Chapter Sadie
Sadie
I TRUDGED THROUGH THE DAMP MORNING FOREST WITH MY shoulders bunched around my ears.
Navin followed a pace behind me like an early morning shadow.
Clearly he had no respect for the hours that Wolves kept because this was the most cursed time of day to be awake.
I didn’t know if I was angry at him or Nero or the Gods . . . all I knew was I was angry.
We hiked out toward the sea, Haestas trailing us like a ruby in the cloudless sky.
We headed straight east from the temple in the hopes of tracking down a water monster to practice Navin’s magic on.
This time, I insisted no one else join us.
The last thing we needed was to die because of a poorly timed sneeze.
“We are wasting precious hours with this nonsense,” I muttered. “Need I remind you Highwick is a landlocked capital. What use is a water monster?”
“It’s to practice,” Navin said just as tightly.
“You can practice on me.”
“No.”
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “We should be packing up the wagon with the others,” I snapped. “The sooner we get out of this place the better. We’ve gotten what we’ve come for and one of our attackers escaped.”
“Even on four paws, your brother won’t make it to Highwick before we move camp,” Navin assured me.
The thought stung. I knew Hector had saved my life during the attack from my father and uncles, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t betrayed us before .
. . or wouldn’t do so again. But to who and to what end?
Whatever his loyalty, it was still unknown.
Maybe he would tuck tail and run, roaming the edges of the forest as a lone Wolf forever.
My father spoke of Hector being strung up by Nero, tortured by him. Surely Hector wouldn’t return to Highwick to face more of Nero’s wrath? But maybe he saw that as his only means of survival now . . .
It was all so up in the air. I’d thought I’d known my brother’s motives before.
I wouldn’t be foolish enough to think he wouldn’t make another bad decision and turn himself back in to Nero for more punishments.
It was what we were raised to do after all.
And while I tried to only hate my brother, I feared for the punishments Nero would mete out upon him if he made such a foolish choice.
“And how long before Nero realizes they haven’t returned?”
“Long enough for our wagon to be far away,” Navin replied. “Our songs will keep us hidden and cover our trail.”
“When they attacked,” I said, unable to call our attackers by their names. They weren’t my family now. “I almost lost you. When my father pinned me, that left you alone and outnumbered. You had a more powerful weapon than a single knife. You should’ve used the songs.”
“No.” I was getting real sick of these monosyllabic responses.
“No?” I whirled on him. “This isn’t funny, Navin.”
His dark eyes pierced into me. “I’m not laughing, Sadie.”
Sweet Moon, why did he have to be so attractive when he was angry? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to throttle him or fuck him . . . or both at the same time. Now that would be interesting.
I balled my fists and turned, storming faster through the forest, hating the feeling of the morning dew clinging to my boots and trouser legs.
It was doing nothing to help my mood. I lifted a low hanging branch, and instead of releasing it gently, I pulled it farther so that it would snap back like a whip.
Navin’s grunt was the only confirmation I needed that I’d hit my target.
“Listen,” I grumbled, “you might be strong and skilled for a human, but—”
“But?” I heard him take a decided step forward, closing the distance between us until his chest was at my back. I turned to look at his tight expression. “I killed them, without the aid of the songs,” he pointed out. “If I had used the songs, it would’ve controlled you, too.”
“It would’ve been worth it to save your life,” I hissed. His anger softened a little at that. There was no way for him to go toe to toe with me when it came to anger and we both knew it. “I can handle it. Promise me if there is another Wolf attack, you will use the songs to protect yourself.”
I waited for a long time, but Navin didn’t respond. “Sweet motherfucking Moon,” I gritted out, spinning and pushing through the last of the trees to the sloping pebbled shoreline.
The gradient was steep, the dark water beyond choppy and roiling with angry white foam. Sea mist sprayed the air, coating my already damp skin, and I let out another grumble. I folded my arms and sat on a lichen-covered rock.
“Go on,” I muttered. “Sing your bloody songs.”
Navin strolled around to face me, hands in pockets. “We have to wait for one to come.”
“You brought me here at dawn to wait for a monster?” Oh, I was really going to kill him now.
“They are known to stick close to this shoreline.”
“This is a very long shoreline,” I spat.
“One will come,” he said with a nod. “Be patient.”
“I’m sorry, you must’ve mistaken me for someone else.
When have I ever given you the impression that I can be patient?
” I picked up a handful of stones and started chucking them out to the water one by one in the hopes that if a monster lurked in the waves it would come.
But none emerged. “This is ridiculous. We don’t have time to wait,” I said, crossing my arms tight across my chest again.
“We don’t have time for you to stumble across beasts to train when you have one right here. ”
“I won’t do it.” I almost wanted to laugh at his deeply serious tone. “I won’t take control of your mind. I won’t take that freedom from you.”
“Your chivalry is noted and currently very unappreciated,” I muttered. I tipped my chin up to the sky. “Practice on Haestas while we wait for this great sea creature, then.”
“What would you have me do? Make her bring you another goat?”
“Tell her to bring me a Wolf,” I suggested. “One with silver fur. Alive. One we can interrogate. That would actually be a good use of our time.”
“Why do you think I spend every evening poring over sheets of music? I have been trying, but the more involved the command, the more intricate the song.” Navin mused up at the clouds.
“And since no song exists to command a monster to fetch a living Wolf, I must write it myself. It will take more time to uncover the right notes, if it can be done at all.”
“Practice something else on her now, then,” I grumbled, ignoring his mounting frustration. “Don’t make my sleep exhaustion be in vain.”
Navin let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
He let out a sharp whistle and Haestas came shooting like a carmine arrow through the sky.
She tucked in her shimmering iridescent wings until within striking distance of us and I thought for a second she might crash into the rocky shores, but at the last second, she opened her wings like a sail to a strong wind and slowed to a graceful landing.
Her clawed feet sunk into the pebbles under her enormous weight and she let out deep growling clicks as she stalked closer.
She was incredible and lethal and yet I knew by her posture and the brightness in her eyes that she wasn’t a danger to us.
Navin started his low, guttural song, making Haestas do all the things I’d seen him have her do a hundred times before: sit, lie down, even breathe little streams of fire.
“Is she going to light a candle for us? Doing parlor tricks won’t help us in an actual battle,” I said, rubbing the crusted sleep from my tired eyes. “She needs to be trained to kill on command. I know songs have been written about that at least.”
Navin shot me a look but acquiesced, his song changing, morphing to something faster.
Haestas sat alert, her pupils narrowing to slits, and then she took flight.
With a whoosh, she shot out toward the sea, circling the tall waves a few times before shooting down toward the water.
Talons bared, she snatched a writhing creature from beneath the roiling waves.
It had the claws of a crab and the long reptilian body of a crocodile with rows upon rows of sharp sharklike teeth as if the three animals were sewn together into one foul beast.
“I’m never swimming in the ocean again.”
Navin ignored me, too focused on his dragon. He let out a whistle and Haestas tore at the monster with her talons, ripping it limb from limb before dropping its shredded remains back into the sea.
“Was that the creature we were waiting for?” I asked, looking at the burnt orange remains bobbing on the surface.
“Yep,” Navin said.
“Great.” With a groan, I stood. “If you can have her do that a few hundred times in rapid succession, we may very well have a chance.” Navin’s expression soured.
“Let’s head back to camp, then—there’s only one beast you’re going to be training today.
” I smiled at Haestas as she flew higher above the clouds again, released from her deathly performance. “Unless you’d like to try on me?”
Navin turned and scowled. “No.”
“Aw, come on,” I said, sidling over to him.
Well, my attempt at sidling. I needed Briar to teach me how to swish my hips in that alluring way she did.
I was never one to be seductive, but judging by the heat in Navin’s eyes, it was working all the same.
“It could be fun.” I ran my hands up his arms as he arched a brow at me.
“It could be a lot of fun—you trying to control me, making me do whatever dark ideas are floating around your head.”
The desire in his eyes betrayed that frown and I knew I’d finally found my in. Navin wasn’t one for playing games outside the bedroom, but oh the fun we had inside it. If I could get him to practice this new power and get a wickedly fun night out of him, then so be it.
“Never mind,” I said, reeling him in like a fish on a hook. I waved away the thought. “We could just let Ora practice with me—”
“No.” Navin stepped into me, his hands sweeping around my waist and gathering me to him. His possessive fingertips pressed into my leathers. “If anyone trains you, it will be me.”
“Good.” Plan hatched, I rose on my tiptoes and brushed a chaste kiss to his lips. He tried to pull me closer, to continue the kiss, but I pulled away and patted his chest. “Save it for tonight.”
“Tonight?” he asked as I started back toward the forest. I heard the crunch of his boots beneath the pebbles as he followed. “Tonight we’ll be on Galen den’ Mora heading northward.”
“Ora still has that tent, don’t they?”
I heard Navin’s light laugh from behind me as I stalked back toward the temple. “Do I even want to know what you have planned?”
I flashed him a catlike grin over my shoulder. “You really, really do . . .
“But there’s no way I’m going to tell you unless you make me.”