Chapter 2
Chapter Two
The Fenmyr countryside was absolutely beautiful.
The trees grew thick and close together, their branches overhead weaving ribbons of light on the ground.
Moss covered the forest floor in soft cushions, and ferns unfurled like green feathers wherever I looked.
Every now and then, I’d catch the distant rush of a waterfall hidden among the rocks.
Behind them, the mountains cut a sharp line against the sky.
Just one day of riding and I’d already seen more beauty than I could have ever dreamed.
Godric padded beside me in his wolf form, silent and alert, a large gray shadow gliding through the trees. I took comfort in his presence. The quiet rhythm of hooves against earth and the soft rustle of leaves gave me time to think, which was both a blessing and a curse.
He’d asked to put his sword in my saddlebags, but wore his clothes when shifting. I’d learned that most powerful wolfkin had the ability to suspend their clothes magically into their shift and wear them when they were human again.
My hand drifted to the sword at my waist. Valkaryn rested there, completely silent the way I’d asked her to be these past three months.
A pinch of guilt found its way into my chest. Could I really blame a mother for doing whatever it took to protect her son?
Even if her decision had denied me magic and caused Kaelric to lose trust in me and leave me.
I would have done the same for my own child.
She told me she knew Kaelric would never be able to wield her. She’d spared him the pain of rejection, though the cost had been my future, the one I’d dreamed about since I was young: becoming an Elite.
Now, with her brother running beside me and the memory of that letter about her strange birth story pounding in my head, I couldn’t stop the questions. Found abandoned on a train. Taken in by wolfkin parents. How did that even happen?
‘Val?’ I reached for her cautiously.
She said nothing. The silence stretched so long that worry pooled in my stomach.
‘Val, are you there?’
‘Oh, so we are talking again?’ she snapped. ‘You won’t melt me down for this?’
I winced.
I deserved that.
‘I’m sorry I threatened that. You convinced me to do something I later regretted. I…’ My throat tightened. ‘I loved your son. And what you asked of me made me lose him. It cost my family magic, too.’
Sadness washed through me. Not my own, but hers.
‘I know. I am very sorry for how Kaelric reacted, but it was the only way to liberate my people, his people. I asked such a great thing of you only because you loved him.’
Her words settled over me while Godric walked ahead, nose low, checking the shadows. The sun dipped toward the horizon, painting the trees in gold. A town appeared between the branches, roofs barely visible over the undergrowth.
‘You still think we can? Liberate them?’
Life in Hildreth had been so peaceful. Sometimes it was hard to believe the stories whispered around cookfires. Rumors of a mad king. Half wolfkin, half Elite. A tyrant who preyed on his own. War. A stolen crown.
‘Yes. We will be limited by your human vessel. But yes.’
My human vessel. My body. Too weak to hold her full power.
Speaking of that…
I wet my lips, nervous to ask.
‘You were human, and you married the alpha of the wolfkin and had children with him. How? Kaelric said it’s not possible, and if we try, he dies.’
‘He is right. It is not.’
Her answer came quick and blunt.
I frowned, shifting on the saddle as my lower back ached. ‘Then how did you have children with King Morvain?’
Silence.
‘Val?’
For the first time, I felt fear within her. Not fear of telling me, but fear of the story itself.
‘I rose to lead Drake’s army when I was just a year older than you are now. I was already in love with him, but I hid it, knowing we could never be together.’
That ache in her voice made my chest tighten.
‘Little did I know, he already knew we were mates. But I was human, so he ignored it, confused.’
That part sounded too familiar.
‘Brynn, my story is similar to yours, but what I tell you next is something you must never try. You would die. Do you promise?’
Cold prickles ran down my spine.
‘Yes, I promise. What happened?’
Godric slipped into the trees, shifting back to human form as we approached the small village. I stayed on my horse, waiting as Val continued.
‘Around my twenty-second birthday, I was walking alone. I was furious after an argument with Drake. We disagreed over how to handle a skirmish on the northern border. He was trying to keep me safe. The moon was full, most of the wolfkin were out running…’
I nodded. I’d seen it too many times now.
On a full moon, none of them could keep to their human skin.
They ran for hours, covering impossible distances.
We stayed in the house on those nights. No matter how comfortable we were with the wolfkin, hearing those howls late at night always made my arm hair stand up.
‘Well,’ Val said, ‘a rabid wolf, an aged one who could no longer control himself, attacked me.’
I gasped aloud, and Godric burst from the bushes where he’d been probably relieving himself, fists up.
“Sorry, Val is telling me a story,” I explained, tapping my temple.
He relaxed slowly, though his eyes stayed locked on Valkaryn.
A rabid wolf attacked her. Why would she think I would ever try something like that?
‘I was a trained warrior, but during a full moon, a rabid wolf was too much. I was emotional, unarmed, and unprepared. He bit me forty-six times, but I fought back just enough that none of the bites went deep enough to kill me.’
Forty-six times!
‘Val, that must have been terrifying. I am sorry. How did you survive?’
She grew quiet. Godric led Star into town, guiding her reins and pulling his sword from the saddlebags to rest at his waist. Lanterns flickered awake along the street as the sun set.
‘Brynn, on the full moon, wolfkin have venom in their teeth. It is contagious. Surely you know this?’
I frowned. ‘Contagious? What does that even mean?’
I did not know this.
A cold feeling crept down my arms.
‘I received forty-six injections of wolfkin venom. It turned me into a wolfkin.’
I nearly fell off my horse. My mind emptied, and my lips parted with no sound.
‘A little bite is nothing,’ she said. ‘A big bite can seal a bond, as you saw at your binding ceremony with Kaelric. Too much will kill you. But just enough, on a full moon, will change you.’
This sounded impossible. Dizziness washed over me.
‘You… changed into a wolfkin?’
‘Yes. I nearly died. But by morning, my wounds closed, and I felt her. My wolf. That was how I could marry the king and bear his children.’
My thoughts spun wildly. If Val could be changed, then maybe—?
‘Brynn. You promised.’
I pressed the thought away. It was pointless anyway. Kaelric did not want me.
Val changed the subject: ‘Tell my big brother I miss him and that he is old and wrinkly.’
I snorted. “Val says she misses you, and you look old.”
Godric stopped mid-step, then grinned wide. “If she were still alive, she would be wrinkly, too.”
Lightness fluttered through Valkaryn, a joy I rarely felt from her.
“She can see me?” he asked.
“I think she can see what I see.”
‘That is right,’ Val confirmed.
“I miss her,” Godric said. His eyes grew misty, but he blinked them back. “You must be special if she chose you to wield her.”
“She misses you, too,” I spoke quietly. “And I am not special at all.”
Godric shook his head. “That is what special people say.”
I gave a small laugh.
We entered a town larger than Hildreth. The streets were crowded, wolfkin in both human and wolf form moving quickly. Colorful buildings rose three stories high, tight along the roads. There were fewer trees here. The pace felt rushed, tense. The clothes were duller, worn thin.
Godric stopped my horse and opened my saddlebags to hand me my cloak.
“I would like you to cover her while in crowds,” he said, glancing at Valkaryn.
I nodded and slipped the cloak over my shoulders. He leaned close, speaking so softly I barely heard him.
“I also do not want anyone knowing you are the alpha’s mate. I know. Kaelric knows. No one else, not even his inner circle. Keep it to yourself until I say otherwise.”
My mouth fell open.
“Why?”
His gaze was uneasy. “Kaelric tasked me with keeping you alive. I take my job seriously.”
A cold knot formed in my stomach. Would his wolves kill me if they knew?
‘Listen to my brother,’ Val said. ‘He is good at what he does. Kaelric only trusts family. Look at my husband. Killed in his sleep by a friend he trusted.’
A dark feeling settled over me. Leaving home had felt like stepping toward war. Now I was certain of it.
We slept at an inn with red shutters and dusty floors.
The air inside smelled faintly of mildew and old bread that had been left out too long.
Godric told the innkeeper I was his niece.
The innkeeper looked me over, probably noticing right away that I was human, but he didn’t ask questions and handed us a key.
The room had two narrow beds. Godric dragged his mattress to the door and propped it there, his back to it like he intended to sleep upright. The act made me think he might be paranoid, but then again, maybe I was not paranoid enough.
After a hot bath that felt like heaven on tired muscles, I slipped into bed. The blankets were scratchy but warm. I fell asleep quickly.
That night, I dreamed of fire.
Not the Dregs.
Somewhere new.
A city I had never seen, burning fiercely.
High walls rose around it, made from a black stone that swallowed light.
Flames poured from the windows. Screams tore across the streets.
People ran for the open gates, smoke clinging to their clothes.
The fire crawled up the walls like it was alive, hunting.
I woke with a sharp inhale.