Chapter 14
I leaned back against the doorframe, breathing deep.
Breathe. Don’t panic.
I slid to the ground, holding my legs to my chest like they could protect me from the chaos of my life.
“This is what you get, searching for trouble,” I mumbled to myself, leaning my forehead against my knees. “This is what you get for being curious.”
If only I hadn’t met Iain and Silas on the bank of the Little River.
If only I hadn’t accepted the wildlife job.
If only I hadn’t been out researching ferns on that trail.
If only, if only, if only…
I crawled to my bed and under the blankets, taking the lavender and spruce sprigs out of my braided hair. I thought a lot about this little world hidden from humans. I thought about their kitchenware, their robes, their bedding… all of it strange and beautiful.
Human, yet not.
I wouldn’t take any of it back.
The thought surprised me. If given the chance, I would live all of this again and again and again despite the weight of responsibility.
Silas’s face kept interrupting my thoughts.
Silas, Silas, Silas.
My future husband.
A groan escaped my lips as I flipped over, face in the feather pillow. This couldn’t be real. Even if I didn’t regret what had happened to bring me here, the whole thing was absurd.
Two and a half days ago, I was a girl—a college student—who liked wildlife. Tonight, I was a researcher in a magical, ancient wolf pack in the forest who had gotten herself engaged to a King.
A wild fairytale.
But that’s what I wanted, right? To live among wolves?
My heart fluttered in my chest as I allowed myself to dream for a moment.
Me, being a queen.
Me, having a tight-knit family.
Me, discovering the magic of Arcadia.
But Silas had offered me a way out, an option where I could choose to leave it behind and go back to live a normal human life. All the books I had read of children finding themselves in extraordinary situations, they always went back to the human world. Not once did one choose to stay.
Will I choose to stay now?
Now that I have responsibilities?
A yawn forced its way out when I flipped over again, curling my body into a tight ball.
Hadn’t I always dreamt of being here in this place? I’d dreamt of this since I’d been dragged out of that cold mountain water. I had imagined a future where wolves were my playmates, my friends, my family. And before tonight, I’d even considered asking to stay. Now, I’d been chosen.
I wondered what good I could do for Arcadia, or even Silas. How might I aid them when I was merely a human? And how could I possibly live up to the legacy that preceded me?
I walked familiar paths. The light filtered through the green leaves, unusual for autumn. The packed dirt thudded under my boots while I made my way up the winding trail.
Hiking was exhilarating. My leg muscles ached, but the journey and the view were worth it.
A raven swooped into my path, watching from its perch in a dead tree. Odd, seeing a raven here when crows were more common.
Coming around the bend, a rustling noise caught my attention. I scanned the forest around me. Trees and bushes, logs and stumps that tricked my brain into thinking an animal watched me.
Another rustle from behind.
I whipped around only to find the raven, fluttering its wings, now standing in the dirt.
Laughing nervously to myself, thinking I’d gone paranoid, I turned back to the path only to be met with a wall of fur.
“Glad you could make it back, daughter of Arcadia,” Nyx growled, almost smirking at me.
“What do you want?” I stepped back, creating space between us.
“So brave in her dreams.” He tilted his head to the side. “I wonder what it’ll be like to smell you in person.”
The dark wolf began to circle me, but I turned to face him.
“You didn’t answer my question.” I tried to sound confident, but my voice wavered.
Nyx stopped in the trail, stretching his body. “Only what I’ve wanted for centuries: the downfall of Arcadia. Surely you, a human, would help me with my life’s quest to end their tyranny?” Tilting his head, he paused only for a moment. “No? Well, that’s a shame. Maybe Silas or Caroline would stand up for you, spurred by revenge for their father’s death.”
“Don’t go near them,” I hissed.
Nyx laughed, the rumble resounding in my ribcage. “You don’t have much to bargain with, dearest. Maybe if you met me in your woods. You know the place. Where your story began.”
“I–” My voice cut out. I wanted to move my feet, but my legs wouldn’t obey.
“You could bring Nash. It’d be nice to have a reunion.” He grinned, incisor and canine teeth a bright white against his dark fur. His amber eyes flashed at me.
Nyx crouched, lips curling to reveal even more teeth ready to tear me apart. I could only watch as he pounced, knocking me to the ground, breath escaping my lungs.
“Big, bad wolf!” I opened my eyes to see the trees hanging above my head, dark in the deep of the night.
A dream.
A nightmare.
I struggled to pull air into my lungs as I pushed myself off the ground. The blankets were in disarray, and I gathered that I must’ve thrown myself off of my bed.
Thank God for that,I thought. I could only imagine how long the nightmare would have held me in its clutches otherwise.
But what in the world had the dream meant? There had been the raven and Nyx, and he’d mentioned a reunion with Nash.
What happens when I fall back asleep again? Another meeting? Another attack?
I shook my head and adjusted my robe. I needed to move. The door was unlocked, so I slipped through it, bare feet silent on the pine straw. Making my way through the residential court, I noticed a lot of the doors were open and the rooms empty.
I knew wolves were nocturnal, but I wondered how human they were with their life patterns. So far, they had fed me like humans. And they operated during the day as far as I could tell.
I caught a flash of tails as two wolves trotted down a winding path to my right. They barely looked up when I passed behind them.
At night, the Yard seemed ominous without the light from the bonfire, ancestral ghosts, or blue beetles. Instead, a quiet hush had fallen over the once bustling pathways of Arcadia.
Distant bird calls and the hissing sound of my robe running over ground were all I could hear. Somewhere, a Great Horned Owl hooted.
Iain’s words from my previous dream resurfaced: You are safe here, safe in Arcadia.
I took the pathway to Guardian’s Glade as I now knew it. They had names for everything here—the Boneyard, where they trained and discarded bones; Mender’s Heath, where Asa healed any injuries or illnesses; the Yard, where most people congregated. And then there were the kitchens, the Tailor’s quarters where they handled any fabric, the Hunter’s Run where they store caches of previous hunts, and other places I hadn’t heard of or visited.
The throne room felt soulless without people, without Silas. And I almost felt like I was trespassing.
You sort of are trespassing, I reminded myself.
Taking in a breath, I paused at Silas’s bedroom door.
Would his people die for intruding like this? Am I allowed to do this?
Another image of Nyx flitting across my memory chilled my senses, making up my mind for me. As quiet as possible, I cracked open the door, peeking my head in.
It was bigger than my own, set up the same, only adding a few things. In the corner sat a desk with a massive, old book resting open. On both sides of the desk, shelves stretched tall holding books, trinkets, and scrolls as well as a large feather collection dangling from thread that decorated the branches near the edge of Silas’s room. Across the space, a wardrobe stood with a mirror next to it. Beside the mirror was something like a makeshift coat hanger. Instead of coats, it held various woven crowns of branches and flowers.
And at the back of the room, Silas sprawled out on his bed, asleep. The sight of him shirtless and vulnerable made my heart flutter with anxiety.
This is a bad idea.
But I was already there. I stepped a pace away from the bed.
Do I sit down? Do I whisper his name?
I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, he interrupted. “Are you going to stand there or are you going to come over here?” Silas barely lifted his head from his pillow.
“You’re awake.”
What a stupid thing to say.
“Come here.” There was a gentleness in his voice that beckoned me.
I sat on the edge of the bed facing him, the bed shifting beneath my weight. His eyes weren’t even open.
Is he dreaming?
“Did you think I wouldn’t hear you sneaking in?” he asked, voice thick with sleep. His tone wasn’t angry or upset but amused. “I’m a wolf, Eden. I can hear and smell you from farther than you know.”
“Right.” I refused to look at him, too conscious of how heavy my steps must be and how much I reeked of sweat and the woods.
Stupid. You’re so stupid.
“What’s troubling you?” He rolled himself over, head propped by an arm. His eyes opened, their shades of green black in the dark.
“I… I had a nightmare again.”
I watched the muscles in his jaw tense. With a sharp inhale, he ran his hand through his tousled hair. “But you’re all right?”
Nodding, I twisted my hands in my lap. “I think so. A little spooked.”
A few moments passed in silence, the tension palpable. Silas moved forward and wrapped his arms around my torso, trapping my arms in my lap. He rested his chin on my shoulder, leaning his head against mine.
“I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” He grew quiet for a moment, and I relished the feeling of his body rising and falling with his breath. There was something calming about being held after having a nightmare, something protective about it.
And sleepy, protective Silas was intoxicating. Kingly duties didn’t burden him. Grief didn’t quite weigh him down.
This Silas was alluring.
He moved back. “We can talk more about it in the morning when I’m awake and clear-minded.”
“I thought wolves were nocturnal.” I turned my head towards him, heart lurching with how close his lips were to my own.
I wondered how it would feel to kiss his sun-tanned skin. Eventually, I assumed I’d have to kiss him—not that I would mind it—but it seemed strange to move from being hated to being cared for so fast.
“Oh, we are nocturnal. Generally. We also sleep a lot.” He chuckled, the sound reverberating in my ears. “And I have to be awake whenever I am needed, precisely why I sleep when I can, day or night.”
I nodded, not knowing what to say or how to talk to him. There was so much I didn’t know, so much I wanted to learn. I had always wanted to know more about the virlukos, ever since Iain pulled me from the river.
But now I needed to know.
So much had changed since that day. And if I accepted this crazy idea of being Silas’s wife, their queen, I needed to know everything.
Absolutely everything.
I’d have to convince Caroline to teach me. Or I could borrow Silas’s books and scrolls.
“Come here,” Silas whispered, pulling me further onto the bed. He scooted to the side, making room for me.
Alarm bells rang in my brain, screaming in protest. What would his family say if they found me asleep in his bed? Did they have a protocol for Arcadian courtship?
He pulled me closer to him, laying a hand on my arm and tucking the other under his feather pillow. The blanket smelled like him, like the earth after it rains.
“Silas?”
“Mmm?” he mumbled.
“What happens if he–” I swallowed. A thought had occurred to me as the prospect of sleep grew closer and with it, the threat of another nightmare. “If he gets me?”
His hand cupped my cheek, his forefinger tightening under my jaw. “I’m not going to allow that to happen, Eden. I promise, I will keep you safe.”
I nodded, afraid if I spoke that my words would turn into tears. I didn’t want to worry Silas more than I had about such a strange connection to his enemy—my enemy.
My heart split into so many different directions while my brain followed countless thoughts. Thoughts of this wolf pack, how my research would help them, and learning to be a queen rolled around before being replaced by darker ones of the forest, the Spirits from the Festival of Kings, and Nyx.
What would happen if he reached me?
My only consolation was the warmth and presence of Silas next to me. It was comforting and in a way, natural. Like I’d been there before in his arms, like he’d known I’d fill this role when he’d brought me to Arcadia. Why did it feel so normal, so right?
Partners protected their own. So it only made sense that Silas would be bent on keeping me safe. Making me feel safe.
I closed my eyes.
That’s what I am now, his partner. And he had promised me.
He promised.
It was a promise I would hold him to.