Calla
WE WALKED THROUGH THE PALACE WITH NEW EYES, THE grounds in utter disarray.
Blood speckled the walls, portraits were torn out of their frames, glass shattered across the dirt-streaked carpets.
Once they had been so perfectly silver, not a single stain or spot in the fabric; now the ransacked castle looked like a war zone.
We moved silently, following Verena’s guards who guided us to her location.
After the siege in the snow, Verena had hastened to secure the castle with the bulk of her remaining retinue while Grae and I hung back to burn pyres to our fallen Golden Court soldiers.
Only a few short hours had separated us, but I was relieved to return to our joint forces again.
As we stalked into the throne room, the space was vacant apart from Verena who stood frowning at the throne upon the dais as if she was afraid to sit upon it.
“What happened here?” I asked, looking around the room that had once held glittering balls and lavish parties and now looked like a juvleck had been set loose.
“Before Hestoff came to meet us on the battlefield,” she said, lifting her chin to the sky like a Wolf howling at the moon—a prayer for him, “he and Djen fought to seize control of this place. All that was found of Djen and Hestoff were tatters of gore-coated pelt, barely enough of them to burn on a pyre.”
“Looks like they didn’t care if there was any pack left by the end of it,” Grae said as we closed the distance to her, “let alone a palace to house it.”
She looked up at us with sad, weary eyes. “No more of this,” she said with a solemn shake of her head. “Our pack is done killing each other. I’ve spoken to what remains of both parties”—she let out a huff—“barely any adults. Terrified pups, that’s all that’s left of my pack.”
She rubbed a hand over the back of her neck, and I could see the weight of it all crashing down on her—a burden I felt all too keenly. Becoming a queen was an honor, but it was also a terrifying responsibility, the lives of so many were squarely placed in our hands.
“It never gets easier,” I said, moving to stand beside her and stare down at her throne. “But the work becomes more bearable, putting one foot in front of the other. Knowing it’s for your people and not for yourself.”
Verena sighed. “We’ve all agreed we’ve lost too much already. If we keep going, there will be no pack left.” She glanced sideways at me. “And then who will stop Nero from knocking down our doors?” She looked at Grae. “Or Valta for that matter.”
“That monster,” I said with a shudder. “Sadie had told us of it before, but to see it in the flesh . . .”
“I’m guessing that is Rasil, then,” Grae noted.
“If that sorceress friend of yours hadn’t shown up . . .” Verena clicked her tongue.
It hurt to hear her still called our friend.
Whoever Maez was now didn’t seem like the person we used to know.
The way she hadn’t even acknowledged Grae, the hurt on my mate’s face, made me want to wring her neck.
She’d always been a soldier, but now she just seemed like purely a killer.
And Briar had still chosen to go with her . . .
A fresh wave of fear washed over me as I thought of my twin, hoping she was okay, wherever Maez had taken her.
“Do you think we can rally her to our cause?” Verena asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t think she’s within our control.”
“What about in the control of your sister?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, thinking of the danger Briar had put herself in.
I knew it was hopeless to try to dissuade her.
My sister and I were as obstinate as they came—a Golden Wolf trait.
Briar was either going to save Maez or let Maez destroy her, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“Briar will do whatever she can to get through to her mate, but on that front all we can do is hope. I think we will have better luck turning our attention to Sadie,” I said diplomatically.
“Songkeepers against Songkeepers. We have a dragon now. And the possibility of controlling more monsters. If Rasil shows up again with that creature, we will need them all in a battle.”
Verena nodded.
“Unless,” Grae said, “Rasil and his lackeys make more monsters.”
Verena’s eyes widened. “What? They can make monsters?”
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “There is much we still have to tell you.”
Verena turned from the throne and gestured to the far door on her left. “Not here,” she said. “The council room is relatively unscathed. We can discuss there.”
We all gave one last look to the untouched throne sitting stalwart amongst the ruin and debris, and turned to go plan our next moves.
I FOUND MINA OUTSIDE THE MOON PRIEST’S CHAMBERS.
A ROW of bodies had been lined up along his outer wall, each one being taken into his open-sky chambers in turn and burned along with his moon prayers.
It was more than they deserved, the traitors, but Verena was determined to have the pack be united in their grief.
There was no room for vengeance amongst the dead.
When she spotted me, Mina quickly recovered the face of the dead Wolf with the white burial shroud. I knew at once she was looking for Hector’s face amongst the dead.
“I didn’t see him,” I signed to her when she looked up at me. “I don’t think he was there.”
“I didn’t see any Silver Wolves either, besides Grae,” she signed back. “But I had to check.”
“What would you have done if he had been there?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
I let out a long sigh and sat upon the stone bench carved into the far wall—a place for mourners to gather and wait. But there would be no mourners this time; anyone bold enough to openly mourn these Wolves was lying dead beside them.
“I hate him,” Mina continued, her throat bobbing.
“I hate him so much for what he did. But I miss him, too. He was the only thing holding me together after Malou died.” I was reminded once again of the pain of her loss.
I couldn’t imagine losing a twin. Even having Briar leave with Maez felt like my soul cleaved in two.
“I just needed to know if he was truly gone.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “I hate him, too,” I said aloud. “And yet I miss him in equal measure.”
“Do you think he’ll go south and try to find Sadie?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think she’s why he betrayed you.” She grimaced as she signed the words.
“He would do anything for his sister, no matter how misguided. He made the wrong choices for her, but I can’t bring myself to blame him for it.
The way he looked at me when he held that sword to my chest, the way it faltered . . .”
“Everything is in tatters,” I said, dropping my head in my hands.
“This is not how our court was meant to be. We were supposed to all be together. We were supposed to all defeat Nero together and live out our happily ever afters in Olmdere. Now Sadie is hiding out in Damrienn training monsters, Briar and Maez are Moon knows where, and we are yet again in a foreign kingdom trying to build allies.”
Mina wandered over and sat beside me, placing a hand on my back and rubbing. She waited until I lifted my head to sign, “Briar went with Maez?”
It didn’t surprise me she already knew which of those three things I was most fretting over—only a twin would truly understand.
Of course I was worrying about Briar. Maez had practically snapped her fingers and killed an entire pack, and my twin was still so desperately in love with her, she couldn’t let her go.
“I hope she’s okay.”
“I have to believe Maez will protect her.”
“But she must be hurting. Maez isn’t the same person she fell in love with. That darkness will twist and warp her and maybe Briar will one day realize it and want to get out and it’ll be too late.”
We sat there in silence for a long time, both of us staring at the row of endless shrouded bodies.
“What Maez did on that battlefield . . . ,” I said, staring up at the ceiling. “We could definitely use that in a battle with Nero. His ‘friends’ are dropping like flies. The Onyx Wolf pack is practically extinct, and the Ice Wolves are now our allies.”
“Finally,” Mina signed.
“Finally,” I echoed. “And at a terrible cost. Do you think we can trust Verena?”
“I don’t know how much trusting I’m going to be doing from now on.”
I huffed. “Agreed.”
“But if we can use her,” Mina signed, “we should.”
“I don’t know if she’s willing to storm Damrienn with us. Not after losing so much of her pack, but I will endeavor to convince her nonetheless. I think between us and the Songkeepers we might have a chance.” Mina’s face pinched. “What?”
“That monster.”
“The one with the many hands?”
She nodded. “It’s called a samsavat. Rasil is its master.”
“I can’t believe Navin was married to someone so cruel,” I said, shuddering.
“He wasn’t always as he is now,” Mina signed.
“Not that he was ever particularly likable. He believes it is our sect’s cause to defeat the Wolves and return the land to one ruled by humans.
But there are many of us who believe our calling is to return to a place of harmony between humans and Wolves. ”
“Like Ora?”
“Like Ora.” She nodded. “But now that Rasil knows the eternal songs . . . he could create an army of monsters and sorcerers. Maez’s powers could be the least of our problems. Each day I wake wondering if he finally decided to do it.”
My shoulders drooped at the thought. It felt like our battles were innumerable; perhaps Nero was the least of my future problems as Queen. “I don’t want to kill humans.”
“Let us handle them,” Mina signed. “The Songkeepers should deal with our own.”
“And how do you do that?”
“We need to lure them all to one place—Highwick.”
My eyes flared. “The Silver Wolf capital?”
“We can’t afford to split our resources fighting Nero in Damrienn and Rasil in Valta. We need to get Rasil to come to Damrienn. We need to have our force from the north and Navin’s from the south close them in. Both targets in one place. We won’t beat Nero or Rasil without all of our manpower.”
I arched a brow at her. “You’ve turned into quite the military strategist.” She grinned at me. “So how do you propose we get Rasil to Highwick?”
“I may know just the person to lure him out. An old friend. Leave it with me,” she signed, then patted me on the leg and stood. “I have a plan.”