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2024-11-26 10:14:50As the wolves stood from the table to pour more wine and engage in private conversation, or leave for their quarters, Fina hurried to my side. Her brows pulled together in concern as we stepped away from the table.
“I’m sorry,” she said, low and private between us, “I didn’t mean to start anything like that. If I had known Giles was waiting for an opportunity to bite your head off--”
I laughed gently and shook my head. “That’s not your fault.”
“You know I’ll support anything you decide, I just worry about Duskmoon.” Fina pressed two fingers to her temples and circled them, but it did nothing to abet her concern. “I worry about Duskmoon getting forgotten when there’s so much going on. If the crops are damaged, the effects of my pack getting attacked would be felt throughout Frasia. But until that happens, I know our needs are often not as pressing.”
“You’re right to bring it up,” I said. “And you’re right to think that the Fae would attack Duskmoon first. Not only because of the location, but exactly because of the ripple effects of the crops being damaged.” I sighed. “I wouldn’t put something like that past Corinne at all.”
“I just don’t want you to think I’m poking holes in your plans.”
I squeezed Fina’s shoulders. “These kinds of holes are why I asked you to join the Court,” I said.
“And what a Court it is,” Fina said. “I couldn’t believe they jumped down your throat like that about having kids, too. Pardon me for saying so, but I found it quite disrespectful.”
I sighed. “I did too, but what am I supposed to do? Marget was right — that’s part of the reason the Choice was set up in the first place.”
“She spoke like that’s all you were supposed to do, though,” Fina said. “A Queen’s role is more than just a mother to the King’s heirs.”
“I hope so. I sometimes wonder if I’m cut out for either part of it.”
“Of course you are. King Elias wouldn’t have chosen you if you weren’t.”
I nodded, even as my heart climbed into my throat. “It’s so easy being with him, I sometimes forget the rest of the Court watches us like hawks. It’s unnerving.”
“Perhaps the trip to Cruora will be a balm, then.”
“I hope so,” I agreed. I didn’t want to leave Elias, but being away from the Court might be a nice break. “And I hope you’ll join me there.”
The concern dropped from her face, replaced by a surprised grin. “Truly?”
I nodded. “Truly. We’ve got some research to do.”
3
A
low bark caught my attention. My paws dug into the dirt as I surged forward, racing through the trees as I pursued the sound. It was early evening, and the sky was painted in gold and purple as the day melted into night. The winter air was delightfully cold racing through my pelt as I bolted, chasing the sound and the scent of my mate. Everything smelled crisp and clean, and the stress of the past few days dissipated along with my visible breath as I simply ran.
I’d needed this. The days had been a bustling whirlwind of preparations, with hardly any time for me to breathe, let alone exercise. Elias had noticed how the stress was wearing on me, and cleared our evening schedule to make time for us to run. It always cleared my head. With the way the planning was going, I needed all the clarity I could get.
Another bark sounded, and it was closer this time. I caught a whiff of his scent, too. Animal excitement coursed through me as I ran faster, dodging the trees gracefully.
I burst out of the treeline and into a familiar clearing. The forest opened up onto the banks of a rushing stream. The crystal-clear water poured from a small waterfall, then gurgled over the rocks within the bed of the stream. On the other side of the banks, Elias barked a greeting, then wagged his tail like a pup. He lowered his head playfully, golden eyes encouraging me closer.
Gods, I loved him.
Like this, with nothing but the whisper of the wind and the rush of the creek, it was like we were the only two in the world. The concerns that had haunted me would disappear.
I crossed the stream, paws delicate on the rocks jutting from the bed. The water was freezing cold where it splashed onto my paws, and I pranced quickly onto the other bed.
Elias tilted his head to the side, ears perked forward curiously.
I didn’t give him a moment to breathe. I leaped forward, barreled into him, and yipped with delight as we began to tousle on the soft grass. We played like that for a few minutes, grappling for dominance with teeth and paws. Eventually, though, Elias had me pinned, with his solid weight atop me and his teeth nipping gently at my neck. I submitted willingly, slumping against the earth as my tail wagged.
Feel better? Elias’s voice said in my head.
So much. I nuzzled closer to him.
Hungry?
As soon as he asked the question, my stomach growled. Elias chuffed a wolfish sound of amusement, then stood up. The air crackled around him as he shifted back into his human shape. “I brought your things,” he said. “And some other items as well.”
I rolled onto my belly and watched him, ears perked forward, then squinted at him.
He laughed. Even though we couldn’t communicate in our minds when one or both of us were in our human shapes, it still felt like he could read my thoughts. “Yes, I brought it the way you showed me.”I yipped my amusement. I’d gotten used to traveling in my wolf shape with a pack, when I had to make my way into Frasia from Shianga in secret, and I’d shown Elias the method of carrying one as well.
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It wasn’t exactly graceful, though, and the thought of Elias racing through the woods with a pack in his jaw was delightful. To think I’d thought he was a big scary wolf when I’d first met him. And to think I’d spent so much of my life not letting mine run free at all.Elias pulled on a pair of trousers, then pulled the rest of the contents from the pack. He’d brought a blanket, a spare change of clothes for me, a heavy cloak, and a waxed cloth with a small spread of snacks and a canteen of tea inside.After seeing the clothes, I shifted back into human shape, only a little reluctantly. Immediately the cold air stung my skin, and I shivered and hurried close to where Elias was spreading out the blanket. I tugged on the clothes he’d brought: a pair of thick trousers and a shirt of his own. He’d even brought me a pair of woven socks.“Warm enough?” he asked as he placed the heavy cloak over my shoulders.I snuggled close into his side. He always ran hot, and now felt like a furnace agai
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I pushed down my anxiety, focusing instead on the steady beat of his heart, and the comforting weight of his hand on my thigh. “What about what Lady Marget said?” I asked. “About having kids? Has she really been pressuring you about heirs?”Elias exhaled out of his nose, a sound that was half-sigh and half-anger. “She has been. But it’s none of her business.”“Why didn’t you tell me the Court was talking that way?” I asked.“I never imagined she’d bring it up like that,” Elias said. “It was disrespectful to us both. I spoke with her privately to make that very clear.”“I’m not…that’s not what I’m worried about,” I said. Elias squeezed my thigh again in silent encouragement, as I tried to untangle the mess of thoughts in my mind. “If they’ve been bringing it up, you’ve been thinking about it, too, right?”“Here and there,” he said carefully. “What are you thinking?”“We haven’t talked about it,” I said.“Do you want to?”I closed my eyes. Despite my anxieties, he always managed to make
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Warmth surged through me. Even more so than being crowned queen, in this moment, I knew Elias wanted me to be his equal. He trusted me. I wasn’t just a trophy, or a prize, or a bit of arm candy to smile at wolves in meetings. He wanted me to lead — and I wasn’t going to let him down.I tugged off the cloak, and then turned and swept my hair over my shoulder. Elias took the necklace and gingerly clasped it around my neck.I turned back around. The necklace hung just to my solar plexus, before the curve of my breasts. He touched the fang with his forefinger and said, “Reyna, I’m honored to call you my Queen.”I moved forward and kissed him deeply. I had no other way to express the surge of love I felt for him then — love, honor, and relief. His confidence in me made me feel more sure. More capable. This trip to Cruora would be fine. I could do this—I could be the diplomat and the Queen Nightfall deserved.I climbed into his lap, so my knees were astride his hips, and wound my arms aroun
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In the afterglow, he cleaned me up, then wrapped me tightly in the bigger of the two cloaks and held me closer. We stayed like that for some time, dozing and enjoying the brief window of privacy we had. With his breath ghosting over my temple, I drifted, my thoughts always returning back to the question of our future.Maybe it’d be something like this. Maybe we’d go on a run, and fall into each others’ arms in the woods, except maybe afterward, we’d have kids of our own.It was an intimidating thought. It made me nervous, and made me curl closer to Elias. But I couldn’t shake it, and I found I didn’t really want to.4“This so exciting,” Adora said, nearly skipping as she led us through the bustling streets of Efra. “This is going to be such an incredible journey. All the way to Cruora! I never even imagined!”“Let’s not announce it at such a high volume, please,” Fina said with a fond roll of her eyes.“We don’t even know who will be traveling,” I said. “Nothing has been set in ston
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“Have you heard about the portals opening to the south of the city?” I asked. “I’ve been leading some patrols to keep an eye on them, but I must admit I’m unsure of if how much knowledge filters through the streets.”Aerika nodded. “I’ve certainly heard of them. The rumor mill never ceases.”“Of that I’m aware,” I said with a smile. “I hoped you might have some insight as to why the portals are appearing.”“Why do you ask?” Aerika glanced up, her expression carefully blank.I sighed. I needed Aerika to trust me — I needed to learn whatever she knew. Still, I didn’t know the best way to do that. Certainly I didn’t have the careful manipulative skills Elias did. The only strategy I had was honesty. I could only hope it didn’t come back to bite me.“You told me when the Fae Queen returned, that you could sense it,” I said. “I know of your Fae heritage, and of your assistants’. I only wish to know if there’s been word of the Queen’s intentions with the emergence of the portals.”When Aeri
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After a few hours of research and far too many cups of tea, Fina straightened up, her nose in a thin leatherbound book. “Reyna, listen to this.”I looked up, blinking dizzily from where I was peering closely at a fading coastline of Shianga.“More attacks today,” she read aloud. “The Fae in the stables broke into the house and slaughtered the Duke and his mistresses. Efforts to stop the uprisings have only made them worse… I fear this will soon become a war.”“What is that?” I asked. “What are you reading?”“It’s an old journal from Shianga,” she said. “Someone rich. It was in the things Enet gave you. ‘The Fae are mad,’ she continued. ‘They kill dragons indiscriminately. They do not listen to reason. Even my friends, it’s as if their minds have been taken over by their Queen.’”Fina kept thumbing through the journal. “According to this, there was a massive attack on the dragons that ended with Draunar’s father and his court rounding up all the Fae they could find and slaughtering the
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“He’s an impressive swordsman,” Elias said. “Giving me a run for my money here.”Haulfrun’s eyes widened. “Well, sir, I wouldn’t say--”“No arguments,” Elias said with a cheerful wave of his hand. “Dismissed. I’ll have Kodan work with you later this week on some more advanced techniques.”“Sir! Thank you, sir.” Haulfrun bowed again, still wide-eyed, and then hurried toward another group of soldiers in the facility.“What is it, Reyna?” Elias asked. “You look like you’ve just uncovered some great new map in the archive.” He tilted his head. “Did you?”“Something like that. Can we speak privately?”Elias led me into the narrow halls of the training facility. He handed his sword off to a soldier waiting near the door, and then guided us into a small private changing room. As soon as the door was closed, I leaned against it, just in case any curious passerby thought about trying to rattle the knob.“I don’t think the Fae are creating the portals on purpose,” I said.“What makes you think
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“I was hammering out the details of the convoy to Cruora with the council this morning,” Elias said. “Some of them still consider it a waste of time and resources. The agreement is that it will be a small convoy. A very small one.”“Okay,” I said, “how small do you mean?”He sighed. “It’s not the way I’d prefer to go about it. But I do believe it’s important that you lead the convoy yourself, since it was your idea.”“That’s what I’d prefer,” I said.“I know,” he said with a smile, “but a small convoy is dangerous.”“Then don’t send her,” Kodan said. “I’ll go.”“In an ideal world, that’s what I’d do,” Elias admitted, “not because I don’t trust your skills, Reyna, but because I hesitate to send the Queen out traveling when war looms on the horizon.”“I can handle myself,” I said.“That’s not in question,” Kodan said. “Could you handle an army who wanted to kidnap you? The truth of the matter is someone like me is less valuable. A loss that wouldn’t risk the stability of Frasia.”“Kodan
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“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Elias murmured. “These are the kinds of innovations we should be encouraging, don’t you agree?”I nodded. In the months since the war, reconstruction had started across Frasia. We’d rebuilt the manor, as well as the walls of the city. The buildings damaged in the fighting had been repaired as best we could. Then after that, Elias and I arranged for convoys to travel to each of the packs, providing resources and answers to all of those who had been affected by the fighting.Everything was going well. But to my embarrassment, I often found myself a little…bored.Fina caught my eye from where she stood in front of the dais. She raised one eyebrow, and I straightened up to better give the young wolf my full attention.Since the end of the war, Fina had been working as my head spy, occasionally running missions to other packs and nations with Kodan. She’d come into her own as a spy of Nightfall, and when I saw her training with Adora in the barracks, she
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He shook his head. “I knew it had healing properties,” he said. “Or…I hoped it did. I bought it off a Fae jeweler outside of Starcrest, before relations with Faerie worsened. I thought it was beautiful, and I wanted something she couldn’t get in Frasia proper.” He chuckled to himself. “I wanted to impress her. The jeweler told me it had healing properties — that it had strong, old Fae magic. I never had a chance to give it to her. But I did have it looked at again, when I was older, to learn more about the magic. But there wasn’t much the scholars of Starcrest could tell me. I knew it had healing powers, and I knew it was strong. But I didn’t know…”“That it would affect me like that,” I said.“That you would be able to wield it,” he said. “You surprise me at every turn. Just like your mother did.”“I wish I could’ve met her,” I said softly.“I do, too.” He folded his hand over mine on the table. “When you and Elias visit Starcrest next, I’ll show you where she’s buried. It’s a beauti
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In the afterglow, I leaned against the headboard of our bed with the blankets pulled up to my hips. Amity and Rue had delivered a small meal a few hours ago, and Elias carried the tray from the table to the bed. We shared a few bites of fruit and soft bread with butter, and Elias poured us each a small glass of fragrant red wine.It felt indulgent, luxurious — like we were the leaders of a wealthy and peaceful nation. It was a glimpse of what life could be like once Frasia has recovered.Elias popped a grape into his mouth, then settled on the bed next to me, careful not to jostle the tray at the foot of the bed. He smoothed his hand over my thigh and squeezed. “So you still have your magic,” he murmured.I laughed and squirmed a little closer to him, despite the nervousness curling in my chest at the mention of it. “I guess so,” I said. “I thought it’d go away eventually, but…”“It hasn’t changed?” he asked.I shook my head. “It feels like it’s settling.” I rubbed my hand over my ste
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Elias smirked and lifted an eyebrow. “What’s that look mean?”“Come here,” I demanded. “Kiss me.”“Love it when you’re so nice and polite like that,” Elias teased.He climbed onto the bed and crawled over me, letting the towel slide from his hips. He knocked my fingers away from the string on my dressing gown and unfastened it himself, then slid the soft fabric open. He caught my lips in a sweet kiss as he flattened his hand on my belly and smoothed over my skin. I hummed into Elias’ lips as I slid my hands over the strong planes of his back, and down to his pert ass. I squeezed.He chuckled into the kiss, then dropped his weight atop me hard enough to make me huff out in a surprised “Oof!” That only made him laugh again as he kissed my cheek, my jaw, my neck.I hummed in pleasure and wrapped my arms around him tightly, keeping his body pressed close to mine. I loved being this close, loved the feeling of all that warm muscle pinning me down, keeping me safe. We kissed for a few long,
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“You did well,” Elias said, low. “Efra still stands.”“At what cost, though?” I asked. “We lost so many.”“We did,” he said. “But not everyone. And Corinne is defeated. Decisively.”“It shouldn’t have happened at all,” I whispered. Guilt chewed at me like a hungry dog. “These soldiers should be alive.”“Reyna.” Elias put his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. “You can’t think like that.”“Like what?” I asked.His golden gaze burned into mine. “You can’t undo what’s been done. Our subjects need us now more than ever.”I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “How can they trust us after so many have died?” I asked quietly. “What will we say when the citizens return from the forests?”“We say the war is over,” Elias said fiercely. “That the Fae Queen is defeated, and Frasia remains free. And we stand strong for our pack.”I closed my eyes briefly. He was right. After so much death and turmoil, the wolves of Nightfall needed to be able to rely on us.“Your pain only shows
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Around us, more Fae rushed in, launching snarling attacks on Elias, Ealric, and Kodan. I trusted them to hold their own and hold the soldiers back from me as I focused my attacks on Corinne.I grinned at her. “That all you got, Queen?”She shrieked again, then swung her sword back and brought it down with the force of a warhammer.The world seemed to slow down. Each breath burned in my throat. The sun glinted off Corinne’s white hair, and off her bloodstained blade, as she turned on her heel to follow my movements. I parried her sword, the sound of steel clashing against steel drowned out by the crackle of our competing magics. I roared and bared my own teeth. Then, driving my foot hard into her shin, I sent her stumbling backward. I launched forward, slashing my sword at her throat, but she dodged, knocked me backward with a punch, and then swung her sword in another high arc.Corinne was fast, faster than anyone I’d ever fought, yet the moonstone quickened my heart and my feet as we
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But I couldn’t hear the battle around us anymore. All I could hear was the pounding of my own heart.Elias pressed his hand to my chest.I took a deep, gasping breath, like I had just broken through the surface of the sea, as cool power rolled through me. My hands flew to Elias’ arms and clung desperately, as the moonstone power coursed through my veins. It eliminated the burning inside me and even stitched up the terrible gashes in my thighs. My vision cleared, and the fog lifted from my mind.“Reyna?” Elias smoothed the hair from my forehead. His brow was still deeply furrowed in concern.“Hi,” I whispered.“Gods above,” Elias choked out. He leaned down and kissed me fiercely. “I thought I lost you.”The moonstone ring was obviously enchanted differently than the swords were — it had healing properties in it. Thank God Ealric had been here to tell Elias what to do. My whole body ached with exhaustion, but the pain had dissipated. I returned Elias’ kiss, then he helped me sit up.“We
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I had to rely on my skills. I met his sword with mine. Clang. Clang. His eyes burned with rage as he pushed me backward. He grinned that sharp-toothed smile, like he wanted to devour me himself. He pushed his blade against me, forcing me back step by step, then suddenly he lunged down and dragged his claws — claws?! — over the meat of my thigh. His fingers, like his teeth, were sharp and threatening, like that of a beast, and with ease he opened four gashes in my muscle. Pain seared through me, and I gasped as my knees quivered. I lost my balance and fell backward. But I still had my sword.“Silly wolf,” Eodwin sneered. “Thinking you’re a warrior. You’re nothing but a lost little girl out here on the battlefield.”“I am more than a wolf,” I said through gritted teeth. I pushed through the pain and clambered back up to my feet. My sword weighed heavily in my hand, but I narrowed my eyes and lifted it up. “I am a Queen.”Eodwin laughed. The made the hair on my nape stand on end. I gripp
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Orange light glowed deep in the darkness. The roars grew louder, closer, and then with a rush of beating wings, dragons poured out the portal, surrounded by rushing flame. There were at least two dozen of them, maybe more. Flames poured from their mouths onto the balds, setting the scrubby grass alight and scorching it to nothing. They flew with soulless determination, over the balds, and directly to the city.My horse whinnied and jerked backward, barely avoiding a burst of flame as the dragons soared overhead. The one who had expelled the flame barely noticed my reaction. It simply snapped its jaws shut and kept flying.“They’re under Fae control!” I called. “Bozhin, to the dragons!”Bozhin shifted into his immense war gryphon form. He cried out, and the few eagles at his side shifted into their forms as well. They took to the skies, streaking after the dragons. Bozhin led them higher, so they were above the beasts, and then led them in a rapid dive-bomb. Bozhin went talon first. He
