She and Arlo made an odd match on the surface. Arlo had forty-four winters, and gorgeous Haerian had only twenty-four. Arlo had more battle scars than unblemished skin. His eye patch may have covered the sunken pit where his left eye had been clawed out by a rival, but it did not hide the terrible scar that extended down his sharp nose.
Silver had seen many young Fenearens fall for Haerian's sparkling amber eyes and full red smile—including Roxen for a brief time.
Yet, as they sat together by the fireside on the last night before they would arrive in Anhorde, Silver had to admit they fit, despite appearances. Arlo had always been a hard man, but with Haerian, his edges blurred.
Silver had seen him smile at least four times over their journey—a record as far as she knew.
And where Haerian had once been hungry for power and grasping for approval, Silver now saw a settled young woman with a purpose.
At times like these, it was a comfort to know there was still new love blossoming.
“It’s a cold night. I’m going to collect more firewood,” said Roxen.
Silver stood. “I’ll join you.”
As they walked away from the others toward a copse of trees, Silver thought again of Roxen and his feelings for Mina. If one unlikely couple could thrive, why not another?
“Rox.” Silver bent to pick up a branch. “How are you doing?”
“I’m worried,” he admitted. “About the war declaration, about why Kado left, about Rayna and the others.”
“One other in particular?”
He paused mid-way through lifting a small log. “That obvious?” he asked, straightening.
“Not to everyone, I’m sure. But I’ve known you your whole life. Does Mina feel the same way?”
“She feels…something. I’m not sure it’s the same as how I feel about her, though.”
Silver sat on the mossy ground and gestured for Roxen to join her. “What makes you say that?”
“She and I are very different. I know it’s out of the ordinary for a Fenearen to be with an outsider—”
“That doesn’t matter. Love knows no country.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that.” Roxen set aside his burden of firewood. “But I’m afraid she and I have different values. For me, loyalty comes first.”
“I know that.” Silver smiled.
In the moonlight, Roxen’s eyes shone. “But Mina values her freedom above everything else. I can’t fault her for that—it’s who she is. But I don’t see a way forward for us.”
At first, Silver did not understand. Why would valuing freedom create an obstacle? But then she understood the subtext to Roxen’s words. “If you were to court her, you’d want to honor our traditions, and only do so with the intention of becoming mates forever?”
Roxen nodded. “It’s the Fenearen way, but it’s not Mina’s.”
Silver sighed. “What I’m going to say might surprise you, but just because something has always been done one way, doesn’t mean you have to live your life in the same manner. Traditions fade and change. Wolnor knows plenty of our packmates have chosen short-term partnerships, despite the tradition you speak of.”
“But aren’t the rules different for me? I’m the Beta of the Southern Densite. I’m supposed to set an example.”
“Yes, but there are many ways to do that. Loving Mina sets a different kind of example—of acceptance and celebration of differences.”
“That’s a beautiful thought, but the truth is, if I allowed myself to be with Mina, it would be forever, at least on my end. She’s—” He cut off, clearing his throat. “She’s everything I ever wanted in a mate, and if she were mine, even for one night, I know I could never love anyone else like that again.”
“I understand.” Silver remembered the first night she and Bayne had been together. She recalled lying on a bed of moss and leaves, and the feel of his breath on her skin.
There would never be anyone else for her, either.
“But Roxen, I want you to be absolutely certain that whatever decision you make, it isn’t fear behind it.”
“Fear?”
“Love is always scary at the beginning and...” Silver gulped. “At the end, too. But it’s worth it. You can’t let fear control you.”
“You’re right, but right now, I’m not sure I’ll ever see her again anyway.”
“Rox—”
Roxen stood. “We should head back. The fire will be dwindling.”
She followed him, hoping her words made a difference.
Kado steered the stolen trading vessel with expert precision. He'd spent most of his life at sea, after all. Waves beat a familiar rhythm against the hull. Salty wind rustled his hair. It was easy to fall back in time.
“Steady there, Kado, keep the bow just there. Like a lady, she needs a gentle hand.” Enzo smiled down on him.
Kado had always been a slave, but his supposed father had seemed to love him and Quella all the same.
Another memory swamped Kado's mind.
This ship's deck was empty, but Kado's imagination populated it.
He saw Enzo—how his face twisted from confusion to rage when confronted with Kado's wolf form.
Kado's throat still burned when he remembered the Monil clicking around his neck. His eyes still filled with tears when he pictured Enzo slapping his mother.
Quella had crumpled to the deck. “Please Enzo! I lied to you, so punish me. But Kado is innocent. He is still the boy you raised, even if he is not your son by blood!”
“He is no son of mine,” Enzo Aronak had spat. “He's a beast—like you—like all of your lying, savage kind.”
“Kado? Kado are you there?” Isaac's voice from the ring made Kado realize how tightly he gripped the wheel as the memory consumed him.
He eased up his grip. “Yes, sorry. Being behind the wheel of a ship brought up some old memories. I'm fine.”
“Ship? You're almost here, then?” Isaac's voice turned eager. He must have been as ready for his revenge against Terayan as Kado was.
“Aye. I stole a skiff from the first Maenoren harbor I found. I'll arrive in the capital in a day or so.”
“Excellent. I shall meet you in the harbor with forged papers.”
“And then?” Kado asked as he looked up at the stars' positions.
“One step at a time, Kado.” With that, the warmth in the ring faded.
Kado turned back to the sea ahead and took in a deep, briny breath.
Terayan would die soon.
For the first time in his life, Kado would truly be free.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Although heavy rains had destroyed much of Kado's scent, Rayna, Channon, and Katrine were able to track him as they headed west through Maenor. Periodically, Rayna or Channon scouted ahead in wolf form to ensure they were still on the right track.
“I think we're getting closer!” Rayna called as she returned to the others after running ahead.
“Turns out these two-legs are not slowing us down after all.” Katrine smiled at Mina and Kellan.
“If only we still had our horses. Then we would see who the slow ones were.” Mina huffed as she rang out her tangled brown locks.
Rayna embraced her. “Thanks for coming. I have to say traveling without you wasn't the same.”
She flicked water in Rayna’s face. “Anytime.”
“We’ve been heading almost due west since passing into Maenor. The shoreline isn’t that far away,” Channon said. “I think we need to consider the idea we might be too late.”
“What do you mean?” Katrine asked.
Mina pulled her curls into a bun. “There's nothing along the Maenoren coast but fishing villages. Unless Kado had a sudden urge to start a new life as a fisherman, it seems he plans to go to Halmstead by sea.”
“Why would he willingly return there?” Rayna recalled Marielana's warning.
If she followed the white wolf to Halmstead, she would be taking a huge risk. But if it came down to a choice, could Rayna
abandon Kado to his fate? Or, she thought darkly, risk the possibility he was working against them all along?
“There's something we don't know—some reason for Kado's behavior,” said Katrine. “We have to help him. Something's wrong. I know it.”
No one replied to Katrine's confidence in Kado's motives.
Rayna pitied the orphan boy. She wanted to help him for his own sake, regardless of his magical significance. But there was possibility that Kado didn't want to be helped, or worse, he was actively working against them.
They needed to catch Kado, but what came after that, Rayna could not say.
A harsh wind blew new information over the currents.
One particular, coppery scent made Rayna's heart skip a beat. “That's blood.”
“Come on!” Katrine sprinted toward the scent without waiting for the others.
“Katrine, hold on!” Rayna called after her ehreln, but it was no use.
Rayna and Channon caught up with Katrine as they approached a clearing reeking of blood.
“Stay here,” Rayna hissed to Katrine.
She gave a reluctant nod.
Taking their wolf forms, Rayna and Channon eased into the clearing.
Before Rayna could make out the broken, crumpled forms in the darkness, the smells told a dark tale: fear and the unmistakeable, sour odor of death.
“What is this?” Rayna stared at the broken corpses littering the ground.
They were Maenoren, but not warriors. There were over a dozen men, women, and children—travelers by the look of their clothing, and the trunks and bags strewn around them.
Channon took in the grisly scene with narrowed eyes. “Whoever did this might still be in the area.”
Katrine, Kellan, and Mina followed them into the clearing, their faces contorted with revulsion.
Rayna checked each of the Maenorens' pulses, searching their petrified faces.
“Are they?” Mina asked, covering her mouth.
“Dead,” said Rayna. “They're all dead.”
Kellan knelt down in the blood-soaked muck beside Rayna,.“Kado isn't among them.”
“You don't think...” Mina did not dare finish the thought.
“No, it wasn't him,” Rayna said quickly.
Katrine nodded her agreement but seemed unable to draw her eyes away from the horrors before them.
“Red, how can you be so sure?”
“This isn't wishful thinking, Kellan. These murders aren't the work of a Fenearen. There are no bites, no scratch marks, and no open wounds. Just bruises all over their bodies. Yet judging from the amount of blood, it looks like they bled to death. Look at the blood coming out of their noses, their mouths, their eyes and ears. And then there's this.” She lifted up the back of one of the scout’s shirts, revealing a red and black mark in the shape of a hand print.
“Is that a burn?” Kellan squinted.
“Yes, and I can smell burning flesh on every single one of them. Whoever—or whatever did this—they weren't Fenearen.”
“Then who?” Katrine finally regained enough composure to speak.
Rayna did not say at first.
There was something in the air—not a scent, but a feeling. Rayna had the oddest sensation of familiarity, like she had sensed this magic before.
Mina rose from where she'd knelt to close a small girl's eyes. “I hate to say it, but as the white wolf, doesn't Kado have abilities beyond an ordinary Fenearen?”
“Kado couldn't have done this.” Katrine looked to Rayna, her big brown eyes pleading. “Right?”
“It doesn't feel like him,” Rayna said.
Her friends each gave her a curious look at that response, but she did not elaborate.
“We should go,” she said.
They picked up Kado's trail, leading them further toward the coastline.
“He's probably on a ship by now,” Mina said as she inspected her arrows.
Katrine took the lead. “Wherever he goes, we'll bring him home.”
Rayna wished she could share in Katrine's optimism. As they left the forest though, Rayna could not shake the feeling they were being watched.
No scents registered besides the usual woodland creatures: songbirds, turkeys, weasels, and foxes. Yet Rayna found herself looking over her shoulder.
Once, she swore she saw movement in her peripheral vision, but when she turned to face it, there was nothing.
It was Channon's turn to scout ahead, and his absence only fueled her paranoia.
“You all right, Red? I mean, considering?” Kellan asked, noticing her jumpiness.
She nodded. “I think the exhaustion is getting to my head. I’ll be fine.”
“Is that all?”
Rayna paused, sorting through her feelings. There was something else. It was not a conscious thought—rather something buried and absolute, like an instinct. “The magic back there felt familiar.”
“Familiar how?” Kellan asked.
“It didn't feel like Terayan. It felt...” She gulped. “Like Rhael.”
“That's impossible.”
“Aye. Like I said, I'm not thinking clearly.”
Kellan squeezed her hand. “This will all be over soon.”
Rayna wondered if he really believed that as the scent of seawater tickled her nose.
Rayna stared into the water. She sat on the dock in a small harbor town whose name she did not know, waiting for the others to return.
Upon arriving, they'd split up and canvassed every vessel, dock, and supply store they could find for word on Kado.
She had spoken with a few people who had seen him, but no one had been able to say where Kado had gone.
At the records office, she'd been informed that a small vessel had gone missing. Though she had no proof, Rayna knew in the depths of her heart Kado had stolen that ship, and was bound for Halmstead. Every instinct in her soul told her Kado was returning to the very city they had narrowly escaped.
Anger swarmed through her—anger at her uselessness ,and anger at Kado.
He felt lost in Fenear. That was fair enough. But did he not understand there was more at stake than his feelings?
Or worse, had he deceived them all along and been a spy as Pheros had once suspected?
Rayna blinked away tears, but it was too late. Some dripped into the seawater below her.
As they hit, making ripples in the still water, she remembered Marielana explaining Kado’s abilities. She had been certain that Terayan intended to use Kado’s magic for some nefarious purpose.
So why would he return?
Unless, they were working together. He was, after all, Nero’s son. Had he come to Fenear, ingratiated himself to her and the others, all the while planning on returning to Terayan when the time was right?
Rayna sighed. She did not want to suspect Kado. It wasn’t fair to think him treacherous because his father had been. But still, there was something missing—something she did not understand.
At the moment, though, her chief concern had to be finding a way to reach Kado, regardless of his intentions or loyalties. She could only hope the others had better luck in their search for transportation.
Not for the first time, she day-dreamed about Sudmaris, wishing he would appear. But she had tried calling out to him in her mind on Swann’s ship to no avail.
She thought back to the moment that had called Sudmaris to her. They had been trapped on the Seadog by Terayan and his men. There had been no way out. He had meant to drown her in her own blood, but somehow, her fear and will to live had broken through to Sudmaris.
But it had not just been her fear.
Your blood, that of an Awakened seer, called me to you.
Her blood.
She jumped to her feet, unsheathing Coer’s knife. She pressed the tip of it to her fingertip, letting a few drops fall into the harbor waters. She closed her eyes, reaching out to the leviathan in her mind.
Help me, help me, help me.
She opened her eyes, half-expect
ing to see the great beast breaking the surface along the horizon.
But there was nothing—no trace of his strange, floral scent, nor booming voice in her head.
“What are you doing?” Kellan led Mina, Channon, and Katrine.
“Failing to find us a ride” She sucked on her finger. “Hope you all had better luck.”
“Unfortunately not.” Mina sighed. “Normally sailors would do anything for a pretty face, but everyone keeps reminding us of the embargo on trade with the Republic. Now that Terayan has declared war, and publicly accused Maenoren conspirators of murdering the other Councilors, even the most unsavory characters aren’t willing to risk it.”
“Well, I guess that means we’re swimming.” Kellan crossed his arms.
Rayna scrunched her forehead, staring out at the unbroken horizon.
“That was a joke, Red.”
“I know. I’m thinking. If Marielana were here, she would know what to do.”
“Water is her specialty,” Mina agreed.
“I have to speak with her.”
“You mean, use your powers?” Katrine’s brown eyes looked bigger than ever.
“Don’t get too excited, little wolf.” Mina smiled. “It pretty much means she’s going to take a nap—which we could all use. I saw a nice spot down on the beach to make camp.”
Rayna lay in her sleeping sack, watching the driftwood fire crackle and smoke.
It was still early. The sun had not completely set, but she could not wait for nightfall to find answers. If she were in better control of her powers, like Marielana, she might have been able to reach out to Marielana without being asleep. But as it stood, she still needed the peace of her dreamscape.
Channon collected more firewood out of sight. It was for the best—his presence might have distracted her from the task at hand.
Kellan had volunteered for first watch. He stood at the shoreline, the rough winds whipping his long black hair behind him.
She recalled another seaside town, leagues north, where they had last parted. He had not trusted Channon then, and that was before Terayan had gotten into his head. Despite Kellan’s doubts, though, he was still here.
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