. For one thing, I didn’t choose to rule; I was chosen. More, I wasn’t a woman at all. Which allowed an uneasy thought to coil in my stomach: if Ingrid knew I was merem, would she still help us? I didn’t know why she wouldn’t, but that uncertainty gnawed at me. Maybe it would be too much, too different, from the Wolf world she knew. Maybe I’d lose the support my people so desperately needed. I decided to shove my barbed retort down. If saving Olmdere meant needing to bend my truth for just a little while, I had to do it.

“What your father is doing is wrong,”

Ingrid said to Grae and my shoulders sagged a little with relief. For a second, I thought she might defend his actions. “He’s always been a power-hungry bastard, Graemon, you and I both know that.”

“We can’t let him get away with it,” I pushed.

She turned her blue eyes on me. “And you want me to do what about it exactly?”

Briar cleared her throat and leaned in, cutting off our line of sight. “We would handle the rescue mission mostly ourselves,”

Briar said. “But we could use a few more Wolves to help us since we are all so . . . familiar to Nero.”

“You’re his son,”

Ingrid balked at Grae, leaning around Briar. “Surely you know how to reason with him.”

“If we go alone, Nero will kill us,”

I insisted.

“But you’re so willing to let my pack die for you?”

Ingrid whirled on me. “You are acting more queenly every day, —I’ll give you that.” My lip curled and Briar placed her hand on my knee under the table as the Queen continued. “Giving you soldiers to steal back a human of all things. That is bold, indeed.”

“We all know that if Nero carries on this way, that it will end poorly for Taigos, too,”

Briar said lightly.

“Do we now?”

“King Nero and King Luo have always been on good terms,”

Briar said.

A flash of fear crossed Ingrid’s face at the mention of Luo, her once betrothed. The fact she had denied his marriage and decided to rule Taigos alone was against everything Wolves believed. Technically, according to Wolf laws, Taigos should belong to Valta now since Taigos didn’t have a direct male heir. I glanced at Klaus. Perhaps he would’ve become a defunct king of the Ice Wolf Kingdom, though the land would officially belong to Ingrid’s husband.

“You think Nero is working with Luo?”

she asked, her voice growing more serious.

“I think if a war is coming, the Silver Wolves will look to their Onyx Wolf friends for support, yes,”

Briar said sympathetically. “And now that Nero is doubling down on Wolf law, it might not be long before Luo tries again to stake claim to your kingdom.”

“I will not allow it!”

Ingrid shouted, her fists pounding the table and making the cutlery clang together. The sudden outburst was at such stark contrast to her usual calm. Finally, we saw a flash of fear in her otherwise cool countenance.

Briar, to her credit, moved slowly and softly as if calming a skittish animal as she placed her hand over Ingrid’s. “Olmdere won’t allow it, either. But with Silver Wolves attacking one border and Onyx Wolves at the other, you’re going to need a friend who supports your claim.”

“Have the monthly carts of food and goods to help your kingdom not been enough to win that friendship?”

Ingrid asked.

“You have been most generous,”

Briar said, skirting around answering. “And we will continue to support you as the true Queen of Taigos with all of our gold and natural resources,” she vowed. “But now more than ever, we need each other.”

Ingrid’s hands shook as she pulled them from Briar’s. She took a steeling breath and the tremors were gone. The thought of being sold off like a prized horse to Luo truly had her spooked.

“Agreed,”

she said. “I still haven’t made up this mind about a rescue mission, though.” She eyed me. “Sending Ice Wolves into Nero’s kingdom could mean the start of a war, one neither of us is prepared to win yet.”

“You don’t have to decide right now,”

Briar said, and I squeezed her leg roughly under the table which she pointedly ignored.

“I’ll think about it.”

Ingrid stared at the table, seemingly noting the movement. “I’ll have a decision for you by the end of the week.”

“The end—”

“That’s all we ask,”

Briar said, bowing her head. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Ingrid inclined her head in return, rising to stand. “Come. Let me give you a tour of the gardens.”

She and Briar took the lead. My hands still balled into fists at my side as I stood. We couldn’t just frolic around the ice palace pretending a storm wasn’t brewing over both our kingdoms . . . but if playing royals was the way to win over Ingrid then it was our only choice.