Calla

The moonlight in my fur made all my fears feel further away. I sniffed the brisk air, smelling the snow hares and ebarvens winding through the pine forest. I loved running through the powder of freshly fallen snow, the howl of the hundreds of Ice Wolves surrounding me, and Grae hot on my heels as I zipped through the darkness.

I was reminded once again of the sheer immensity of the Ice Wolf pack. They were so large that despite their more lax training, they’d still be a considerable force against Damrienn. We needed this, needed Taigos on our side. Running with the pack would surely help. It was the way Wolves bonded; hunting together made us all feel closer.

And closer was what we needed, as Ingrid still was playing coy, not giving us a decision one way or another. Inviting us on this run was at least a sign of good faith.

“Slow down, little fox,”

Grae spoke into my mind. “We’re meant to be running with the pack, not leading it.”

“Fine,”

I grumbled, my maw letting out a frustrated whine. I slowed my pace slightly. I was sick of holding myself back, sick of making myself lesser than, to appeal to Ingrid. I hated how much Ingrid had us by the balls and how much I was contorting myself to appease her. Now, I even had to run differently.

“Soon we’ll be running under the golden leaves of Olmdere again,”

my mate reassured me. “Soon.”

“There will be no running through the forests of Olmdere if Ingrid doesn’t agree to side with us.”

I shuddered at the thought. “What if she never makes a decision and stays neutral forever?”

“She’s smart enough to know if she allows them to come for Olmdere, Taigos will be next.”

“What if she brokers a deal and sides with Nero?”

“She won’t.”

Grae’s voice was thunder in my mind. “There’s nothing that could be promised to her that couldn’t just as easily be taken back. Nero has no loyalty to anyone but himself and Ingrid has just as much to lose as we do. More. We could cut off Olmdere from the rest of Aotreas far easier than Ingrid could, sharing two borders with enemy packs.”

“She has mountains to protect her.”

“And we have a treacherous stretch of sea and only one navigable port.”

Grae raced alongside me, so close I could feel his fur brush my own. “We could burn the port down. Close our borders, if we had to. There’d be lean times at first, but we could make it.”

“Gods,”

I groaned, staring up at the moon. “Do you think it’ll come to that?”

“I hope not, little fox.”

My ears twitched as Briar’s pained howl rent the air. A chill zipped down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. I swiftly turned in her direction, trying to find her in my mind. “What is it? What happened?”

“Maez.”

Briar’s voice was a broken cry. “She said . . . she said that . . .”

Hector practically bowled me over as we raced out onto a frozen clearing. “What happened?”

he snapped. “Sadie? Is she okay?”

Briar appeared from the other side of the clearing, her golden fur glistening in the moonlight. Her ears were pinned back, her hackles raised.

“Briar.”

I bolted over to her. “What did Maez say?”

“Galen den’ Mora was on the way to Upper Valta when they were hit by a sandstorm.”

Hector, Grae, and I paced anxiously around her as she spoke. “Navin and Sadie fell from the wagon.”

We all froze.

“Fell?”

Hector asked, searching between us. “How bad can a sandstorm be? Enough to . . .” He couldn’t bring himself to say “kill” but a new kind of fear laced his lupine eyes.

“I don’t know,”

Briar cried out as if she was being stabbed over and over, as if the pain Maez was feeling was manifesting throughout her entire body.

“Briar!”

I shifted on instinct. “Briar, break the connection!” I dropped to my knees in the snow in front of her, so panicked I couldn’t feel the sting of its cold. “Shift!”

At my command, she collapsed into the snow. I caught her in my arms as she shifted and writhed beneath me. I was only faintly aware of Grae barking orders at Hector and then fleeing back through the forest. Hector stood with his back to us, pacing, protecting us from any beasts that might be prowling the forest.

“Breathe, breathe,”

I commanded my twin as Briar shuddered in my arms, her fingers clawing at me and her legs flailing like a pup in slumber. “Open your eyes, Briar. Look at me.”

Her blue eyes peeked open, her red hair strewn across the white snow. A sliver of moonlight beamed down onto us as her breathing steadied and then tears were spilling down her cheeks.

“They fell from the sky,”

she whispered, staring up at the moon as if she was reliving it anew. “I don’t know how far. They disappeared into the storm.”

Hector snarled and paced faster. A group of Ice Wolves skirted around the clearing, and with two snaps from Hector, they kept moving and didn’t linger.

“Is Maez okay?” I asked.

“She got to Sankai-ed.”

Briar’s chest heaved as she clung to me. “She went back down and searched for them after the storm . . . but she found no trace of them.”

Hector whined again and I knew he feared the worst. Their bodies were probably buried in the storm. I tried to push the thought away. Sadie was the toughest Wolf I knew. If anyone could survive, it would be her. But Navin? There was no way he could have pulled through.

I tried to fight the pain blossoming in my chest. Then selfishly another thought popped into my mind, and I hated myself for it. “Did they uncover his secrets? Do they have any more answers?”

Hector’s growl shook through me, making my whole body tremble. It was a shitty question. His sister might have just died, and I was still trying to uncover Navin’s secret plot. His secrets had probably died with him.

And yet I was the Queen, and for all that it grieved me, part of my duty was to ask such shitty questions, so that others didn’t have to. So I stared him down, and his ears flattened back in submission.

Now was not the time for division.

Grae reappeared through the trees in his human form dressed in a thick fur cloak. Whorls of steam escaped his mouth and billowed behind him, his breaths coming out in sharp pants. He carried an armful of clothing and two pairs of boots. He dropped the boots beside us and laid one fur cloak over Briar who I still cradled in my arms, then he wrapped the other cloak around my shoulders and crouched down beside me.

“We should get you two inside,”

he murmured gently, even though his face was tight with pain.

Briar didn’t respond for a long time, but when she did, she said, “There’s something else.”

“Gods.”

The look in her eyes had my heart doubling pace. “What?”

Her throat bobbed. “Maez was so weakened by grief it slipped out of her mind. A memory. In this sandstone little border town . . .”

My eyes widened. “What was she keeping from you?”

“Sadie’s father and uncles tried to capture her and take her to Rikesh.”

“Rikesh?”

I swept the hair from Briar’s face. She wasn’t making any sense. “Why?”

“Nero arranged her marriage to Prince Tadei.”

Hector let out a piercing howl as Grae and I growled in unison. “He can’t do that.”

“He can.”

Briar’s glassy gaze met mine. “At least, he believes he can, as does Tadei. And Sadie wasn’t the only one Nero arranged a betrothal to.”

“What? Who?”

“Me,”

she whispered, her voice cracking.

“But you have a mate!”

My scream was so shrill it made Hector jolt. It was actually Briar who was calm this time.

“I know, .”

“Who did he promise you to?”

“Hemming’s son,”

Briar said, glancing at Grae as she clutched the cloak tighter to her chest. His lip curled and a deep growl rumbled out of him. “His new heir, Evres.” Briar’s composure shattered once more, and she groaned and clutched her stomach, her body shaking with pain. “It hurts,” she cried. “Maez hurts so badly.” She tried to pull from my grip. “I need to go to her. I need to help her.”

She tried to stand, and my arms banded around her tighter as Grae took a step between her and the edge of the clearing. “You’re not going anywhere,”

I said. “Especially not now.”

Briar battled against me, and I squeezed her tighter to me. She was strong, but I was stronger. I could feel her heartbreak radiating off her and couldn’t imagine the pain of being forced to stay away from my mate. It was cruel. But losing her to Nero would be far crueler. She couldn’t just go gallivanting off to Valta.

“Maez will return,”

I reassured her. “You’ll be reunited soon. It’s okay.” Her battling arms weakened and she sagged in my grip. “It’s okay.”

Grae and I exchanged pained glances, and I knew he was imagining what it would be like to be separated from me, knowing I was in pain and being unable to reach me. Gods, he’d known that pain before. I couldn’t hold his gaze, that sorrow suddenly fresh within me. I just held Briar tighter to my chest and rocked her until she went limp.