Chapter 43
Wolfe
“When Fate Begins to Burn”
The sun climbed higher, its light doing nothing to burn away the frustration coiled tight in my chest.
I’d just returned from patrol with the senior unit to Duskmoor.
There was a disturbance there last night at one of the outer checkpoints. Three villagers went missing, the doors to their homes left wide open. After I left Dreynthor, I went to check it out. It was the first occurrence since my return from Morg?ven.
After the nightmare I’d witnessed at the last site, I expected to find something just as horrific.
But we found nothing.
It was just like before Marcus intervened and showed me what to look for.
Today there no tracks. No evidence. No trace that anything had been there at all.
The tinged of dark magic didn’t even fill the air.
I wanted an enemy I could face. All this phantom threat had done is keep me chasing shadows.
I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the tension that had settled there like stone, and turned toward the tent where my Bloodsworn waited.
I’d summoned them because we hadn’t met since the wedding. I needed to talk to them about the plans going forward.
We had the situation to contain across the kingdom. And in fourteen days Elariya’s memories would be lost to us again. Now that I had her back, I wanted to come up with a plan of action.
I was trying to get as much done as possible before the celebrations tonight.
Last month was hard knowing that she was going to forget me. The Seer’s warning that she might not always love me had cut me to core.
This reset had given me a taste of that life. And I hated it.
I absolutely hated it.
Now that Elariya was my mate, I wanted to do whatever I could to fix the problem.
I was determined to find a way. And if I couldn’t, there had to be some other way of preserving her memories. Something that hurt less than forgetting.
I reached the tent and pushed through the entrance, letting the heavy fabric fall closed behind me.
Alaric looked up immediately, his sharp gaze reading my expression. "Anything?"
"No." The word came out harder than I intended, edged with the frustration still simmering beneath my skin.
Bastian and Garrick exchanged worried glances.
I moved toward the table where maps lay spread across the surface, marked with positions and patrol routes. I leaned against the table, facing them.
"The enemy are up to their old tricks. Covering themselves. There were no signs of forced crossing and the fucking wards are intact. Watch rotations were exactly as they have been, and yet people are missing.”
"We have to figure this out, Wolfe," Alaric said, jaw tight.
"Missing people suggests more soul weaving,” Bastian said. “We haven’t heard hide nor hair of the necromancer since we fought him, but that doesn’t mean he’s not around."
“Missing people suggests he’s very much here,” Garrick intoned.
“And he need souls for his rituals,” I sighed. “The Seer said the enemy wasn’t strong enough yet to show their face, but their certainly making a mark. I’ve been thinking that we might be going about this all wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Alaric gave me a thin stare.
“We’re doing everything they expect us to do. Patrolling, investigating, tracking. The only thing our efforts have been good for is keeping us distracted.”
“What else can we do?” Bastian shrugged, flicking over his palms. “I certainly don’t have a better idea. Do you?”
My shoulders slumped. I shook my head. “I’ll come up with something.” We were going around in circles and the enemy was making fools out of us. “Until then we keep the patrols going. The last thing we want to do is stop, or be less vigilant. Because maybe they want us to do that too.”
“You wanted to talk to us about the plans for the ring,” Alaric said, resting his elbows on his knees. “Have you thought more about the spell now that Elariya has used her time magic?”
“I have. Elariya is at Hyxian with Arielle, I’m hoping they make progress. Elariya needs the time and space to learn about her powers. Once she does we’ll attempt the spell again.”
Garrick nodded, agreeing. “She seemed in better spirits today. I checked in on her and Arielle when they arrived at Hyxian. They didn’t see me. I like to give them space to talk.”
Garrick was the friend who could test my patience to its limits, but it was times like these that I appreciated him.
“I’m hopeful Archmage Magdalena can to help Elariya,” I replied.
“The problem is we don’t exactly know what specifically is required of her to find the ring.
” I paused for a beat. “All we know is the ring hides on a time plane and Elariya will be able to unlock the path to find it when she harnesses her magic. But she’s only just starting out.
The level of skill she needs could…it could take a while. ”
“Hey, I’d beg to differ. She already kicking ass,” Garrick cut in. “Wolfe, come on. She managed to escape us. Us. And we couldn’t fucking find her. If your silvery, spirally strand thingies didn’t show you where she was, you would have never found her.”
I didn’t want to think about the outcome of such a possibility, but Garrick was right.
“I have to agree,” Bastian said. “She certainly impressed the hells out of me. Why don’t we see how this week goes then we can reconvene?”
I nodded. “We can do that. She’ll be able to tell us how she feels and what she’s learned. Then I guess there’ll be no harm in trying the spell just to see what happens.” There was no harm in hoping either. “If we find that ring everything changes.”
Elariya will have her memories back and keep the new ones she made.
And me?
Although nothing changes for me until the ring is on my hand, I’ll know where to find it. And when I do, I’ll fix everything, and make every last one of my enemies pay.
The insurgency spreading through the kingdom seeded long before Father’s death. Knowing that makes me stronger. If only for the fact that it was one thing I knew that my father sadly did not.
“What about Thayden?” Alaric asked. “Any news on him?”
“Nothing there either. But I didn’t think there would be. He’s being careful. He knows he’s being watched. He’ll only step outside his safety zone when he thinks my eyes are turned away.”
“Or maybe we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“Somehow, I don’t think so.” It was just a feeling I had, something that stayed with me from the little audience I had with him. “We still need to keep an eye on him.”
My eyes dropped to the ground and I got lost in the clumps of earth that had gathered together from that rain.
What was I missing?
What couldn’t I see?
What were those bastards hiding from me?
And then there was her.
The thing wearing my sister’s face.
“What is it Wolfe?” Bastian asked.
I met his concerned gaze, my mind riddled with conflict and questions. “I saw Zyrra in Morg?ven.” That was the first time I’d been able to tell them I’d seen her.
They stared back at me, shocked. The silence that suddenly entered the tent was cold and callous, chasing away all the warmth.
“Why in the hells didn’t you tell us before?” Alaric’s stare was most cutting, though he meant no ill. It was just me who saw it that way. I would always see whatever my mind wanted me to see whenever I spoke about our sister with him. Because of what I had to do. To end her suffering.
“I’m telling you now.” I pulled in a slow breath to loosen my mind. “At first, I thought I was imagining things. Then I realized she was real. Or, as real as the entity bearing her face.”
“Did anything happen?”
“No. She was just there. I was just thinking that she’s the only real lead we have. Since this whole thing happened, she’s the one link we have with the enemy. We need to find out what she is. Perhaps then we’ll know more about everything else.”
“If the Seer couldn’t tell us then what hope do we have of finding out?” Alaric frowned.
“I feel like that’s the link we’re missing. We don’t know what or who we’re up against.”
“What did she want in Morg?ven?” Bastian asked, his brows creasing. I could practically see the questions forming in his mind.
“To taunt me. She wanted me to die. She wanted me to give up and die.”
They glanced at each other.
“So we were right,” Garrick smirked. “They do need you dead.”
“Yes,” I replied.
“For Zyrra to appear to you, you must pose some other threat. Maybe more than just protecting Elariya and disturbing the enemy’s plans for the ring,” Alaric said with reflection.
“I think so,” I pulled in a breath. “I really need to know Zyrra she is.”
“What are you thinking?” Bastian asked, looking me over.
“We need to research.” And speak to Kaem again. He’d been able to see Zyrra, and he knew she wasn’t my sister. “Maybe in the archives. There must be something there. Let’s wrap things up here first. Then make a start tomorrow.”
The marriage celebrations were in a few hours. I wanted to do another sweep of the area. If only to make sure the remaining villagers of Duskmoor were safe for the night.
I walked beside Dreynthor toward the ballroom, our footsteps ringing against the vast sweep of the palace balcony.
"And when might we expect Lady Elariya's arrival?" Dreynthor's voice was smooth, polite on the surface. But underneath, there was a condescending edge, sharp enough to draw blood.
I kept my expression neutral, my pace steady, my gaze ahead.
"She'll be here any minute," I said evenly. "The carriage left some time ago."
“Carriage?” His brows shot up to meet his hairline. “She does realize this is the magical realm, right? You could have portaled her in. Or does she prefer to be horse driven? Most humans do.”
I cut him a scathing look. He’d been more of an asshole tonight than ever. I’d arrived twenty minutes ago and it had been one jab after another with him.
“I have Crown-Elk, not horses. You know that.” I held his gaze. “My wife like the carriage ride and the view of the kingdom.”
“Of course she does.” There was tone again, dripping with his haughty arrogance. "I certainly hope your mate understands the importance of tonight."
“All I require of her tonight is to be here. That is all.”
His gaze hardened to steel. “That is not all, Wolfe. Someone should have seen to it that she was properly instructed in the etiquette of our world. It already looks bad enough that you’re marrying beneath your station.”
Merciless Gods be good. I needed strength — or something stronger than restraint — to stop myself from strangling him. After the day I’ve had it would take a lot hold be back. Especially when it came to my uncle.
I knew Elariya would be evaluated by him most of all. But there would be others. One misstep, one moment of weakness, and they’d use it against her. Dreynthor wanted me to know that. Wanted me to feel the weight of it.
But I wasn’t concerned with their opinions. The only thing that mattered was how they behaved around her.
No one wanted a problem with me. They wouldn’t be foolish enough to create one by mistreating my mate.
The hallway widened ahead of us as we passed through the ornate doors.
We both gazed below as we entered the ballroom.
The room was already brimming with people, but what drew my eye were the Kings of Vaelthorne. They’d come. All of them ten of them. Along with the high mages from the mage realms. They gathered beneath the chandeliers like a constellation of crowns.
The turnout was far larger than I’d expected. The invitation had gone out this morning—and none of them had been compelled to attend. They had come anyway. For me.
I glanced sideways at Dreynthor.
For just a heartbeat—so brief I might have missed it if I hadn't been watching—something flickered across his face. But I caught it.
Unease.
And judging by the tension now radiating from him it was clear he hadn't anticipated this level of support. Or that I had more backing from the kings across the realm than he’d ever assumed. Their turnout told him that I was not alone.
"Seems I have more allies than I thought." I made no effort to hide the satisfaction threading through my tone.
Dreynthor's smile was tight, nothing reaching his eyes. "Yes. It seems that way." His gaze fixed on the gathering below. "Though it would have strengthened your claim considerably had you chosen a princess from one of their kingdoms."
"Clearly I don’t need to strengthen my claim." That shut him down.
Dreynthor's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, but he said nothing more.
We continued along the sweep of the balcony, the music from below rising in a steady hum of strings and low conversation. Torches burned in their sconces, casting their glow across the marble floor.
Then something tightened low in my chest.
Not pain. Not warning.
Recognition.
The air around me shifted as though the world had drawn in a deep breath and held it. Heat threaded through my veins, piercing and undeniable. And I knew it was the bond stirring.
The mating bond.
She was here.
I could always sense her, but this was different.
This feeling hummed beneath my skin and pulsed over my body.
My stride faltered without my consent. One step shortened. Then another. The noise of the hall dimmed as instinct took over, turning me toward the grand doors below. And just as my gaze locked on the entrance, the doors began to open.
Light spilled across the floor, silver and pale as moonlight.
Elariya stepped through it, a vision to behold.
For a moment, the hall forgot how to breathe.
The music faltered, the melody stretching thin and slow as though even the musicians had forgotten their place in the song. Conversation thinned to a murmur, then to nothing at all. Goblets hovered midway to lips. And the Kings of Vaelthorne — beings who had seen centuries of power — went still.
Her gown caught the torchlight and fractured it. The bodice curved like carved ice with delicate silver filigree climbing upward toward her throat. Her hair was gathered high, exposing the elegant line of her neck and the quiet strength in her posture.
She did not hesitate.
She did not falter.
My mage stood there and looked like a queen.
My queen.
The thought snapped the bond tighter.
Heat surged through me, sudden and merciless, desire crashing through my control before I could contain it. The bond demanded closeness, demanded contact, demanded her.
The need rose fast and consuming, drowning reason beneath instinct and I couldn’t help myself.
I didn’t want to.
I wanted to touch her and taste her and bury myself so deep inside her I forgot my own name.
Across the hall, her gaze found mine.
The bond ignited.
There would be no resistance tonight.