EPILOGUE
THREE MOONS LATER
Dusk sat upon the wet grass.
Little snow surrounded her, courtesy of her ever-flicking tail. But after attempting to move closer several times, she was finally following Voran’s last stern order and staying put.
Still, I continuously made sure as warriors broke the ice at the narrowest part of the river.
It was the second week of thawing season, and I had a promise the wolves were helping me to keep.
“Maybe she doesn’t like the serakan,” I said.
Gore gave the wyvern, who was now as big as a horse, an amused look. With a shake of his head, he gazed back at the river. “I think she does not like you being so close to it without her blocking you.”
“I’ve only seen its head, but that was enough to know it can stand a chance against a full-grown wyvern. I don’t want Dusk hurt.”
And, of course, she refused to be left behind whenever we ventured anywhere.
Gore huffed. “In her eyes, Dusk is as huge and capable as a full-grown wyvern.”
I hadn’t considered that. Looking back at the irked babe, I fought a smile. It would only make her more annoyed.
“Speaking of…” Gore’s gaze thinned on the river.
Within it, darkness grew. Moved. Warriors scrambled off the icy edges and barked warnings.
Then the serakan stilled.
“It’s waiting.” At least, I hoped that was what it was doing.
I hadn’t heard that chilling voice in my mind since arriving.
Countless wolves lined both sides of the river. All of them held giant bows with large iron arrows, nocked and ready. Atop the bridge where the river narrowed, three wolves on either side of him, Voran kept his hands raised while watching the darkness upstream.
When he’d told me about the plan, my guilt and fear had worsened. I’d said that kings didn’t need to oversee such dangerous endeavors. He’d laughed, genuine and loud. Then he’d said that, compared to some of his missions for Raxon, freeing this monster would be as difficult as taking a nap.
Just like me, Voran had seen enough of the serakan during the bride trial. So, although I’d been left wondering about those missions, his confidence gave a modicum of relief.
As did knowing that my half brother was now back in Cloverleaf and not at risk of doing something foolish today.
My old home still had a lot of healing to do from the war. For that to happen, they needed a ruler. Dena, Cloverleaf’s new queen, was apparently not interested in governing the realm. Therefore, Voran had—very reluctantly—agreed not to kill my father until Evexon was fit to rule.
To say King Raldin had disrespected a king and queen was a giant understatement, and he’d done so before our court and other monarchs. Even if he wanted to, Voran couldn’t let that go. And I couldn’t challenge it any more than I already had.
I didn’t think I wanted to. I had nothing to say to the king I’d once called Father.
My half brother felt similarly. He’d spent more time in Valadorn over the past moons than in Cloverleaf—and more time with my husband than with me.
Voran loathed his visits.
Evexon knew that. He also didn’t care. He followed my husband around like the “nuisance pup” Voran called him. Yet the last few times he’d muttered those words, it had been with less and less venom.
I didn’t dare say so, but I had a feeling Evexon would earn Voran’s tolerance. And while he did, I didn’t doubt he could learn more about leadership than he would from our spineless father.
A tense minute later, that darkness remained unmoving. Waiting.
Voran gave an order I couldn’t hear. One that sent the warriors who’d been breaking the ice back onto the river. Shards splintered the air as they resumed hacking—creating gaps big enough to dive through.
And to shoot at the serakan.
Although the exchange I’d had with the serakan during the trial had me hopeful that no violence would be necessary, I was no longer as naive as I once was. There was every chance the ancient beast could take its freedom and many lives.
Voran looked toward us.
I smiled and began to wave—when Gore gently clasped my upper arm.
Shocked, I looked at his hand, then at his scarred face. But he stared straight at the king. No males were allowed to touch me. Not unless they were family or a mender or…
“No.” The word was a cloudy exhale.
Gore’s hold firmed. “He insisted, my queen.”
“He said there would be a team,” I hissed. “That wolves had been handpicked to guard those removing the blockage.”
“Yes. Everyone has their orders, my queen. And because I’d like my heart to keep beating, I need you to please remember yours.”
I wanted to say fuck my orders, but there was no point. I couldn’t move. The second I did, Dusk would too—and would likely try to attack the threat in the river. So, just as Voran warned countless times over the past week, I stayed right where I’d been told.
While my husband and six other wolves leapt from that bridge into the frigid water that housed an ancient beast.
My teeth refused to part. “I’m so very intensely angry with you right now.”
Gore sighed. “I know.”
Dusk grumbled behind us. I tore my eyes off the river to turn and smile reassuringly. Her gold eyes narrowed, as if she saw right through me to my panicked heart. Smoke left her slit nostrils, and her tail flicked furiously.
“Only a few more minutes,” I said. “Then you can play.”
She just stared—glared—until I looked back at the river. Commander Amarie marched back and forth over the bridge. Her hand remained raised at the archers, telling them to hold. Her marching soon began to look like pacing.
The dark mass in the river stayed mercifully still.
Time felt suspended. Every other breath bated.
“My coin is always on the king,” Gore whispered. “Always.”
It failed to make me feel better, but I gave him an appreciative glance all the same.
Then gasps echoed across the valley. I dared to stand on my toes, to better see what the warriors at the riverbank could.
“Hold,” called Amarie.
Cursing sounded, as if the archers did not approve of waiting while the serakan swam downstream—toward the wolves attempting to free it.
Sensing the tension, Dusk shifted on the grass and growled.
“It’s all right,” I told her, though I could scarcely breathe.
Gore’s fingers clenched at my arm.
Please, please don’t eat them, I thought.
I do not like so much muscle.
My bones locked. Relief tried to unfurl. I held it at bay by thinking, Please do not harm them.
No response. All I could hear was my heart thundering in my ears.
Then a splash.
The serakan ceased moving as warriors surfaced.
Amarie leaned over the bridge railing and again shouted orders while four of the wolves caught their breath. A moment later, they were gone—returning to the depths of the river to resume removing the stone and steel blocking it.
Voran hadn’t been among them.
My toes curled in my boots, and I fought the urge to pick at my nails. It would only unsettle Dusk more.
“Any second now,” Gore murmured.
But it neared two minutes before all seven wolves emerged together, quiet in their victory as they swam through broken ice to the riverbanks.
Braced, I waited until Gore released me.
Then I ran down the slippery grass.
Dusk followed. I didn’t care. Warriors moved, weapons still raised, as I burst through their formation.
Voran sat on the ice, pushing hair back over his head. Rasped, he said without seeing my approach, “That had better not be my fucking wife.”
I snatched towels from a warrior at the bank, then carefully walked across the ice. Crouched before him, I pried Voran’s sodden boots from his feet. “I thought similarly when you jumped off that bridge.”
He just grunted as I wrapped his feet. I pushed his legs open to move between them and pull his tunic over his head. Only when I’d tossed a towel around his shoulders did I let myself truly look at him—did I let him see how scared I’d been.
His displeasure eased. “Come now, broshklin…” He captured my face in his freezing hands and murmured, “Leaving you for another to have will never happen.”
My wriggling lips ruined my glare.
Bubbling and cracking ice turned our attention to the river.
Voran cursed. Curling an arm around my waist, he took me with him as he rose, and carried me to the grass.
The bridge groaned. Amarie hurried from it and ordered the warriors nearby to retreat—just as the banks shuddered.
And the serakan squeezed through the narrowest portion of the river.
Dusk broke the eerie silence with a growl at the warriors who refused to let her pass.
Voran ordered, “Brunyin.” Stay.
Wood splintered. Pieces of the bridge fell into the water as dirt and ice crumbled—the serakan’s formidable form forcing the riverbend to widen.
Through the mountains to the sea, home is where I long to be.
“It made it through.” My smile shook as I looked down at Voran. “It’s actually leaving.”
Still holding me beneath my ass, Voran muttered, “That was the point.”
Laughing, I kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
We watched the dark mass wend downstream until we could no longer see it. But as the wolves prepared to leave, Voran gazed across the river at the mountains.
I knew he wasn’t thinking about them before he said, “Seeing you so close to that serakan during the trial…” He held me tighter. “I was torn between worshipping and punishing you in that Ceremonial Cave.”
Trailing his line of sight to the cleft in the mountains, I hummed. “I’m fairly certain you did both.”
“Fairly?” Cold amusement drenched his voice. “Perhaps we need to visit the sex cave to refresh your memory.”
“Perhaps.” Placing my lips near his ear, I said, “Right now, I’d much prefer the sleigh.”
We were heading toward the clearing before Dusk realized we intended to leave. When she did, she gave a disgruntled roar and leapt over cursing warriors, wings stretching as she followed.