Calla

I hung halfway out the window, watching the golden leaves dance down upon our convoy of mounted guards and carriages. It had taken three days to send word to Taigoska and assemble our traveling party. Three days we didn’t have.

Hector, Briar, and Mina had taken the front carriage, Grae and I behind. Four human guards rode ahead and in the rear. We were a formidable presence rolling through the small rebuilding villages of Olmdere, so it wasn’t surprising to see many citizens taking to the streets to wave; I returned each of their smiles and greetings long after my arm was numb and my lower back was aching. It was all a show. They saw this as a sign of our strength, or a return to what used to be. Yet, despite the gleaming carriages and gilded cavalry, I knew this little force wouldn’t be enough if the Silver Wolf pack somehow made it into Taigos. Four Wolves and five humans? Less a force and more a farce. Even with the hundreds of Ice Wolves at our side, the Silver Wolf pack was unparalleled in their fighting skill. I was trained by Vellia to be at their level, but there was only one of me. Grae and a few other Wolves had that training as well, but it wasn’t enough. I waved and smiled even as I was loath to admit that I’d need twice as many Wolf allies to win any real fight.

Grae hooked his finger into my belt loop and tugged me back inside, a golden leaf dancing through the window after me.

“One inch farther and I’d be hoisting you in by your ankles,”

he said with a chuckle.

I picked up the leaf and twirled it by the stem. “We didn’t get to truly appreciate its beauty last time.”

He tensed. “Last time we were almost eaten by a juvleck.”

“Do they live in groups?”

I wondered, staring down at the carpet of honey and marigold. “Do you think there are many more down there?”

“So long as they don’t come up here, we shall never need to know.”

“Whoa!”

the driver called, and the carriage rolled to a stop.

I stuck my head out the window again, spying a group of a dozen humans huddled by the side of the road.

“Gods,”

I breathed, throwing open the door as Grae called my name—probably to remind me that, as Queen, I shouldn’t be the first one to run into an unknown situation, but we both knew that wasn’t me—and hustled after. “What happened?” I stared from one dirt-covered face to another. I knew the look in their eyes too well—haunted. Too wide, too wary. Many were covered in bloody bandages; others had tear streaks carved through the mud on their cheeks.

When their eyes landed on me, they all began dropping into bows. I suddenly felt a strange shame in my fine attire—my beautiful riding jacket, polished boots, and golden crown. Guards moved farther and farther in front of me, and I shoved between them. I got their motive, but what exactly were they defending me from? These clearly traumatized people?

“Rise,”

I implored them. “Please. Someone, tell me what happened.” One of the elders at the front stepped forward. “What is your name?”

“Elyra, Your Majesty. I am the”—she paused and looked around before saying—“oricsia of the town of Eastbrook.”

She bowed again.

I inclined my chin to her and placed my finger to my forehead in honored greeting. “Oricsia”

was a human word that loosely meant grandmother, but implied much more. Many of the human villages were matriarchal. Oricsia meant Elyra was a village elder, a leader and guardian, a cherished one amongst her town.

“You’ve come from Eastbrook?”

I tossed the town name around. “But that’s in—”

“Damrienn,”

Grae said, moving to stand beside me. The group bowed again to him, and I couldn’t help but note how they inched farther backward.

My stomach dropped. Somehow instinctively I knew, but it still twisted in my gut to hear it. “What happened?”

“The Silver Wolves,”

Elyra said, pulling her shawl tighter around herself. “They sent the Silent Blades to attack our village.”

“Attack?”

I choked out. “Who are these Silent Blades?” I looked to Grae but he shook his head, as confused as I was.

“Much has changed since the fall of Sawyn,”

Elyra said, clearing her throat when her voice wobbled.

“I haven’t heard a thing from Damrienn since Sawyn’s demise,”

I said, shaking my head. “Nor has Taigos, if Queen Ingrid’s letters are to be believed.”

“You wouldn’t have heard of what’s been happening. They’ve stopped all trade,”

Elyra said. “Only Wolves are permitted to travel the realm now.”

“What has Nero done?”

Grae’s voice dripped with venom because he already knew. He of all people was aware of what his father was capable of.

“The King said it was the humans who corrupted you.”

Elyra met my gaze. “King Nero told us were it not for those human musicians, you never would’ve taken the word ‘merem,’ never welcomed humans to sit on your unlawful court, never permitted Wolves and humans to”—her cupped hand waved through the air—“be together.” My stomach tied into a knot as a hot flush crept up my cheeks. Nero knew about Sadie and Navin then, or at the very least suspected human-Wolf relations within my borders. Elyra’s rheumy eyes bore a flash of sympathy as she added, “Nero said it was the humans that encouraged you to betray your pack.”

Fury rose in me at that. It was Nero who betrayed me and my sister. Briar and I had been willing to give our lives over to him and his pack, and all he did was threaten us and use us for our court’s gold. Corrupted by humans? More like enlightened. It was only once I met Ora that I realized that belonging to a family wasn’t done out of fear.

“I knew he’d do something like this,”

Grae snarled. “It was only a matter of time before his hatred finally made him snap.”

The humans trembled, shifting farther away, and I put a hand on my mate’s chest and gently—but firmly—pushed him back behind me. These people were already too afraid of his anger whether it was justified or not.

I searched their fearful faces. “Nero has punished you all for my leaving?”

Elyra bobbed her chin, the wrinkles around her mouth deepening with a frown. “He tore down our temples.”

I gasped, unable to hide my horror. In only a few moons, he’d managed to destroy his kingdom so much? “He told us we are only allowed to pray to the Wolf Gods now, only to use the Wolf words. He said he allowed human customs to stray too far from his leadership and that he’d shepherd us back to Wolf morality. I’m no longer allowed to call myself oricsia.” Her solemn eyes met mine. “You’d no longer be able to call yourself merem.” That sentence slammed into me like a kick to the gut. Because I had claimed a word, claimed who I truly was, he’d taken it away from everyone else, too. “Anyone caught not obeying Wolf laws is being rooted out by the Silent Blades.”

That name again. “Who are these Silent Blades?”

“It’s what we call his spies,”

Elyra said. “They are Silver Wolves who police the human villages, hiding as humans until they find a reason to proclaim a town disobedient. There’s not a single town where the Silent Blades have not found someone guilty of disobeying their King.”

“No,”

I whispered, my words coming out as shaky as Elyra’s own now. “How could he do that to you?” The words stung coming out of my mouth and yet nothing about Nero’s true potential for evil surprised me. He was angry I’d taken back my court from him—and therefore stolen the gold he felt belonged to him—believing that because I didn’t have a cock between my legs that I should forfeit the entire region to him. But I hadn’t, and in doing so I’d embarrassed him. And for that slight, he was taking it out on the most vulnerable. It astounded me still how many lives one man could unflinchingly destroy just for his lust for more gold.

“There’s more, Your Majesty,”

Elyra continued, beckoning forward a fearful human who seemed the same age as me. “It’s all right, mezmevia.” The woman—Elyra’s granddaughter judging by the word the elder used—had a blanket wrapped around the crown of her head that draped down her body so that only her eyes peeked out. She had piercing hazel eyes that watched me warily as her grandmother wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “You can show them. It’s okay.”

The woman dropped the blanket to her shoulders revealing a blistering brand that covered her face from her jaw all the way up to her lower eyelid. The sight of the scabbed and weeping red paw print on her cheek made bile rise up my throat and fire fill my veins.

“What is the meaning of this?”

My hackles rose as I stared at the brand. So much anger filled me that I had to force my Wolf not to take control, no easy task. The pull coiled deep in my belly, my bones aching to shift, my mind begging for the fury and vengeance that only my Wolf form could bring. I would gut Nero for what he’d done to these innocents . . . but he wasn’t here, and there was no one nearby for me to eviscerate.

With a deep breath, I found my center and stayed in my current form.

“They are marking humans for encouraging skin chasing,”

Elyra said.

“What?”

I gaped back at the old woman. “But . . .” The thoughts tumbled through me. Only Wolves were punished, sometimes brutally, for “sullying” themselves with humans. It was a Wolf punishment based on a pack rule, not a human one. And Wolves could shift, Wolves could heal. This human would be scarred for the rest of her days. Another poisoned word snagged in my mind. “Encouraging?” I swallowed, barely able to ask as I stared at the mark. “What happened before they placed that brand on your cheek?”

“I think you already know,”

Elyra said tightly, holding the girl closer to her side. “They’ve taken everything from us. From our beliefs, from our homes . . . from our bodies.”

I searched the hollow faces of the group. “Where is the rest of Eastbrook?”

“We are all that’s left of Eastbrook.”

My eyes welled before Elyra could even finish her sentence. She continued, “We fled on our fishing boats, tried to sail around the border, but the Olmderian shores are too treacherous to breech. A storm washed us ashore at the foothill of the Stormcrest Ranges. We’ve been seeking refuge in your court ever since, Your Majesty.”

I blinked back tears, trying to hold my resolve for the people in front of me. They didn’t need my pity, they needed my protection, and I swore then and there that I’d be the instrument for their vengeance, too.

“You will be safe in Olmdere,”

I vowed to the group. “I promise this to you.” I stepped aside. “Take my carriage back to the city. You need to see the royal healers at once.”

“,”

Grae murmured, but I held up a hand.

“You will take that carriage, too.”

I gestured to the other carriage and saw Hector, Mina, and Briar huddled together behind the wall of royal guards, their faces matching the horror I felt in my body. Hector’s arm was around Mina’s waist, tucking her into his side as she cried. “I will send my best guards to ride with you,” I assured them.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,”

Elyra said with a bob of her chin.

“You will be safe in my court,”

I said again and knew I couldn’t say it enough times for them to believe it. I knew it would take a long time, perhaps the rest of their lives, before they ever felt safe again. “You are home now.” Elyra’s eyes misted, clearly holding on to the last bit of strength that had guided her people this far. She reached out and clasped my hands with her own. “I’m sorry I’ve brought this evil to your village.”

Elyra shook her head. “None of our kind thinks this is your doing,”

she said. “We whisper of the Queen who lives beyond the golden trees.” She craned her neck up and smiled at the tapestry of gilded leaves above us, lifting her crooked fingers in supplication. “A ruler who believes humans and Wolves should live as one. Where our lives are weighted just as much as your own.” Her eyes dropped to the peak of gold skin lifting above my collar. “A queen who died to make this a place of peace.”

A tear slid freely down my cheek now. I knew eventually the remaining humans of Damrienn wouldn’t be saying such things. Soon they would blame me for all their pain. Soon the Silver Wolves would torture and scare them into hating the Golden Court. I thought of Ora again, wishing I could turn back to Olmdere with this group but knowing I needed to keep moving ahead to Taigos. I needed to end this even more urgently than I had before.

“I will return to the Golden Court soon,”

I assured the harried faces staring back at me. “Until then, you will be guests of the crown and treated as such. Olmdere welcomes you.”

They bowed to me, and I flagged down one of my guards, giving him coins and instructions along with a heavy-handed threat that if anything should happen to these people, he would be held personally responsible.

Grae leaned his shoulder into me, his voice a low whisper. “And how are we meant to get to Durid tonight?”

I glanced at him. “Mina can ride with the remaining guards. The rest of us run on four paws.”

Hector and Briar nodded at me in unison. “I need the wind in my fur. I need to howl at the moon. I need to imagine our pack slaughtering Nero for what he’s done. Let’s go.”