68

When the dawn’s sunlight woke me, Elias was no longer lying at my side. He had stoked the fire, and was dressed in clothes I’d assumed were pilfered from Kodan’s pack: plain slacks and a quilted shirt similar to the one I was wearing, with his cloak folded and set aside. I sat up, shocked to see him still here. He raised one eyebrow at me, and the expression was so playful and familiar my heart clenched to see it. I’d missed him. I’d missed him so much it was like an aching wound, and being so close, but still having so much distance between us, was worse than being apart.

Kodan woke up with a groan as the sunlight fell over her face. She pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes and sat up, then looked just as surprised as me to see Elias. “You stuck around?” she asked.

“Is what Reyna said about the Fae queen true?” Elias asked.

I put coffee on the campfire as Kodan began to pack up the campsite. “I haven’t independently confirmed anything,” she said. “I only know what Reyna told me. I’ve been a bit busy with the happenings in Efra.”

Elias’ expression hardened. “What happenings?”

Kodan sighed. “What exactly did you think would occur when you ran off like that?”

“What?” Elias asked. He stoked the fire. “Something wrong?”

“You weren’t thinking at all,” Kodan said. “You went too deep into your wolf.”

“Kodan,” I said quietly, as I interrupted their conversation by handing her a cup of coffee.

She glanced at me, then closed her eyes briefly and sighed. We both knew this wasn’t the time to start to prod at Elias’ motivations, regardless of how irritated she was with his behavior. She’d have time to chew him out later.

“The court wasn’t exactly comfortable with your taking off like that,” she said. “Comparisons were made.”

“Comparisons?”

“To your father.”

His hands stilled, and his pupils narrowed as they stared into the flame. I said nothing, though my wolf whined with the desire to leap to his side. He didn’t know I knew. Seeing him push down the memory, without being able to do anything to support him, made my heart ache more.

“Who was making those comparisons?” he asked. “The duchess?”

“Of course,” Kodan said.

Elias grimaced.

“It wasn’t just conversation, though,” she said. “She called on Rodthar of Daybreak.”

“She summoned that mutt?” Elias snarled. “After everything he did?”

“The court agreed to install them as king and queen,” Kodan said. “I only got word from a soldier in Efra still loyal to you. I would’ve stopped it otherwise. Tensions are high in the city, it seems. I don’t believe most of the citizens support the current leadership, the soldiers certainly don’t, but there’s no one to step in.”

“There is now,” Elias said, low. “Daybreak will not lead Frasia. Not under that man.” Finally his eyes met mine. “And you,” he said. “You will remain loyal, as a wolf of Nightfall?”

“Of course,” I said in a small voice. It felt like a blow that he even had to ask. Yet I understood why. I could only hope that when we had a chance to be together, to be alone, I could make him understand why I’d gone with Draunar, too. It was a mistake, but one I’d made trying to protect Frasia. We put our nation first. We both did. Surely he would understand that.

I had to hope he would.

“We’ll go to Siena,” he said gruffly. “Summon the wolves that are still loyal to Nightfall. We’ll have to move swiftly, before Daybreak gets too settled in Efra. We’ll have to strike soon and remove Rodthar from the throne by force. Let the wolves of Frasia know that the king does not let treason go unpunished.”

Again his gaze slid to me. A shudder ran through me—treason? Surely he didn’t consider my agreement to Draunar’s terms treason. “Elias, please, can we just—”

“No,” he said sharply. Then he softened minutely, the tiniest amount of tension leaving his expression. “No. We have to focus. Siena isn’t far, if we move briskly we’ll be there before sundown.”

As if proving his point, he doused the fire.

“Sir,” Kodan said in agreement. She threw the rest of her coffee back and we quickly took the rest of the campsite down. By the time we’d packed the site up, Elias was already heading east across the balds.

Kodan hiked the pack high onto her shoulders. “Of course he didn’t even offer to carry anything,” she grumbled.

“Why Siena?” I asked. “Why not back to the outpost you were at?”

“Siena’s a little bigger,” Kodan said. “We’re likely to be able to gather some reinforcements there.”

“We’ll be expected?”

“No,” Kodan said, “but Elias and I grew up there. If there were any wolves that would back us now, it’s those in Siena.”

“Your hometown,” I said.

“From there we’ll send messengers,” Kodan said, “have everyone meet in Siena. I can only assume Elias is already developing a plan.”

I nodded. I just wished he’d let me be a part of it. All I could do was watch the familiar breadth of his shoulders as he led us across, not even sparing a look back.

23

J

ust as Elias had said, the rough-hewn wooden buildings of Siena appeared on the horizon before the sun had fallen. It was larger than the outpost in which I’d found Kodan, but it was less a town and more of a village. The perimeter was surrounded by a rough wooden fence, made of tree trunks cut free of their branches and sharpened at the top. Under the thatched roof of the lookout tower, a woman leaned out curiously.

“State your purpose,” she called.