Chapter Sixteen
Tovi
Eldrick’s words slammed into Tovi like the door boomed shut after his retreat.
Her chest rose and fell, and the last hours of bliss evaporated, leaving her skin cold and hardened like the cursed ground of her homeland.
“Bastard,” she hissed with fangs released.
Village horns bellowed. Bloody hel—she didn’t have time to worry about the infuriating, rude, and prideful alpha. Her brother was here. Riven had finally attacked.
But Tovi was queen. The true heir. She refused to stay here like some damsel. This was her war, too, and she’d meet her enemy with a blade in hand.
“Where is my armor?” she asked, tone as cutting as the weapons she hunted for.
Goddess, back in the Shield-maiden she’d tucked away her things for easy access.
Sword by her bedside. Leathers by the door.
The suite was too expansive. She rooted for clothes in the armoire.
Tunic. Trousers. Boots. Half prepared, she raged against the gods. Where the fuck was her leather armor?
“Tovi.”
Lou’s voice stilled her frantic search. Her friend held her breastplate and bracers, while her sword rested by the reading chair. A thousand questions churned behind Lou’s red-rimmed glasses. But Tovi didn’t entertain them, grasping her things like one needed air.
“Thank you.”
Fully dressed with weapons secured at her belt, Tovi and Lou hurried down the halls of Lār in silence.
They descended the steps two at a time, and as they crested the last set, the main hall came into view around the bend; warriors sprinted back and forth, preparing for battle, while Lār’s servants ushered children into the stone fortress.
A tentative grasp took hold of Tovi’s wrist, stalling her descent down the stairs.
“Tovi—” Lou started.
But she didn’t want to talk about the alpha she’d shared her body and bed with. Couldn’t stomach the conversation brewing in her friend’s stare. Especially when it was her brother attacking the village.
“Not now.”
“No.” Lou’s hand tightened on her wrist, tugging her into the shadows. “We’ve avoided this conversation for too long—”
Tovi hissed, snatching her hand back. “May I remind you, I am your queen.”
Lou’s chest rose and fell. “Then start acting like it.”
Tovi snapped straighter. “How dare you?”
“I will.” Lou pointed a finger at her. “I’ve watched you fight for your people for so long, and I refuse to stand by while you risk it all. He jeopardizes everything.”
Tovi’s heart hammered in her chest like it fought to get away from the pain lancing through it.
“You think I don’t know that?” she hissed.
It’s why she’d avoided him and kept her distance and said those hurtful words moments ago, all to push him away again.
“Then why was he in your bed tonight?” Lou asked.
“It’s nothing,” she whispered, throat burning.
Lou shook her head. “That’s a lie. You know it. He knows it. We all do. Goddess, I am your friend, and I hate to see how happy he makes you, but our people will never accept him, Tovi. You must know that. The lords of Drystan—”
“I’ll handle them.” Tovi fisted her hands at her sides.
Lou didn’t back down. “Your brother has made his move. He wears a new crest, staking his name as king. To unite Drystan under your name, you will need the lords of Drystan on your side. Dance their dance. Allow a whisper on the wind of you and Eldrick, and they’ll doubt you.”
Tovi’s gut twisted. Goddess, she knew this. Had known it. Breathed the inevitable for weeks. But it still hurt to hear it out loud. To accept it as council from a friend.
Whose mouth opened and closed, hesitating.
“Well, go on,” Tovi said. “You haven’t held back yet.”
Lou exhaled, meeting her stare with a level of severity that rooted Tovi in place. “You must prepare for all options.”
Each bone, muscle, and tendon of Tovi’s centuries-old being stilled.
Options. Her mother had used that word. Many, many times.
Before balls, scheduled meetings. “Surprise” visits when a suitor arrived to the castle.
Yet, her mother’s eyes had glistened with promise and greed while Lou’s shined with apprehension and torment.
Because what she suggested hurt them both.
“No. I’ll stroke their egos and learn the dance, but marriage is off the table. That is my line.” Tovi’s tone was unbending, one of a queen commanded her subject.
“Then don’t put yourself in a position where it is the only card you have left,” Lou whispered.
The truth stung. For a breath, nothing else had mattered while lying in bed with Eldrick.
Not her crown, the curse, her worries, or what was and wasn’t queenly.
It was just them, and the inevitable thread thrumming between their souls.
Yet, like an ascending fog, she couldn’t outrun it.
Circumstance overshadowed Tovi’s hint of happiness, as if reminding her she wasn’t privy to it.
“There you are.”
Nadia stepped into the shadows and studied them both. Curiosity etched into her pinch brow, but another set of horns bellowed through the village. Goddess. Tovi had almost forgotten the village was under attack.
“This is for you.” Nadia handed her a sword. “We had it made by the village smith.”
Tovi wrapped her hands around the scabbard, intricate carvings in the wood and leather pressing into her palm. “We?”
“The Gray Fenris and I.”
Warmth spread through Tovi’s chest, and she blinked away the emotion stinging her eyes.
An amethyst stone gleamed at the hilt—a softer shade of purple than the Verena banner.
She unsheathed the newly made blade a few inches, the metal singing in the stone hall.
Etched letters ran down the center, but Tovi couldn’t sort out her thoughts, let alone make sense of the word.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
Lou and Nadia had been Tovi’s closest allies and spies in Drystan, and though fate tugged her many directions, she didn’t dare ignore how they stood here, in this moment, the three of them together.
Her hand molded to the hilt of the blade, like she’d held it for decades, not seconds. The weapon anchored her in purpose.
As did her loyal friends.
“Where can I help?”
“With me,” Nadia said.
Tovi gave her a curt nod and readied to follow Nadia when Lou grabbed her wrist.
“Wait—”
“I hear what you’re saying,” Tovi said. “I’m just not ready to accept it.”
With that, she tugged free of Lou’s grip and sprinted up to the Drengr female alpha. They stormed out of Lār to air that smelled of impending battle.