Calla
ICE WOLVES WERE OVER OUR BORDERS.
I sat anxiously on my throne, rolling my shoulders back as if the act alone could prepare me for the envoy from Taigos.
When scouts reported five Ice Wolves traveling through the Sevelde Forest, I’d rallied my soldiers and put the city into a state of high alert.
I didn’t trust that this was simply a messenger’s visit.
Perhaps they thought five Ice Wolves would be all it took to fell the Golden Court once and for all.
A little snarl escaped my lips at the thought.
“Steady,” Grae said from the throne beside mine. His hand landed on the knee I bounced up and down.
Mina played her violin from the corner—a song I knew was meant to soothe. If the Ice Wolves had any unfavorable plans, her magic would come in handy. They would have no clue that the most powerful weapon among us was the musician in the corner.
“Another declaration of war,” I muttered, adjusting my crown as I stared at the golden doors at the far end of the great hall.
“We don’t know that. We haven’t heard anything about who has taken Ingrid’s place yet. How is Taigos rallying for a war against our court without a ruler?” Grae adjusted his fur mantle, both of us equally uncomfortable in the regal garb.
“Stop fidgeting,” I snapped.
“You’re fidgeting, too.”
“Well, you’ve had a lot more practice wearing these ridiculous garments than me so I expect you to be better at it.”
Gods, we sounded like children.
Grae reached over and squeezed my hand. “Whatever happens, we will find a way through it together.”
The giant doors rumbled open and Grae reluctantly dropped my hand.
Through the opening doors, we found five heads of ash-blond hair and five sets of cool blue eyes staring at us.
They moved as a unit, the one at the front clearly their leader.
She appeared to be in her mid-forties, a true beauty but with sharp, predatory features.
She wore the finest clothes of the five, her eyes keen, her mouth tight as she marched to the end of the dais and dropped into a deep bow. Her packmates followed suit.
“Your Majesty,” she said, staying in her bow.
I raised an eyebrow at the reverent gesture.
Hopefully, this meant she wasn’t about to try to kill us or declare war.
People didn’t usually graciously bow to their enemies.
“I am Verena Baliczech, second cousin to the late Queen Ingrid. I believe you knew my older brother, Klaus.”
I had to bite back my scathing retort. Klaus had been an arrogant courtier, one that neither respected my gender nor my sister’s mating bond. He deserved his bloody end.
“Rise.” The group stood as one and I met Verena’s pale gaze. “Yes, I remember your brother.”
She smirked at me. “He was a piece of shit, wasn’t he?” Verena said. “I’m glad someone finally put a blade through him.”
My eyes widened as I took her in. She didn’t seem to speak in jest. “I suppose on that, we can agree.”
“I think we could agree on a lot of things, Your Majesty,” she added coolly.
“Like how Olmdere and Taigos could both benefit from the support of the other. Like how a war is coming with the Silver Wolves, and if either of us want to keep our kingdoms intact, we need to set our differences aside to do it.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Differences? I killed your Queen.”
“Semantics.” She shrugged. “Ingrid didn’t truly want change, she just wanted power for herself. Much like the sorceress you ousted off your own throne. Either way, me and my ilk forgive you for Ingrid.”
“Who are these ilk you speak of, Verena?” I asked curiously. “Why have you come all the way to Olmdere to wax poetic about forgiveness? Let us speak plainly.”
“Right.” Verena straightened her shoulders, clearly knowing I wanted her to cut to the chase.
“As you probably have assumed, there is infighting amongst the Ice Wolves since our Queen’s death.
Three front-runners have each splintered off with their own packs, each claiming their rights to the throne.
My cousin, Djen, is one, as is our army general, Hestoff. ”
“And you?” I guessed.
She bobbed her head. “And me, Your Majesty,” she said.
“Djen and Hestoff are both claiming that it was a mistake to let a woman rule, a mistake they’re not willing to make again.
Hestoff has all the war strategy in the world but could not win one friend to save his life.
Djen is a pathetic weakling who will roll over and show his belly to Nero in an instant.
Still, they have garnered the most allies just for what lies between their legs, however small. ”
I couldn’t help but smile at her. She was certainly intriguing to say the least.
“And how many Wolves have followed you, Verena?” I asked, wondering if it was just the four behind her.
“Fifty-two,” she said, and I raised my eyebrows, impressed.
That was a considerable amount of the original pack.
That put her at only at a slight disadvantage to the others.
I was impressed more that she admitted her lagging numbers to me outright.
“My second-in-command has our forces gathering in the northwestern part of the court, waiting for Djen and Hestoff to pick each other apart before we go in and strike them at their weakest.”
“Nero will encourage this infighting,” Grae said. “Play both sides. He will sweep in and take Taigos while you’re all too busy chasing each other’s tails.”
Verena nodded her head. “I know. Which is why I’ve come to seek an alliance.
I am the only one of the three who would consider siding with Olmdere again,” she said.
“But with your backing, I know I will pull more votes to my side. You have gold, you have resources, you have a human army, and—if rumor is to be believed—one of your courtiers has a dragon?”
I pursed my lips, considering whether I should answer her fishing questions. Finally, I decided it was better she think I had a dragon than not. Wars had been won from perceived fighting power alone.
“I have all of those things,” I confessed. “And I’m guessing, as an ally, you will want access to all those things. What is in this alliance for me and my court?”
“Besides a friendly ruler who won’t sell you out to Nero?” Verena chided.
“Those promises are easy to give and hard to keep.”
Verena paused, considering me. The sparkle in her eyes gave me the feeling she was about to lay down a winning hand before she even spoke. “What if I vowed to help you get your sister, and only once she’s safely returned to your court would I ask anything of you?”
I leaned forward in my throne. That certainly got my attention. “How do you plan on breaching the dungeons of Highwick?”
“Your sister isn’t in Highwick.”
My eyes flared and my heart galloped in my chest. “What?”
Verena tilted her head, smiling at me. “See, this is but one example of why an alliance with a Taigosi Queen would be so fortuitous.”
“Where is Briar?”
“She’s at the former Queen’s castle on the border to the Stormcrest Ranges.”
I furrowed my brow. “The same castle she was taken from?”
“It seems her sorceress mate has claimed the castle as her current abode.”
My hands gripped the wooden armrests tighter. “Maez saved her?”
Verena tipped her head back and forth. “Saved, abducted, who’s to say? That is beyond my purview.”
My hope soured at that, wondering why Maez would bring Briar to an abandoned castle in a foreign kingdom instead of their own cottage home in Olmdere City.
New anxieties began to cloud my mind. What if Maez was just as bad as Sawyn now?
What if she was hurting Briar? Was Briar even safe with her mate now?
“How do you plan on helping us retrieve her?” Grae asked, filling in for me as my mind spiraled.
“My cousin used to take us to vacation there every year,” Verena said. “I ran through all the corridors, found every servants’ passageway as a child playing hide-and-seek in its halls. There are many secret ways in and out of that castle. I can help you get your sister back.”
I wanted to say yes immediately, but Grae jumped in first. “We will, of course, need time to discuss this privately with our council.”
“Of course,” Verena replied with a bow.
I wanted to scream and pull my hair out with frustration even though logically I knew Grae was right.
I was willing to do anything to get Briar back, make any allegiances necessary, sell my soul all over again for a little more magic to help me.
I didn’t know if I trusted Verena, but whatever her terms, I would take them.
For too long Briar had been a trophy, a pawn taken by every power player in our realm, and I refused to leave her behind.
We were destined for better lives now. Both of us.
Grae snapped a finger and two guards came forward. “Why don’t you have a tour of the gardens while we discuss this privately. We can finish this conversation over lunch.”
“Wonderful, thank you.” Verena turned, leading her miniature pack back toward the far doors.
“Your brother,” I called, making them all stop and turn back to me halfway across the room. “Why did you think he was a piece of shit?” I knew I had my reasons, but I wasn’t his family. I needed to hear the truth directly from her.
Verena’s eyes darkened. “He felt entitled to do whatever he pleased. He would use and hurt and take from anyone just because he knew he could—a trait he shared with many Wolf rulers.” I knew from her tone there was more to her words than what she was saying, hated the thought he had taken from her and everyone with impunity.
“And Ingrid?” I asked. “Why do you hate her?”
“Because she let him,” Verena said. “Ingrid’s belief in supporting women in power stopped at the tip of her own nose. The only person she wanted to save from the cruelty of our rigid world was herself.”
I inclined my chin. “And you won’t be the same?”
“I know what it feels like to give someone a leg up and to have them then turn around and pull the ladder up behind them,” she admitted.
Her eyes dipped to the golden fissures that snaked over my collarbone and up my neck.
“I believe you and I are here to break the curses of evil men and the women who uphold their tyranny. I believe you and I have the courage to be different than our predecessors. I believe you are like me, merem. I don’t see worlds of men and women, Wolves and humans.
I only see one broken world that needs mending and I’m not prideful enough to believe I know how to mend it alone. ”
With that, she turned and followed the guards out, and it took all I had not to follow her and pledge our support there and then.