Sadie

As I showered the grime and stench off me, I watched through the grating below my feet as the cobblestone road morphed to a forest trail. Soon, we’d be passing through the Sevelde Forest. It was a beautiful, haunting sight—a forest filled with golden trees of every hue from honey to dandelion to amber. I thought of Navin driving through this place. On the trip here, I’d sat beside him on the couch, holding his hand, his grip tightening in mine with every turn of the wagon’s wheels.

There would not be a repeat of that today.

I kept looking out the grate. Below the Sevelde Forest lay the gold mines of Olmdere, which had been the only way in or out of the kingdom during Sawyn’s reign. Navin had escaped the blight and famine through the mines underneath us. His father, who had fled with him, never made it out the other side.

I twisted the spigot that controlled the water canister above my head. The sound of the wagon wheels crunching leaves and the clinking rattle of the uneven terrain filled the echoey metal bathing chamber. Chamber was a bit of a misnomer. It was more like a tiny nook with a giant water canister that you needed to crouch under and grated iron flooring. Still, little warm touches filled the space. There were fluffy towels waiting on the shelf, along with hooks to hang washing. The whole place was warm from the metal firebox that sat right above it, ensuring the water at least wasn’t freezing and quickly drying people’s washing. One of Ora’s dresses still hung from the drying hooks, and it made my stomach sour again—an eerie reminder that they’d been abducted, the reasons still a mystery. Did Nero know how close Calla and Ora had become? Or was Ora important in other ways? What purpose did Nero have with the leader of Galen den’ Mora?

I grabbed the fresh clothing that Briar had packed for me and pulled it on. Steadying myself against the wall, I struggled to keep from toppling over as I yanked on my trousers over my still damp thighs. The wagon rocked and I toppled backward, landing flat on my ass. I slicked my wet hair off my face with a growl when I heard another sound . . .

Humming.

Navin was humming a tune to himself as he drove the wagon. It was easier to hear with the open grate below me. The sound echoed up into the cavernous space. He hummed a sad, slow song and I recognized the tune: “Sa Sortienna”—above the golden trees. It was an Olmderian miner’s song for their loves back home. My fingers twitched with the urge to go to the front of the wagon and hold Navin’s hand again, even though I knew I shouldn’t want to. He’d raised his weapons against me to defend his Rook brother. I’d never forgive him for choosing one of Sawyn’s lackeys over me—brother or no. Whatever his reasons were, they’d never be good enough, and yet . . . we were rolling over the final resting place of his father and his humming haunted me.

I decided sitting there listening to him hum was a cruel form of torture. I stood up, yanked my trousers the rest of the way up, and climbed the ladder back into the wagon.

I found Maez in the kitchen, searching every drawer and pantry as if mapping out the place. She opened one drawer and lifted a sprig of dried lavender, opened another and lifted up a handful of loose buttons.

“This place feels like a fever dream,”

she murmured, shaking her head as she craned her neck up to the stovepipe that rose out through the canvas ceiling.

I dropped into one of the kitchen chairs. “It certainly has a magic all its own.”

Maez opened the oven and let out a surprised grunt as she pulled out a now-cool tray of sourdough bread. How many days had that loaf been in there as Navin raced to the capital for Calla’s aid?

“Perfect.”

Maez lay the tray straight on the table between us. “Breakfast. Now I thought I saw . . . ah!” She grabbed a ceramic bowl of butter and a single knife and dropped into the chair across from me.

I stared up at the ribbons hanging above the kitchen table, little embroidered badges hanging down the strands.

“Ora hand stitched these for different people who traveled with Galen den’ Mora,”

I said, trailing my fingers across a badge with a raindrop on it.

“Did you ever get one?”

I pinched one of the far ribbons between two fingers, turning the strand for Maez to inspect. “I’ll give you two guesses which is mine.”

Maez grunted and pointed to the crescent moon and knife. “That’s so cool! I want one.”

“We’ve got to save Ora first.”

Tearing off a chunk of the bread, Maez said, “I didn’t really get much time with them after Sawyn’s demise before they rode off again, but being here in this place, I feel like I know them a lot better now.”

She buttered a piece of bread and passed it to me. “I understand now why Calla was so adamant to get them back now, too.”

“It feels like we’re heading in the wrong direction.”

I took a bite of bread and let out a low hum. It was far more delicious than the loaves at the bakery. “We should be going to Damrienn to rescue Ora, not Valta to rub elbows with the Onyx Wolf King.”

A little twang went through me as I thought about Ora—about how this bread was probably meant for them and Navin, about their clothing still drying on the hook, about their life just snatched from them and for what? A prisoner of war? A symbol of the burgeoning Golden Court?

“Having King Luo’s support will help Ora,”

Maez said. “And all of us.”

“Ora is one of the best people I know,”

I replied. “Though I don’t know a lot of good people.”

“Mostly Wolf ruffians, eh?”

Maez chuckled. “So what does Nero want with a traveling musician? Navin made it sound like these were capital soldiers who took Ora, not just some random pack members?” She crooked a finger at her eye. “The one with the missing eye . . . you think that’s—”

“My uncle,”

I said with a definitive nod. “I’ll give you one guess who the other two are.”

“Shit,”

Maez muttered, shuddering at the thought of the three of them. “Why would Nero send them on a foot soldier’s errand?”

“That is the question I’ve been asking myself, too,”

I said through a mouthful of bread.

Just hearing our former king’s name on Maez’s lips sent a chill down my spine. I’d lived my whole life in fear of disobeying him. He was not one to listen to reason and his will was law. He destroyed many families in ways I was ashamed to admit I was only beginning to understand as unjust . . . and in some cases complicit.

“A political pawn maybe?”

Maez mused. “It’s no secret that Ora was close with the Golden Court Queen . . . but was this Nero’s declaration of war between the Silver and Gold Wolves? Kidnapping a human? I’d thought he’d do something . . . bigger.”

“No idea.”

“If there is a war . . .”

Maez cocked her head and gazed up at the badges swinging above us. “Do you think King Luo will actually put his army into the fight with us?”

“He must. That is our task now,”

I replied. “We need the Onyx Wolves. We can’t take no for an answer.”

“If Calla can get the Ice Wolves in line, then maybe Luo will feel forced to side with the bigger army.”

I swallowed. “It would certainly help. But the same goes for getting the Ice Wolves to join. We have to go in as if he’s the most important ally to us. Because we’re going to need everyone, every single possible friend, if we have any hope of beating the Silver Wolves in a war.”

“That thought used to fill me with pride.”

Maez’s voice tinged with shame as she clasped her hands together, voicing the same thoughts I’d been ruminating over for weeks. “To be a part of the mighty Silver Wolf army.”

“Me too,”

I said more quietly, remembering my thoughts from the other night. “We’ll be fighting our own families. Friends we’ve known since pups. I . . . I will defend Calla’s court with everything I have . . . but Gods, I wish I wouldn’t have to.”

Maez pursed her lips. “I think having a Gold Wolf mate makes it easier in some ways,”

she mused. “I would destroy every friendship and home I’ve ever known to protect Briar.”

I toyed with the piece of bread in my hands before taking another bite. I wished I had that conviction. I wished I didn’t feel this tumultuous upheaval of everything I’d ever known.

Maez tapped a finger on the table. “There’s more Navin isn’t telling us.”

I hadn’t missed what I’d seen from her last night, then. I let out a breath through clenched teeth. “Yep.”

Leaning her forearms on the table, Maez said, “.”

She waited for me to look up at her before she spoke again. “You’re going to have to get these answers from him.” I hated the way she said it, even if I knew she was right. “I know you two were once . . . close.” I dropped the bread and pulled out one of my knives as she continued, “I think you might need to be close again. Get him to trust you. Get him to tell you what he’s hiding. If it could help us prevent an outright war . . .”

I flicked my knife back and forth. “I could just stab him in the side, and I bet he’d spill whatever we wanted to know.”

Maez narrowed her eyes at me. “Think smarter.”

“I’m thinking like a soldier,”

I countered.

“Think smarter,”

she said again, and I almost laughed. Almost. “We need him to help us get to Rikesh undetected,” Maez pushed. “We need this ruse. If Nero knows we’re making a move for the Onyx Wolves, it might force his hand faster than we can prepare. So much is at stake. We’re on the brink of war, I can feel it, and . . .” She sighed and shook her head. “If you can’t handle it—”

“I can handle it,”

I gritted out, knowing she was goading me but still falling for it anyway.

“Excellent.”

Maez handed me a chunk of buttered bread. “Now go convince him you’re sorry so we can figure out what he’s hiding. You’re a spy for your Queen now.”

“Ugh.”

My lip curled as I grabbed the piece of bread from her and stood. “Why can’t I just stab him again?” I groaned and stomped to the front of the wagon.

“Not everything can be solved by stabbing.”

I vehemently disagreed, but kept my mouth shut for now.

This was for the mission, I told myself for the hundredth time as I parted the heavy velvet curtain and climbed through the tiny window onto the driver’s seat. Navin’s humming stopped briefly as he glanced at me and then he carried on.

“Brought you something to eat,”

I said, offering him out the bread. “Wh—” I glanced down and realized he wasn’t holding the reins. Instead, he sat with his ankle crossed over his knee and a green linen-bound book in his hands.

“Thank you,”

he said, setting the book aside and taking the bread.

He continued to hum mindlessly as he ate. Very strange. I wasn’t sure if it was a nervous compulsion or what. Perhaps it was his way of coping with passing through this haunted place. It was said that thousands of people died trying to escape Olmdere during Sawyn’s reign. I could almost feel their souls still lingering heavy in the air.

The golden trees stretched out in the distance in front of us, the farmland dipping away to the wide expanse of molten ore.

I clambered the rest of the way through the window and sat beside Navin. “Don’t you need to be driving?”

I asked, tipping my head to the slack reins.

“It’s a straight shot. There’s only one road through the Sevelde Forest,”

he said through a mouthful of bread. “Besides, they know where we’re going,” he added with a jut of his chin at the oxen.

“Then why are you out here?”

“To give you some space.”

He chewed thoughtfully for a while before adding, “I know Calla forced you to come.”

“Right.”

The stilted silence stretched out between us again. Come on, , say something useful. Figure out what’s going on. “I . . . I’ve been thinking about it and . . . I’m glad I came, though.”

Navin’s eyes widened slightly, the faintest flicker of excitement—hope even—at my words before he schooled his expression again. We rolled on for several more heartbeats before he said, “I’m sorry I ruined everything between us.”

There was never anything between us.

That is what I wanted to say, at least. To let him know I’d keep pushing him away forever. I had a bit of excitement in his human world, just morbid curiosity, and now it was over. Instead, I said, “For reasons that you can’t tell me?”

“I . . .”

He glanced up at the golden canopy that now stretched above us, the forest hanging in a perpetual autumnal glow. “My brother had . . . secrets,” he said very carefully, and I tried not to study him too closely. How do I act casual? I crossed my ankle over my knee and took in the gilded foliage. “Secrets I needed to make sure he didn’t share. Something I wouldn’t have the answers to if you rammed him through with your blade.”

I considered his words. “So it wasn’t done out of brotherly love?”

“Esh no.”

Navin let out a bitter laugh. “I can’t deny somewhere deep down I still love my brother. Maybe something in all those childhood memories makes me hang on to him even though he betrayed our family by siding with that sorceress.” He dusted his flour-covered hand down the thick fabric of his trouser leg and then stole a glance my way. Those brown eyes that swirled like molten bronze held a magic all their own. Every time I looked into them, it felt like falling under a spell. “But I didn’t save him out of love,” he said, holding my gaze. “I wasn’t choosing him.”

I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t handle all the things unspoken that passed between our eyes. I severed that spell and stared back out at the speckled sunlight through the honeyed canopy.

“Did he do it?” I asked.

“Hmm?”

“Did he share the secrets you were hoping he’d keep?”

Navin paused for a long time before replying, “No, he didn’t. And it makes it a lot harder to hate him now.”

What were these secrets? And why was it so important that Navin’s brother not share them? I knew he wouldn’t tell me if I just asked outright. Already he’d told me more than I’d expected. Guilt was a powerful tool. Maybe he felt a little heartbreak, too.

“This secret,”

I hedged, holding up my hands when Navin tried to interject. “You don’t have to tell me what it is. But does this secret with your brother also have something to do with Ora?”

He stared straight ahead and I already knew the answer: yes.

Shit. This was bigger than a family secret then. This would be no small thing if the Silver Wolf pack knew about it. Something was happening right under my nose, but I couldn’t catch the scent of it yet.

“Keep your secrets,”

I said quietly. “As long as they don’t impact me, it doesn’t matter. But will you promise to tell me whatever I need to know to keep Maez and me safe on this trip?”

“All you need to know is that Ora knows something very important,”

Navin said. “I don’t know how much the Silver Wolves know, if they know anything at all. But if those Wolves can get Ora to talk . . . it could set the whole world on fire.”

“Fuck.”

I sucked in a sharp breath, jostling my knee anxiously up and down. What in the Gods’ names could Ora know that would be so world destroying? “Nero is probably torturing information out of Ora right now.”

Navin shook his head. “Ora has ways of protecting their mind if not their body.”

I glanced at Navin from his knitted cap to his pointy boots. “Who are you?”

He let out a rough laugh, making his broad shoulders shake. “I’m a musician.”

I scrutinized him for a long time before he asked, “Who are you, Rauxtide?”

“A Wolf, once Silver now Gold, a member of the Golden Court, a soldier, a killer,”

I added pointedly.

A skin chaser, I thought in my mind. A person too rough and too heartless for a gentle soul like you.

“Thank you for telling me about this,”

I said with a nod, rising to stand.

Navin stared back out at the rolling golden forest that completely consumed the wagon now. “Thank you for coming with me.”

His voice had grown hollow, and I wondered if he was reliving what horrible memories transpired in the mines below us. Could he still taste that fear? Was he thinking of his father’s body still down there somewhere, unburied, but continually mourned?

“If the oxen can lead themselves . . .”

I paused at the curtain. “Why don’t you come inside?”

“I think I need the fresh air right now,”

he whispered.

I sighed, turning around and dropping back onto the bench beside him. I reached out and threaded his hand in my own, just as I had done during the ride over. He squeezed my hand in silent acknowledgment and then went back to humming.

“I think I need some fresh air, too.”