Chapter Thirty-four
WILDER
T he tension ebbed away as the discussion of liquor took priority. That, at least, was something they all had in common. The conversation, however, was interrupted by the sound of a deep bark.
Suddenly a giant dog was upon Wilder, its tail wagging so hard it hurt when it hit.
He stared at the enormous mongrel, frozen in shock.
‘Dax!’ Thea exclaimed, showering the dog with ear scratches and belly rubs while the creature gazed at her with unadulterated adoration.
Wilder’s chair scraped as he stood, looking to the door in disbelief.
Malik’s huge figure took up the entire frame.
‘Holy shit,’ Torj’s voice sounded from the fire.
But Wilder kept his eyes on his brother, speechless. He’d been more than surprised when Malik had travelled to Tver for the battle of Notos, but this? Change and travel had been hard for his brother since his injury – two trips of this magnitude…
And then the wave of guilt hit him. When he’d all but declared himself a traitor, Wilder had abandoned his brother.
Clapping eyes upon him now, he realised it was the longest he’d gone without seeing Malik since he’d been injured all those years ago.
He didn’t even know for certain if his messages had been received at the fortress.
It must have been a shock, and a huge adjustment.
The shame yawned wide inside him, threatening to swallow him whole.
He hadn’t even said goodbye before he’d fled with the shadow-touched. He’d let a whole year pass —
Malik took two giant steps towards him and clasped him on the shoulder before folding Wilder into a huge bear hug. He didn’t say anything, as usual, but the force of his embrace was enough to form a lump in Wilder’s throat.
He broke away from his brother, watching as Malik took another step towards Thea, where he touched the top of her head fondly and took up a place behind her.
Though Wilder could still see a tremor in his fingers, he seemed to move with more ease than he had done before. Had someone been helping him?
‘Malik the Shieldbreaker,’ Dratos said, bowing his head. ‘An honour to see you again.’
Malik didn’t respond, but his mouth twitched upward.
Wilder’s brow furrowed at that and he turned to the ranger. ‘You’ve met?’
‘A long time ago,’ Dratos replied. ‘At a wedding you missed.’
Another regret-laced realisation hit Wilder like a blow to the gut. There was only one wedding that Malik would have attended after his injury, only one other person he’d cross the seas for, even if it meant facing a thousand shadow wraiths.
Wilder tilted his head in his brother’s direction. ‘You went to Naarva for Talemir’s wedding? And didn’t tell me?’ He knew there was no hiding the hurt in his voice, and that it was of his own doing.
Malik just blinked down at him, his grip tightening on the back of Thea’s chair.
Just as Wilder was about to say more, the door banged open again and in walked Marise, his arms full of bottles. ‘I brought refreshments!’ he declared.
‘Excellent.’ Kipp was already on his feet, moving to help the wine merchant with his wares. ‘Good to see you again, Marise. I missed you at the eclipse. It’s been too long.’
Wilder’s eyes bulged, but beside him Thea shook her head and exchanged a long-suffering look with Cal. ‘We should know better by now… Kipp knows everyone, apparently.’
‘Well,’ Kipp said, looking pleased, ‘not everyone. Just the important people.’
‘You mean the drunks and rebels?’ Anya offered drily from where she sat watching all the exchanges unfold.
Kipp met her gaze, deadly serious. ‘Like I said: the important people.’
To Wilder’s disbelief, a grin broke out in place of Anya’s usual cutthroat expression. ‘You and I are going to get along just fine,’ she said, the smile making her look almost unhinged.
Kipp only looked more interested. ‘Any Zoltaire sister is a friend of mine.’
Anya’s brow was lined with amusement. ‘Only we’re not Zoltaires, are we?’
She paused, as though waiting for the shock to erupt around the room. However, upon Wilder’s surveying, he realised that every person within these walls had discovered the existence of the Delmirian heirs at one point or another.
Kipp merely confirmed this with a shrug, sliding the wine Marise had brought across the table. ‘All the same,’ he told Anya. ‘Any sister of Thea’s is a friend of mine.’
‘Good to know, Fox boy,’ Anya replied, her shadows flickering.
To Kipp’s credit, he didn’t so much as flinch. Instead, his priority was on the refreshments, as always. ‘Brought the good stuff, Marise?’ he said, filling glasses and handing them around.
Marise scoffed. ‘Naturally. Can’t have you drinking the piss Everard serves here.’
‘I heard that,’ came Everard’s voice from just outside.
‘I’d say it to your face,’ Marise retorted, but then shook his head with a grimace at Kipp.
A huff of impatience came from Audra’s end of the table.
Thea cleared her throat. ‘Can we make a start, or what?’
Wilder bit back a smile. He couldn’t quite believe who graced the back room of the Singing Hare.
Shadow-touched rangers, a Naarvian guerilla general, lost heirs of Delmira, Warswords, Guardians, alchemists of Thezmarr, a tavern owner, a wine merchant…
and Gus, who was knitting silently in the corner.
It was a combination the likes of which Wilder had never seen. It was history in the making.
At long last, when everyone was settled around the table, reunions over, drinks in hand, the tone turned serious.
There was a loud scraping noise as Anya pushed her chair back and stood, surveying the strange mix of people before her, her expression back to its usual harsh lines and scowl. ‘Some of you only know me as the supposed Daughter of Darkness, prophesied to bring fire and blood upon the midrealms…’
A scoff sounded somewhere to Wilder’s right, and he knew even before looking that it was Audra, as she could never keep her opinions to herself. Sure enough, the librarian was shaking her head. ‘Ridiculous,’ she muttered, while Farissa nodded her support beside her.
‘Agreed,’ Anya continued. ‘But in fact, I am Anya Embervale, the true heir of the kingdom of Delmira, storm wielder, shadow-touched, and’ – she paused to glance down the table – ‘eldest sister to Althea and Elwren of Thezmarr.’
The silence was palpable, broken by a single clap.
Kipp’s hands froze mid-clap in front of his chest. ‘No?’ He looked around, shocked. ‘I thought that was the moment —’
Thankfully, Cal gave him a violent shove and he sank back into his seat.
Again, that glint of amusement sparked in Anya’s eyes, but she brought them back to the introduction at hand.
‘I was captured as a child and framed for the assault on Thezmarr many years ago. The midrealms were told that I was responsible for the death and destruction of so many, that it was I who brought a dawn of fire and blood upon the lands… But despite what you may have heard, I am no evil force spreading darkness across the midrealms. I am no mistress of monsters or tyrannical shadow-lover.’
She paused, scanning the faces before her.
‘What I truly am is someone who wants to see the curses banished from these lands, for the truth of our history and our present to be revealed to those who might do something about it.’
‘And what is this truth?’ Wren’s voice cut across the table, her glare like poison upon her eldest sister.
Anya didn’t so much as flinch. ‘That there is a race of shadow-touched people who bear no ill will to our kingdoms. That they are being targeted and blamed for the acts of another…’ Faint shadows flickered at her back as emotion warred across her face.
‘That it is King Artos who has had the midrealms under his control since the fall of Delmira long ago. That he was responsible for Delmira’s demise, alongside that of Naarva, and more recently, the attack on Tver. ’
‘You have the proof we need?’ Audra asked plainly.
‘Beyond the word of the shadow-touched themselves? Only fragments,’ Anya admitted.
Wilder turned to Audra. ‘Thea and I saw a camp on the outskirts of Aveum just a few days past,’ he told her. ‘Wraiths ran loose, using their darkness to curse innocents into shells of their former selves, into mindless soldiers… At the head of it all was Artos’ dungeon master from Harenth.’
‘Ignoring the fact that the word of a fallen Warsword isn’t a great improvement…
He could be acting alone,’ Audra pointed out, though her tone suggested she believed no such thing.
The fact that she had been the one to call the meeting told Wilder she knew much more than she ever let on, and always had.
‘It’s possible,’ Wilder allowed for the sake of argument. ‘But we were also present in Harenth when Artos had two shadow-touched folk in his possession. They were tortured for information, even when it was clear they were more human than wraith. It wasn’t right, what was happening there.’
‘What became of the shadow-touched prisoners?’ Gus asked, his needles still clicking together in front of him.
Wilder allowed himself to take a breath to gather his strength. ‘I killed them,’ he said.
The entire shadow-touched side of the table recoiled.
‘It was a mercy,’ Thea cut in, her hand covering his. ‘One had already succumbed to the darkness. Whether he was cursed or something else, we don’t know. But he was too far gone to save. And the other…’
‘It’s alright, Thea,’ Wilder said gently.
‘No,’ she told him firmly. ‘They need to know why.’ She faced each shadow-touched at the table. ‘The second of your kin was in so much agony, there was no end to it in sight. They meant to torture him to death. Wilder stepped in and offered him peace, an end to the pain. And he took it.’
Torj’s voice sounded from the far end of the table. ‘That’s why you killed the one Cal and I shot from the sky…’
Wilder dipped his head in confirmation.
But Gus’ eyes were wide with accusation. ‘You’re killing shadow-touched folk? You’re —’ His shadows burst to life around him.