47. Wolves
47
WOLVES
T he ground was firm under Luella’s feet.
The air smelt of a soft breeze, and the faintest tangle of vines crawling over the side of the cave tickled her face as she parted the curtain of greenery.
Az led the way as they stepped out of the cave and into the fresh air.
It was not too cold. Not exactly warm, either, but a quaint between.
She looked back, seeing the gateway they had stumbled out of as an inconspicuous hole nestled in the side of the rockface. The mountain towered above, partially blocking out the sun. Wisteria fell to the ground, tendrils brushing on the floor of the meadow; a large weeping willow stood at the far end, branches slumped downward, green leaves pooling along the ground.
Everything was blooming and beautiful, even with the barest hint of chill permeating the air.
They weren’t in Medius—it was too warm for that. And definitely not Serpentis or Nix, either.
Az seemed to come to the same conclusion. "One of the fae kingdoms?" he asked, kicking a rock with the toe of his boot.
"I-I don’t know." Luella bit her lip. "I’ve never been to any of the other kingdoms."
A butterfly with blue wings perched on a low-hanging branch, and Luella cocked her head as she eyed the beautiful creature. She raised a hand, and the butterfly fluttering in front of her delicately perched on the tip of her finger. Luella gave a soft smile, and the tiny thing left as quickly as it came. A reminder of the beauty the world was capable of holding.
Az’s grip on her hand tightened. "You are extraordinary."
"I—"
How could she respond to that?
She blushed, focusing on her steps as they slowly ambled along. She leaned into Az for support.
The ground was ripe with plants, and her brain spun as she tried to pick out anything edible to quell the grumbling of her stomach.
Nestled closer to the ground, a thick bush filled with petals of yellow and white.
"Over there." Luella pointed to the bush, and Az guided her over. She bent at the waist, her injured foot hovering as she plucked a few tiny pieces from it. Lifting it to her nose, she inhaled deeply. Honey and soft nectar.
The notes of sweetness reminded her of a certain raven shifter…
Luella pinched the base of the small flower away and pulled out the pistil, popping the end into her mouth to suck on. She hummed at the taste. It wasn’t much. Barely enough to quell her thirst with the short burst of nectar, but after the scant amounts of sustenance she had had, it tasted divine.
She handed one to Az, mumbling around the end of the flower that was in her mouth, "Here."
The demon gave a soft shake of his head in amusement but acquiesced, copying her movements as she showed him what to do.
Luella’s hands grew sticky with nectar, and she licked it off of her fingers, not willing to waste a drop. Az grabbed her hand before she could lick any more of the juice off, catching her eye as he slowly brought her hand to his mouth.
"Let me," Az mumbled against her palm before softly sucking her finger into his mouth.
The blush on her cheeks spread down to her chest. And lower.
Az’s mouth was warm and wet, and when he pulled her finger away, there was a part of Luella that felt almost dejected by the loss of him.
She cleared her throat, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "If there are honeysuckles, there might be some wild lettuce…"
His lips quirked up into a satisfied half-smirk, but he took her elbow regardless, content to ignore the heated charge between them.
Az led her as she pointed at plants, moving closer so she could inspect them. Finally, she saw the telltale sign of the short, crawling plant. He uprooted it for her, holding it before him curiously. Luella took it and tore off a leaf, putting it in her mouth with a grimace.
It was bitter, but she forced herself to chew.
"What does that do?" Az asked.
She swallowed down the urge to spit out the weed. "It can act as a mild pain relief. Let’s keep the rest just in case." She tucked it into one of the inside pockets of her cloak.
"How do you know all of this?" He sucked the nectar off of another honeysuckle.
Luella eyed the golden dawn sun peeking out overhead. She never realized how much she could miss it after being forced underground.
"At h—" Luella’s eyes lowered. It felt wrong to say home . "At Solis, all there was to do was read and study. I wasn’t allowed to attend balls or mingle."
It was only after she said it that she realized how sad it sounded.
Without the shadows nipping out their heels, their pace was slower.
The bitter taste of wild lettuce in her mouth slowly worked to soothe the piercing ache in her ankle. Not completely, but enough that she didn’t feel on the verge of passing out if she put her full weight on it.
As they walked, they came across no signs of life, no buildings. Only the forest creatures and ripe flora welcomed them in this kingdom they had stumbled into.
Luella would have to guess Terra or Aer. Ignis was dark, ripe with volcanoes and pools of lava; Aqua was comprised mostly of oceans and lakes. And it certainly wasn’t Luna. Luella hadn’t seen many drawings of the kingdom, but from what she had studied, Luna was a lonely, barren land. Nothing like the rich forest that stood before her.
Az held a branch out of the way for her, and Luella ducked to round it.
Bravery strengthed her in the daylight, so far from Serpentis.
"So," she started. "You seem to have a history with the King. Tell me."
The mention of King Vale made the air grow terse, but Luella refused to live in fear of just a name.
"We knew of each other even before we met. Graves used to be a… friend." His tone was hesitant. "Not quite. But we had an agreement of sorts. He deals in secrets, and I was his ears in the Below. In exchange, he would grant me favors."
Luella knew far too much about how the male valued his secrets.
"Favors from Graves are worth more than gold in this world. In some parts, he’s simply called the Knight."
"The K-Knight." Luella’s lips stumbled around the word. It fit him. Suddenly, she had a startling memory of arriving at Serpentis, whispers of the Knight reverberating throughout the square. "The Knight made of night," she could not help but say.
Az held her stare even as he gave a soft rumble of amusement. "Yes. Though, he’s far from knightly."
"Oh." She stumbled over a tree root. "What’s his story? How did a raven shifter fall in with the King?" Shifters were more powerful than humans, more powerful than the fae, but a raven shifter in the inner circle of the dragon shifter King? It was unheard of.
Az smirked. "Raven feathers aren’t the only kind he has."
"What do you mean?"
"I would say ask him, but…" The demon grew pensive, voice low. "He would tell you if you only asked."
The way he said it, Luella understood Az meant the shifter would only share that information with her . She wasn’t sure why—why did he place so much value on her?
She tried not to pay attention to the first part of what Az had said. Ask him . As if she was destined to see Graves again.
Was their escape doomed before it even began? Hope seemed too lowly of a thing to have. Did the demon not have conviction they would stay free?
"What about how you all met? You said you knew each other before," Luella led, desperate for answers.
Tiny, blue wings fluttered, the butterfly from before landing atop a bush. Luella looked down only to see a collection of berry bushes. Her mouth watered at the sight.
Red, plump berries decorated the small bush, and before she could blink, Az plucked a few from it, holding one up to her lips.
"For you," he said with a strange expression flickering over his features.
Luella’s lips gently wrapped around the strawberry, and she refused to allow herself to break his gaze—no matter how desperately she wanted to look away from the heat simmering in his eyes. As she bit down, juices dribbled down her chin and over his fingers. It was delicious. Perfectly ripe.
He pulled away the other half of the bitten berry and brought it to his own mouth, biting down in a near savage manner. A half-kiss. Their lips against the same ripe, succulent flesh of the berry.
She flushed. Only then, under the intensity of his stare, did Luella look away.
She batted away the second berry he pressed to her lips. She wouldn’t be distracted. Luella stared up at him, waiting for him to answer her earlier question. They walked in silence for a few moments.
Az finally sighed. "Our meeting was unexpected. Not the best." A dark brown curl flopped over his forehead as he shook his head, his horns casting thin shadows over his temples. "We were all hotheaded. Aggressive."
"Were?" Luella teased.
Az threaded his fingers through hers, carefully lifting her over a fallen tree trunk. He kept his hands on her as he expertly hopped over it, ensuring she would be supported as he conceded, " Are ." He huffed a laugh. "And we’re all after the same thing. None of us are any good at sharing."
It sounded like they had known each other for a while. And had even been close.
So how could the King exile him to the dungeons? How could anyone do that to someone they were supposedly close with—not quite friends, but certainly not enemies?
Az had been forthcoming thus far. Luella didn’t want to ruin it by asking questions that would upset him.
Something in her yearned to know. To uncover the pieces of himself he kept hidden away.
If Luella had to wager a guess, she would say Az was simply too kind for them, for their treachery and plotting. They knew it, too. She was sure they butted heads on more than one occasion. Perhaps eventually, it had become too much for King Vale, and he had banished Az to the dungeons.
Luella shuddered. She could never imagine being locked away underground for so long.
But you’ve been locked away above ground for your whole life, her mind whispered.
What’s the difference between a tower above and a dungeon below?
"How long?" The question was a quiet breath uttered from her lips like she feared the birds above were listening in on their conversations.
"Nearly two decades," Az replied somberly.
That was her whole life. She couldn’t bear the thought of him trapped for so long in darkness.
Luella squeezed his hand. Sometimes, words weren’t enough.
Mind addled and body aching with tiredness with every step they trudged forward, Luella couldn’t go any longer. She pressed a hand to the demon’s chest to signal a stop. She leaned against a tree as she rested for a moment, head tilting back as she soaked in the midday sun.
She was tired of running and looking over her shoulder. Luella wondered if she ever would find peace.
The faintest traces of throbbing heat lanced through Luella’s ankle and up her calf as she shifted. She hissed.
Az fit a strong hand under her arm while the other dug into the pockets of her cloak. His fingertips brushed against her hipbone, and she jerked from the unexpected touch. He pulled out another leaf of wild lettuce, and her nose scrunched at the sight.
"Chew," he demanded, pressing the bitter leaf against her lips. It tickled, and as she opened her mouth to take it from him, he chuffed the underside of her chin with a hand. "There has to be a village around. A healer. You cannot keep going like this."
Luella nodded, slowly chewing as she thought. Even rural areas should have small villages, a few cottages or outposts, travelers wandering through the woods… They should have run into someone by now.
Az let her rest for a bit, then with a quietly mumbled inquiry into her level of pain, they were off again. A leisurely pace, for which Luella was thankful. She had time to soak it all in. Discoveries of a place she had never been before.
They were both content to journey in silence. A quiet and comfortable companionship they had crafted deep in the dungeons—satisfied to simply exist in each other’s orbit.
A flash of something white caught the corner of her eye as they walked.
Luella whipped her head around, searching in the now-dim light of evening.
"What is it?" Az flicked his gaze to her.
"I thought I saw—" Luella peered in between the space of two oak trees. No flashes of white. No gleaming eyes. "Nothing."
Her breath left her in a soft exhale.
She was nervous. That was all.
It couldn’t have possibly been what she thought.
The barest flash, but it looked so much like the white coat of a wolf.
But not just any wolf. A larger-than-normal trio of beasts with appetites for the enemies of their master.
"What happened here?"
Luella looked around, face paling with every passing moment.
Crumbling structures, once beautiful homes in ruin. Smoke wafted overhead. Large, thick plumes made her eyes water. And the smell . Luella gagged.
It was the scent of charred flesh. Rancid, rotting bodies.
The bountiful forest had given way to rolling valleys of beautiful flowers…
Luella had kept chanting in her head, one more step, one more step .
And when they had stumbled across a hill, interlaced with a flowing stream of crystalline water at its base and the barest hint of smoke billowing from the other side of it, she had been filled with hope.
Freedom .
Every step made her feel light with elation, the pain in her ankle nearly forgotten in the face of anticipation. They had stumbled up the green grass of the hill, rising and rising, hands fumbling to aid her when she felt like she could not make it. And just as they crested it—Az going first, with Luella a step behind—she knew it was all a lie.
Standing atop the hill, looking down on the ruins of a village, hope was stolen from her once more. Would she ever learn—to not hope, to not dream or wish? Wishing never did anyone any good, least of all her.
Az shouldered ahead, forcing her a step behind him. He covered her with his body, shoulders tense under the thickness of his cloak. The hood was back over his head, concealing his side profile from view, the barest hint of his horns peeked out from under it. Luella pulled back her hood, looking behind her, down the knoll, and past the expanse of sprawling hills and meadows of wildflowers.
It was there that she saw it. The tiniest flash of white fur. Shooting from the base of a towering sunflower to the midst of a field of wheat, disappearing out of sight.
Luella’s throat worked. She had thought it was all in her head. But everywhere they went, they were there. The wolves.
If they were here, then Tharen couldn’t be far behind.
She still hadn’t told Az; though, she knew she should. She just… couldn’t bear it.
"The Umbra," Az rasped. He turned, facing her with a visage of severity. " This is the work of the Umbra, Lu. The Tenebrae has an army we cannot defeat. And I will not risk you." He gripped her shoulders, and as she looked up at him, Luella felt utterly defeated. "What I’ve been trying so hard to keep you from," Az choked out.
Luella’s lashes fanned across her too-pale cheeks as she blinked, frustration boiling over. "You can’t keep me locked away from everything, Az. If you did, you… you would be just like the rest of them."
His expression grew shuttered, the soft openness marred by cold detachment.
A hand fluttered to her lips. That had been too far.
Az had proven time and time again that he wanted to protect her. But not by locking her away. They were in this together. Always.
The demon turned, giving her his back as they silently faced the destruction below them. Smoke billowed, and the air was quiet and still with death, the aftermath of war and utter destruction.
What sort of horrors had these villagers faced in their last moments?
Luella placed her hands on Az’s cloak, feeling his strength under her palms as she rested her forehead against his back. "I’m sorry," she murmured.
He didn’t say anything. Didn’t even acknowledge that he heard her.
"Please forgive me," Luella pleaded. "I don’t know how to do this. Rely on someone. It’s been me, for forever. I know you want to keep me safe, but I don’t understand what’s going on. Too many secrets have been kept from me, and I’m stumbling around in the dark without light, trying to find my way. A fortnight ago, I didn’t even know anything was wrong. And now… I’m expected to grasp the notion of some"—Luella’s hands clenched the fabric of his cloak—"undefeatable enemy made of darkness."
Her final words were a soft breath, whispered against his back, "Give me time."
She didn’t look up. Didn’t move at all, not even when warm hands gathered up hers, and a finger lifted her chin.
"Open those beautiful eyes, angel."
She did, pools of warm amber melting her despair.
"You’re forgiven before you ever even do anything." Az brushed a thumb over her soft cheeks as he stared down at her. "I’m not mad. Not at you ," he stressed. "But at them. This situation. The fact that I cannot keep you safe, even when that is all I have ever wanted."
"Truly?" Luella asked. "You’re not mad?"
He shook his head, a soft look overtaking his features as he brushed his thumb over her cheek. She forgot all about the ravaged village before them, the flash of a prowling wolf behind. Focused solely on the male before her.
He was fearsome, with his curling horns and tanned skin and the few scars on the backs of his hands and forearms. But with her, he was soft. With her, he was the accumulation of everything she had ever dared to pray about.
"You’ve been kept in the dark. I know, Lu. Solis—" Az blew out a harsh breath. "It’s not what you think. None of it is. Fuck, even King Vale isn’t what you believe him to be. Even though he’s a prick, he’s fighting. And that’s admirable in its own right."
Her heart picked up while breath left her lungs, a soft and invisible fizzle that felt as lofty as the tendrils of black smoke curling in the air. If she heard one more time that things weren’t as they seemed, she might very well murder someone for answers, she wanted them so desperately.
"If you say King Vale isn’t as he seems, then why were you so willing to escape with me?"
Az ran a hand through the few dark brown curls sticking out from his hood, tousling the strands into further disarray. A curl flopped over his forehead, and she itched to push it back.
"You come first. Always," he said.
None of it made sense. And the way he mentioned her home, Solis. Luella thought back to when she first arrived in Serpentis. The vile things the villagers spewed at her like she was no more than a rodent living in sewage. Even the smallest children had looked at her with such hatred. Was Solis to blame? Her parents had never been kind to her—or others—but Luella couldn’t fathom them having anything to do with such evil.
She looked at the destruction below, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth. The foul odor of decaying bodies assaulted her, wafting on the plumes of smoke that colored the sky an ugly, mottled grey and black.
Words poised on the tip of her tongue. But to say what, Luella would never know.
A resounding howl from behind them, joined by two more lonesome calls. Long and weary, like a cry of begrudging triumph.
Az whipped to face the noise, hand locked around Luella’s upper arm as he tucked her into his side.
They looked out upon the other side of the knoll, their backs to the wasteland of the village as they stared down on the untouched grassy plains and meadows and the field of wheat.
The golden fronds parted, swaying from more than just the gentle breeze of the early evening.
She saw the teeth first—glinting as lips drew back, revealing sharp fangs she knew were capable of tearing limbs into little chunks.
Luella stumbled, injured ankle twisting in her haste. She hissed, and Az barely caught her before she fell.
"Godsdamn it," Az seethed. He forced the hood of his cloak back. No use for it now.
They had been found.
And Luella wanted to cry out the force of her resentment to the sky.