Chapter 4
Nadia backed away from the door, her breath coming too fast, her pulse hammering in her ears.
When she heard movement in the kitchen, she turned and ran through the house, her steps echoing sharply off the marble floors.
The air felt as if the walls themselves were holding their breath.
She skidded to a stop in the kitchen and found Solomon at the counter, methodically cleaning up after the tea, his movements precise and strained.
“What in the world did you do?” she yelled.
Solomon looked up, his face pale, eyes rimmed red as he slowly shook his head. His hands trembled as he placed a cup into the sink. “I honestly don’t know what happened.”
“How could you poison them?”
“I didn’t.” He threw both hands up, frustration cracking through his composure. His tie hung crooked, and his dark hair stood in disarray, as though he had dragged his fingers through it one too many times. “Honestly, I just made the tea.”
Her chest tightened, her breath burning as it scraped in and out of her lungs. “Then who poisoned them?”
He straightened. “I don’t know.”
None of this made any sense. “Why am I okay?”
“It obviously wasn’t in the tea,” he muttered. “Someone must’ve put something in their cups.”
Nadia leaned back against the counter. The cold marble seeped through her clothes and into her spine, which still ached from being stabbed.
Her legs shook, and she planted her palms behind her to keep from sliding down.
The kitchen looked untouched with its gleaming stainless steel appliances and white marble counters reflecting the overhead lights.
Even the floor sparkled, pristine and unforgiving, in contrast to the chaos spreading beyond the walls. “I have to see if everyone’s okay.”
“No.” Solomon lifted a hand, stopping her. “The four challengers headed into the forest to hunker down and rid the poison from their bodies. Hopefully this thing won’t kill them.”
Her heart dropped hard into her stomach. “What about Dax?” she whispered.
Solomon shook his head, his mouth thinning. “He must have been more susceptible to whatever the poison was. That wolf is too far gone. I’m sorry.”
Nadia pressed two fingers into her eyes, pushing until dull pressure bloomed behind them.
Grief settled in her chest, thick and suffocating.
“I don’t understand. How were the cups poisoned, and how did the person know which one was mine?
” She lowered her hands, her gaze darting from counter to tray to sink.
“I don’t know. Yours was the pink cup. The rest were on the tray.
I took one in each time. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out which one was yours, and the backdoor was open.
I guess some sort of liquid could’ve been dropped into the bottom of each cup.
” He chewed on his lip, his gaze flicking toward the door.
“I don’t know, Nadia. I really don’t. This isn’t part of the challenge. It’s sabotage.”
The back door banged open, and Nadia jerked, her body tensing. Her hand curled into a fist, and she instinctively searched for something sharp or heavy. She really should start carrying knives.
“Oh dear.” Bussy Bluebird swept inside, already unwrapping her colorful purple scarf. “I can’t believe everyone was poisoned. Are you okay, dear?”
“I’m fine,” Nadia said, slightly relaxing as she took in the elderly female.
“Oh, good.” Margaret Thistle strode in behind her sister.
The ladies were twins. They paused just inside the kitchen, surveying the scene with sharp, assessing eyes. They had to be at least a hundred and fifty years old, their silver-gray hair thick and glossy, their posture straight and alert despite their age.
“Well, as long as you didn’t get poisoned,” Margaret said.
Nadia shook her head. “Is this a normal occurrence? You two were around for the last challenges.”
“No, we weren’t. When your father went through the Alpha trials, there were no challengers. We’ve never been through this,” Bussy said, tsking her tongue. “The last actual challenges were so long ago, I’m not sure anybody was alive. The Nightsoms have ruled forever.”
Nadia turned slowly toward Solomon, who had finished cleaning and now stood with his hands braced on the counter. “Is there anything in the grimoire that talks about sabotage?”
He nodded, and her heart kicked hard. She hated the relief that rushed through her, even as she clung to it. She felt horrible about the poison, but if this was a way out, she would take it.
Solomon scratched his elbow. “Everything’s open. Free game. They can kill each other any way they want.” He shook his head. “The only safe person right now is you. They can’t touch you, which is why the ladies are here now.”
Nadia looked from one female to the other. “What do you mean?”
Bussy tilted her head toward Solomon. “We’re your designated lupine aunts.”
“Excuse me?” Nadia asked, her voice sharpening.
A faint flush crept up Solomon’s cheeks. “Yeah. I may not have explained this all that well. You’re probably not going to like it.”
Nadia held up a hand, palm out, as if she could physically stop the words before they reached her.
Her throat tightened and her stomach rolled.
“Just a minute. I don’t want to know.” Her voice came out higher than she intended, edged with panic she couldn’t swallow back down.
“We need to get a doctor out there to help Dax. He can’t be dead. Just from tea.”
Solomon shook his head, his expression strained, his shoulders held too tight. “I already called. The soldiers have probably retrieved the body by now.”
The body. Nadia’s breath caught hard in a sharp sound she couldn’t control.
Her eyes stung, and she blinked fast, refusing to let anybody see her fall apart.
Poison was awful, yes, but wolves had strong constitutions.
They were built to survive. That was part of the whole terrifying mythology of them, and it had felt steadying until this moment.
“The body,” she repeated, quieter, as if saying it softly could make it less real. Her hand went to her chest as though she could hold her heart in place. “So, he really died.”
Solomon’s gaze dropped for a beat. “Yes. I could tell by looking at the lack of breathing, bleeding, and movement. I’m so sorry.” His voice roughened. “Did you like him?”
“I just met him,” Nadia said, and the words came out with more bite than she meant. She dragged in air and forced herself to slow down. “But I didn’t want him to die over this, Solomon. I didn’t want any of this.” Her eyes burned again. “There has to be a way out.”
“I don’t see that happening,” Solomon said.
Nadia started pacing, three steps one way, three steps back, the motion scraping energy out of her and leaving raw nerves behind. The marble floor was cold through her shoes. The kitchen smelled faintly of steeped herbs and citrus, and the last ghost of tea that should’ve been harmless.
Isaac had seemed reasonable. Luca had too. She could talk to Caidrik, because something like a friendship had sparked there, something that had felt safe for about five minutes. Bulwark was another problem, a big one. “Maybe they’ll all just quit.” Except for Caidrik.
Solomon’s jaw tightened as he watched her pace. “It’s too late to agree if one of them has perished. The rules stand.”
“What?” Nadia exploded.
He shuffled his feet. “They can’t back out now. We all took an oath when this thing started.”
“That just figures,” Nadia muttered. She stopped and swung toward the elderly women, because if she stayed focused on Dax and his untimely death for one more second, she might start shaking so hard she wouldn’t stop.
The twins stood in the kitchen, both tall with prominent noses. The ladies were elderly but not fragile. Their posture was straight and their presence sharp. Bussy’s scarf was a riot of purple and color, totally cheerful. Margaret’s coat looked dense and practical in a dark green.
“Okay,” Nadia said, her voice clipped. “Somebody tell me what lupine aunts are. We’re not really related, are we?”
“Oh, honey.” Bussy patted her arm with a warm hand that had more strength than softness. “We’re all related in one way or another.” She fussed with the buttons of her heavy pink coat, releasing each one. “We’re here to make sure you remain safe and properly chaste for the Alpha.”
Nadia went still. A cold sensation crawled along her spine. “Chaste?”
“That’s what the book says.” Bussy lifted her shoulders. “It is nice to be included, and it’s not like you’re dating a bunch of males right now. Everyone could use some girl time, and our husbands can live without us for a brief time.”
Margaret snorted, an inelegant sound that somehow made her seem even more formidable. “The wording is rather archaic, but this is what’s supposed to happen.”
Nadia stared at them, then at Solomon, then at the counters that looked too clean, too white, too perfect.
She had the sudden, vivid urge to shove every cup off the counter just to prove she still had control of something.
Instead, she clenched her hands until her nails bit into her palms. “All right,” she said. “What all do you do?”
Bussy’s mouth curved in a patient expression. “We stay with you. Make sure you’re safe and don’t give yourself to anybody, at least outside of the trials.”
“Give myself.” Nadia repeated the phrase slowly. Her stomach turned again, this time with anger. She lifted her chin. “That’s… dumb.”
“We know,” Solomon said sharply. “We’ve all agreed the rules are positively medieval. Let’s finish complaining about the entire situation.”
“I’m not complaining,” Nadia snapped. Her voice rose on the last word, then broke just enough to betray her.
She hated that. “I’m noting that every time you hit me with new information, it’s something you didn’t tell me earlier when I could’ve made an informed decision.
” Not that she was looking for sex right now, for goodness sakes.