But, Channon reminded himself, if love were enough to change Mina’s mind, that still did not mean it would be enough to change Rayna’s. She always took what she perceived as the noble path, no matter how much it hurt those who loved her—no matter how much she hurt him.
Rayna gripped cold metal. A dense, gold-tinged fog clouded her vision, but images flashed like lightning through clouds. A sharp face with dark-lidded, yellow-green eyes appeared, mouth open in a scream. Lumae. Even as Rayna recognized Fenear’s demigoddess founder, she was gone. A wave crashed against a ship with a swan carved into its bow. She saw a marble-floored throne room, a black-haired boy huddled in a corner, and a white wolf, but the fog re-took each vision before she could make sense of it.
“Find him.” The voice was warped, but Rayna recognized Lumae. “Save the boy—“
The fog cleared away and Rayna saw her hands wrapped around prison bars. A man stood before her in perfect clarity. She barely recognized Kellan beneath his beard. He was thin. His tattoos curved differently against his wasted form. She pushed against the bars; was it him imprisoned or her? The bars parted beneath her hands. She reached for Kellan where he leaned against a mildewed wall, but her hands passed through him, too.
“Rayna!”
Rayna woke to Mina’s freckled face hair-lengths in front of her. They'd barely slept for the last three days, knowing that Silver would have sent someone after them. They'd given in the night before—or rather that night, as Rayna realized it was still dark.
“Is someone coming?” Rayna started to stand, but a throbbing pain pulsed behind her left temple. She lost her balance.
Mina caught her. The moonlight lit concerned lines in her face. “No. Katrine is keeping watch. We’re all right for now.”
“Then what is it? Was I screaming again?”
“No. You were silent.” She chewed her lip. “Rayna, it was your eyes.”
“My eyes? Were they open?”
“Sometimes, but that’s not…” She looked around, probably to ensure Katrine was out of earshot. “They flashed with silver light.”
“Flashed?” Confusion added to the pain in Rayna's head. Her dreams were strange, but they'd never presented with any outward signs.
“It was more like a glow, like your entire eyes beneath your lids were filled with silver light, and sometimes you’d open them and they'd flash.” She shrugged. “What were you dreaming about?”
Rayna brought her fingertips to the corners of her eyes. They felt no different. “The same as I’ve been dreaming for weeks. There are fragments, images without context, and then—”
“Kellan?”
Rayna nodded. “You’re sure this is the first time this has happened?”
“I don’t know,” Mina admitted. “We’ve been sharing a den for months and I hadn’t noticed before, but I'm a sound sleeper.”
With her head pounding, there was no point in trying to go back to sleep. “Katrine needs a chance to rest, too. I should relieve her.”
“Wolfie, are you all right?”
“My head is killing me, but what else is new?” She forced a smile, though Mina would barely be able to see it in the darkness.
“What do you think it means?”
“I have no idea. Maybe it means we’re on the right path, or maybe the opposite.” Frustration laced her words. Why were her dreams so cryptic? What had she done to disturb her connection with Alvo and Lumae? “Perhaps Seperun will have some ideas, or maybe we’ll finally meet the mage he and Coer mentioned and can ask him.”
“That’s a good idea.” Mina slid back into her sleeping sack. “Wake Katrine and I up in an hour or two. We don’t know how much of a lead we have on whoever Silver sent after us. We are about three days’ journey from Anhorde. If all goes according to plan, we should arrive in Halmstead inside of a week's time, but not if someone catches us first.”
Rayna agreed and sought out Katrine where she perched in an elm. “I'll take over.”
Katrine hopped down, landing in a crouch. “What were you and Mina talking about?”
“Nothing. You need some rest.”
Katrine's hands slid to her hips. “Really, Rayna? You don't trust me?”
“I do.” Rayna worried her lower lip. “You know what I told you about being a seer?”
Katrine nodded. “You said that's what allowed you to save Channon last year.”
“Right.” At Channon’s name, acidic guilt roiled in her stomach. After everything they'd been through together, everything they'd gone through so they could be together, she'd left him again. Was she truly so heartless? She pressed the guilt to the back of her mind. “But lately, I've been having trouble interpreting my visions. I think they're telling me to rescue the Sylrians, but the truth is, I'm not sure.”
“And if that's what your dreams are telling you to do, they're not telling us how to do it?”
Rayna shrugged. “A lot of the how was up to me last time,” she admitted. “But still, I had a lot more guidance. I feel so adrift and guilty.”
“Guilty?” Katrine's brows lifted in surprise. “About leaving without Silver's permission?”
“That, and...” Shame stole Channon's name from her lips. What must have gone through his mind when he'd discovered her gone? There was no denying it. By leaving without him, she was pushing him away. Why?
“Oh.” Katrine gave a sympathetic smile. “Channon.” She leaned against the elm. “I don't know much about romance, but I know what it's like to leave someone you love.”
Rayna touched Katrine's hand. “Of course you do.” As the lone survivor of the Northern Densite, Katrine had lost her parents, brother, and almost everyone she'd ever known. “But what you did was incredibly brave. What I'm doing to Channon now isn't.”
“What do you mean?”
They'd already conversed for nearly a quarter hour and Rayna knew she ought to send Katrine to bed, but her thoughts longed to be heard. So instead, she told Katrine about the fear snaking its way through her brain. “When Thera told me about my seer heritage, and how she'd hidden it from me with sleeping draughts, she warned me against pursuing my abilities.”
“But she was wrong.”
“I'm not so sure anymore. My great-grandmother, Cassa, was driven mad by her visions, and my mother saw them as a curse. If it hadn't been for Coer forcing me to ignore Thera's guidance by sending me out of Maenor without my medicine, I'd never have been able to pass through the veil at the Eye of Heaven and rescue Channon. But now, with my dreams the way they are... Maybe I'm being punished, or tested. Or maybe I'm following in my ancestors' footsteps.”
“You're afraid you're going mad,” Katrine realized. “But you're fine when you're awake, right?”
“No. I have constant headaches and they're getting worse. How can I allow myself to grow closer to Channon, to take the next step with him, if I'm doomed to lose my mind?”
“Katrine!” Mina called from the fireside. “You need sleep!”
Katrine hesitated. Her hand rested. on Rayna's elbow. “Rayna—“
“I'm fine.” She forced a smile. “Mina's right. We'll talk later.”
“All right.” Katrine pursed her lips. “But for what it's worth, I don't think you're crazy. I think we don't have all the pieces yet.”
“Thanks.” After Katrine left, Rayna pulled herself up the elm's sturdy branches. She pressed her head against the tree’s cool bark, watching a spindly-legged harvest-man crawl up the trunk.
She'd thought many times about seeking out Marielana, high priestess of Alvorn. Marielana’s abilities were rooted in the same ancestral magic as Rayna’s, though hers were augmented with Amne Vena—Alvornian water magic. If anyone could provide Rayna with answers, it was Marielana. But something stopped her every time. What if it was something Rayna had done? Or worse, what if there was nothing to be done to help her? Her headaches grew worse with each passing day.
She was afraid—afraid of what was happening to her, and that there might be no com
ing back. If she allowed herself to truly love Channon, or worse, allowed him to fully love her, what would it do to him when he lost her? What if she did go mad as her ancestor had? He'd been through so much pain. She could not bear to add to that. And yet, she thought as she overlooked the sparse Maenoren scenery, she already had.
Sooner than Rayna expected, the sky lightened. She hopped down from the elm. Her headache had subsided somewhat, but it was still a constant presence in her temples, as if her head was in a vise. She woke Katrine and Mina and they started north once more.
Rayna stood beside Mina as the Kyrean sat on the sandy ground, panting.
“We need to find you a horse,” said Rayna. They'd passed several farms on their way along Maenor's main northern road, but stealing from farmers did not seem the best way to treat their new allies.
“I'm fine.” Mina heaved. “Just need a moment.”
But they did not have a moment. Rayna checked the currents obsessively, sure she would scent Fenearens pursuing them. But that morning, the winds blew south and she'd no way of knowing how close any of her packmates might be. She and Katrine kept to their human forms for the most part, and with only two legs, they managed about fifteen leagues a day. A quick Fenearen could make twenty-five at least. Katrine had circled back a league to see if anyone were right on their tail, and every moment she was gone, Rayna was certain someone had captured her.
Mina stood and pulled her curls into a bun. “If someone gets close, you and the little one run. I'll stall whoever your aunt sent after us.”
“Mina, I don't want to leave you.”
A light brown wolf sprinted into view from over a hill. Katrine shifted, catching her breath. “We're in trouble.”
“What is it?” Rayna's hand gripped Coer's knife.
“Roxen, Gar, Pike, and—” She gulped. “Channon.”
Rayna's constant headache spiked like a red-hot poker shoved between her eyes. She grimaced, rubbing away the pain. She'd feared Channon would come after her. How could she face him? How could she convince him to let them go?
Mina cursed. “How far?”
“Two leagues. I spotted them from a vantage point in the hills. They'd stopped to eat, but they'll be on us within the hour.”
“Rayna, like I said—”
“We aren't leaving you behind, Mina.”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
Rayna paced around them. “We have to convince them to see our point-of-view.”
“Convincing men to do what I want is a talent of mine,” said Mina.
“That's not what I meant,” Rayna snapped.
“Isn't it?” Mina challenged her. “I don't like it either, but we're low on options.”
Rayna did not answer. A dark part of her mind had been thinking just that. She was not blind to the effect she had on Channon, or that which Mina had on Roxen. But to even consider such manipulation sickened her.
“Regardless,” Katrine broke in, “don't forget about Pike and Gar. I don't think we can talk our way out of this with them.”
If talking and running were not options, that only left one. Rayna swallowed bile. Could she really fight her friends—especially when they were acting on her aunt's orders? As she opened her mouth to respond, a sudden breeze brought a new scent to her attention. “Katrine!”
Katrine scented the air. “Oh, gods.”
“What?” Mina scented the air fruitlessly. “What is it?”
“Maenorens,” said Rayna. “They're heading toward us from the north and our packmates are closing in from the south.”
“But the Maenorens are our allies now,” Mina reminded them.
“I know,” said Rayna. “But we're trespassing on their territory. They might not take kindly to that.”
Katrine scented the air again. “They have dogs,” she noted. “And horses.”
“I say we press on,” said Mina. “Maybe they'll lend me a horse and we'll have a chance of outrunning our friends.”
It was an odd statement—running to an unknown group of Maenorens to avoid Channon, Roxen, and the True Wolves, but Rayna agreed.
“Let's go.”
They ran hard down the wide Maenoren trail. A few narrow fruit trees paralleled the road, but they were mostly exposed. They could break off to the east or west, but that would only delay the inevitable. Mina was right. These Maenorens were their best chance.
As they crested a hill, a band of six horsemen and a carriage appeared in the distance. Four enormous boar hounds slavered alongside the convoy. The two front riders carried banners bearing the former symbol of the Maenoren resistance—a silver dagger and crown—that had become the country’s coat-of-arms. The carriage behind them bore a different sigil: a silver swan.
Rayna threw her hands up as Mina and Katrine did the same. The dogs bellowed, and only a sharp whistle from one of the horsemen kept them from barreling straight into the women. The convoy slowed to a stop as Rayna led her friends toward the Maenorens.
“Halt!” The left-side banner bearer commanded. He lowered his helmet's visor, revealing cool, flinty eyes. “Who are you? What is your business here?”
Rayna stepped forward. “Greetings. I apologize for the interruption to your travel, but we need help.”
“You're wolfkind, aren't you?” Another rider, this one bulky and bearded, hissed.
Rayna flinched at the slur.
“Orinn!” A phantom voice snapped from within the carriage. The voice's owner leaped onto the road. “That is no way to address a lady.”
His accent was different to most Peninsulars. Rayna guessed he was from western Maenor, where their accents more closely matched the Ketosi islander manner of speaking.
His men parted to allow him to the assembly's front.
Shallow lines framed his warm brown eyes. His white hair shocked Rayna; he did not look all that old.
“A lady?” Orinn spat. “I don’t care what the new ‘state policy of tolerance’ says. These things have no right to trespass on Maenoren land!” The hound beside him growled.
Rayna ground her teeth, but these men were not her enemies. At least, they weren't supposed to be. “I know, and we're sorry for trespassing. We wouldn't have if it wasn't important.”
“Who are you?” The lordly man looked at each of them in turn.
Rayna hesitated; what if some of these men’s loyalties lay with their old lord—the man she'd killed? If that were true, and she told them the truth about her identity, it would turn ugly.
“Now my Fenearen friends, I want to help you. But I cannot if you do not trust me enough to give me your names.”
“That one isn’t Fenearen.” Another man pointed at Mina. “She doesn’t have that braid-thing in her hair.”
“I believe that braid-thing is called a wrap, Garick. But you are right. Ladies, care to explain?”
With a steadying breath, Rayna elected to risk the truth. “My name is Rayna Myana. I’m a member of the Southern Densite, niece to Alphena Silverine and the late Alpha Bayne. My grandfather was Eron the Blackclawed. I fought alongside the Resistance—”
“We know who you are. You were going to be our queen, once upon a time, Miss Myana.” The leader took her hand. He kissed her knuckle with the lightest touch possible.
“She killed Rhael,” Orinn said. His voice was so saturated with shock Rayna could not discern if he were angry, or pleased.
The white-haired man ignored the interruption as he straightened to his full height. “I am Lord Alec Swann. It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady, and your friends as well.”
“Thank you, Lord Swann. This is Katrine daughter of Sael and Amnelo, great fallen warriors of my country.”
Katrine inclined her head while Swann turned to Mina.
“Oh, and I’m Mignonette Dela Tsanclar. But you can call me Mina. I, uh, had a drunk for a father and was a dancer in Kanton.”
“Charmed,” Alec said with a grin brighter than his hair. “Now Miss Myana, Miss Saelia, and Miss Tsanclar, h
ow may I assist you?”
“My lord, we don’t have time to be stopping for stray women.” One sharp glance from his superior silenced Orinn.
“Please, go on.” Swann returned his attention to the girls with a soft smile.
“We're being pursued. Not by enemies,” she added quickly. “We need to ask Regent Seperun for his help on a...personal matter, but we left without permission, and our friends seek to bring us home.”
Swann stroked his clean-shaven chin. “An odd situation, I must say. Why not explain to your friends why you need help on this personal matter?”
“They understand why,” Mina said, “but these men are over-protective. Please.” She offered her most dazzling smile. “We only seek an audience with Seperun. Can you help us? They are less than an hour behind us.”
He returned Mina's grin with one of his own. “What is it you would have me do?”
Rayna thought quickly. “If we were to borrow your carriage, my lord, they would lose our scent.”
“Hm.” Swann considered, brown eyes searching Rayna's face. “I have a better idea. I was planning on returning to Anhorde this evening after a hunt. I'm expected at a state dinner there in two days' time. But I can postpone my hunt, and you three are welcome to share my carriage to the capital.”
“What about us, my lord?” Orinn asked.
“Two of you come along as guards, the rest continue on your way to the inn. When you come across Miss Myana's friends, feed them false information about the ladies' whereabouts. Do you understand?”
Rayna could not believe their good fortune. It felt too good to be true. Then again, she'd been saved by a Maenoren many times now. There would be time for suspicion later, for now it seemed the best option to accept. She looked to Mina and Katrine. From their thoughtful expressions, she sensed their minds mirrored her own. They would act now and ask questions later.
“Yes, thank you, Lord Swann. We accept.”
His men shuffled their mounts to the side to allow Rayna, Katrine, and Mina to approach the carriage. The dogs growled and snapped, until a snarl from Katrine sent them cowering behind their masters.
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