15

There was something else under the scent though. Something vaguely familiar—a salty, almost resinous odor.

“Your Highness,” Selwy said, and moved to scramble to his feet. He grimaced in pain.

The king rapidly shifted back to his human form. “Don’t stand,” he said immediately. “Tend to your wound.”

Selwy slumped down with relief. I shifted into my human form, too, but Thaddeus remained in his wolf shape, hackles up and teeth bared at the prisoner.

“Who sent you?” the king growled. He kicked the prisoner’s thigh roughly. “Speak!”

The prisoner just laughed, a drunken, gurgling sound, and spit blood into his lap.

“He hasn’t said a word,” Selwy said. “I tried.”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to take him with us,” the King growled. “I can make this interrogation last as long as he wants.”

The prisoner shifted slightly where he sat. Even covered in dust and blood, his shoes were clearly finely made, lightweight soft leather and a familiar style of buckle at the ankle meant for easy removal.

“Selwy,” I asked, “did you see this man in wolf form?”

“No,” he said. “Showed me a hint of it while we were tussling, but I kept him from shifting.”

“What color were his eyes?” I asked. “Did you see?”

“Uh,” Selwy said. “Brownish, I suppose? Reddish-brown, like mud?”

The recognition washed over me like a bucket of ice water over my head. Elias watched me, his own anger tempered by curiosity as I stalked forward to the prisoner. I knelt on the ground next to him, hooked my fingers in the neckline of his shirt, and tugged it down.

“I knew it,” I hissed.

There was a small scar carved just under his collarbone: an X bisected vertically. To a casual viewer, it didn’t look like anything special, like a strange brand or a knife fight gone wrong. But I knew what it was. Barion had explained it to me at the beginning of my training. It’s how you know who to trust, Barion had said, pulling his own collar down to reveal the marking. It’s the sign of a servant of Daybreak.

Once upon a time, I had trusted him. I’d trusted my family in Daybreak. But now there was nothing left but betrayal, and I was a wolf of Nightfall.

“He’s a spy,” I said. “He’s from Daybreak.”

Elias’ eyes burned gold with his anger. “Step aside, please, Reyna.”

This time I didn’t fight back. I moved out of his way, standing at the edge of the clearing.

Elias loomed over the spy. “I’ve had it with you insufferable bastards,” he growled. “First you try to take my throne. Now you try to ambush me in broad daylight? Have I not killed enough of you?”

The spy said nothing, just laughed, low and humorless as more blood dripped from his mouth.

Elias growled with rage. He gripped him by the hair and hauled the man to his feet, holding him at arm’s length to keep the blood off of his clothes. Elias’ shoulders tensed, then he grasped the spy’s head in both hands and snapped his neck with one sharp twist of the arms.

I grimaced and closed my eyes. The dull crack echoed through the quiet forest, then the dull whump of the lifeless body hitting the forest floor.

“Good riddance,” Selwy muttered. “Fucking asshole.” He glanced at me. “Pardon my language.”

“Mm, I agree,” I said. “Fucking asshole.”

Selwy snorted and carefully stood up. “Your Highness,” he said to the king, “I suggest we leave the bodies for the runner to find. Should he return.”

“Agreed,” Elias said. He turned back to face me, and his eyes were still blazing gold with rage. Part of me wondered if it would’ve been wiser to bring the prisoner to Shianga with us, where we could potentially learn of his motivations. But perhaps that would’ve been crueler, to potentially subject this spy to the kind of interrogations the king might be capable of doing. I knew he could kill easily. I didn’t think he had a sadistic streak. Yet…there was so much about the king I still didn’t know.

We made our way back to the carriages, walking on two legs so we could help Selwy navigate with his bad one. Thaddeus hurried to brief Kodan. I turned to walk back toward the back of the carriages, and Elias caught me by the forearm.

“We’re almost out of the pass,” he said. “You’ll ride in the carriage.”

“I can walk,” I said. “It’s still rocky terrain.”

“I know.” Then he heaved a sigh. “Please. Just—for me?”

His voice wavered minutely, and that was enough for the argument on the tip of my tongue to melt away.

“What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

“If we hadn’t sent the scouts,” he murmured, “they could’ve attacked us like sitting ducks. And we were just walking out in the open. One well-aimed arrow…” He shook his head like he was physically dispelling the thought. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”

I wanted to fight back and ensure him I could take care of myself. Perhaps I would have, if it hadn’t been wolves of Daybreak who had ambushed us. Guilt gnawed at me. Had they been looking for me? Or was this just another misguided attempt to try to take the throne?

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll ride the rest of the way. Don’t worry.”

Elias’ shoulders slumped minutely with relief. He smoothed his hand up to my shoulder, and then carefully set his hand at my jaw. “Thank you.”

I leaned into the touch, turning slightly so the corner of my mouth brushed the warm skin of his palm. These hands had just killed a man without a second thought. And yet I felt so safe when he touched me like this—like we were the only two wolves in the world.

“All right!” Kodan hollered from the front of the caravan. “Ready to move!”

Elias dropped his hand. His golden eyes burned into mine for a moment, but this time, I saw no trace of anger. It was something else. Desire—and something more.

“Change into a gown, if you can,” he said. “When we arrive in Shianga, we’ll be meeting the king.”