“Sorry,” Katrine said softly. She wore a fur mantel she must have found amongst the ships’ goods. It was a warm night, but Kado understood why she might seek the comfort.
“It’s all right.”
She joined him by the wheel. “Kellan and the others are sleeping. The bleeding stopped.”
“That’s a relief.”
Katrine chewed her lip. “Kado, how did you remove the Monils?”
He did not answer right away. How could he begin to explain his abilities as the white wolf, or how he had come to discover them? Kado was so exhausted he could barely remember his own name.
“It's all right if you don't want to tell me,” Katrine said quickly. “Never mind. I should go back—“
“Wait,” Kado gripped her wrist. “Don't go.”
Katrine stared at the contact. It was the first time he had touched her, besides in combat. “All right.”
“It's not that I don't want to tell you.” He lowered his grasp until they held hands. “It's hard to find the words to explain.”
“I understand.”
“As the white wolf, I have a piece of Lumae's divine power within me. For me, it manifests in being able to understand the Heitich runes used to create Word magic. I can read them—but more than that, I can create them.”
“But.” Katrine scrunched her forehead. “You didn't carve a rune into the Monils.”
“I don't need to carve it, or write it, just think it,” he explained. “I don't fully understand how or why it works. But I know now what the powers are for.”
“What do you mean for?” She raised her gaze to the night sky above, brown eyes flitting from star to star.
“They aren't for me. My powers, the abilities of the white wolf, aren't meant to be used for what I want. They're meant to be used to help people—good people, like you.” Despite everything, he smiled. “Especially you.”
“Me?” She released his hand in surprise.
Kado found he missed her touch. “The very first time I used them, was the day we met. I didn't unlock the cell door with the keys you threw. I couldn't reach them. I used magic.”
“To save me?” she whispered.
“Yes.” He looked back over the waves. Despite his powers, he had still fallen into Terayan's trap. “But, Katrine, I'm so sorry.”
“For what?
Shame welled, bringing angry tears to his eyes. “I played right into Terayan's hands. I should have seen this coming. If I hadn’t killed him—”
“No.” Katrine took both his hands. “This isn’t your fault, Kado. We were all pawns in a much larger game. Terayan controlled us all. He’s to blame. Not you.” She framed his face between her palms. “You're a good man, Kado Aronak.”
“I want to be.” He swallowed.
Katrine was sweat and tear-stained. Dried blood flaked her skin. Yet, in the moonlight, with the sea breeze lifting her hair, she was the most beautiful person Kado had ever seen.
“I want to be good, like you.”
“We’re both good people,” she whispered as she touched her forehead to his. “And I have to believe, no matter what we’ve seen, that good will always prevail in the end.”
A tear escaped Kado’s eye, falling onto Katrine’s cheek. He pulled away. “Good didn’t prevail tonight. Nor the day your densite was destroyed, or my mother killed…”
“We may lose some battles. But I promise you Kado, stay with me, and we’ll win this war.”
“I want to.”
“We will win.”
“No.” Kado brought his hand to her cheek. “I mean, I want to stay with you. I only discovered my abilities because of you. If anyone can win this war, I know it’s you.”
She smiled. A rosy flush crept up her neck. “You’re the white wolf. Rayna’s the seer. I’m just…me.”
He shook his head. “Rayna and I have power thrust upon us by destiny, or chance. But you? You have real power. You have faith. If anyone can save the world, it’s you.”
“It’s us,” she corrected him. “That’s the greatest part of being a wolf. We’re never alone, not really.”
Kado nodded. After all the people he'd lost and all the death he'd seen, he had believed walling himself off to be the only way to survive.
But now he understood.
Caring about others, helping others, being a part of a Pack—that's who he was always meant to be.
Katrine had seen that long before he did, and for that, he would always be grateful.
Hurried footsteps below drew their attention to the hatch.
Rayna appeared, dressed in oversized leather breeches she must have found below-deck.
Channon was close behind her.
“What’s wrong?” Katrine asked.
“I’ve had a dream,” Rayna explained. Fresh tears made white streaks in her dirty face. “It was scattered—Terayan's Ascension must be affecting my abilities. But there was an attack on Anhorde. It’s my aunt. She’s hurt. I think she might be...” Rayna cut off. A sob wracked her body. “We have to get to her as quickly as we can.”
Concern for Kellan was the only power capable of making Rayna stop to rest once they reached Maenor. Fear for Silver’s life, combined with terror of what might soon be coming after them sped their journey.
Mina stole a horse in Teros. She rode the sturdy mare with Kellan in front of her, keeping pace with the wolf-formed Fenearens.
Two and a half days after Rayna’s dreams warned her of Silver’s injuries, Rayna and the others arrived in Anhorde.
But when they did, Rayna found the Maenoren capital much changed.
“Oh, gods.” Mina clapped a hand over her mouth.
Rayna, Channon, and Katrine took their human forms for a better view.
The road leading to Anhorde was rutted and littered with broken farm tools.
As Rayna and her friends came closer, they noticed the common folk milling in and out of the broken down main gate nursed a wide swathe of injuries. Men, women, children, limped or cradled their arms in slings. Overturned stalls, soot-stained foundations, and bloody cobblestones filled the once lively market square.
The companions walked slowly, with Mina leading the horse Kellan clung to with his good hand.
People paid them little mind, focused instead on salvaging what they could in the ruins.
The fortress itself stood untouched.
Rayna’s boots passed over a torn flag bearing the Demetrian crest. She stopped to grind it deeper into the muck.
“All this destruction because a handful of nobles longed for a return to tyranny?” Mina huffed. “What a waste.”
“I saw Silver in the palace.” Rayna swallowed. Would she find her aunt alive?
“Rayna, Mina, Katrine!” Cassian Libera exited a nearby shop. His hawkish features were bruised, but he looked hale overall. “You're here. Thank the gods.”
“Cassian!” Mina greeted him with a quick embrace.
Cassian blushed beneath his bruises. “I’m so thankful you’re all okay.”
“Well.” Kellan raised his bandaged hand. “Mostly.”
“Where’s my aunt?” Rayna asked as Cassian led them toward the closest palace entrance.
They paused when a stable attendant greeted them.
Cassian helped Kellan down from the horse. “She was badly hurt, but thank the gods Davin arrived in time. She’ll recover.”
Davin. Rayna would finally meet the mage about whom she'd heard so much. “I need to see her.”
“Of course.” Cassian greeted the mass of guards stationed at the palace doors with the Maenoren salute. Once inside, Cassian continued. “I’ll take you all to the infirmary wing. We can make sure your injuries are treated, and Rayna can see the Alphena.”
Urgency and rubble replaced Anhorde’s usual grandeur.
As Cassian led Rayna and the others toward the ballroom-turned-hospital, guards and palace staff hurried to and fro, picking their way among torn tapestries, overturned suits of armor, and other debr
is.
Rayna and Mina held Kellan between them. He put on a brave face, but Rayna knew he was in agony.
Cassian nodded to a pair of guards standing beside a pair of heavy oaken doors. “Rayna Myana and her allies to see the Alphena.”
The doors opened and the group hurried within the high-ceilinged room.
Cots and blankets filled the space, neatly arranged in dozens of rows. Groaning and whimpering underscored the terrible story Rayna’s nose told her. Blood, filth, tears, and sweat turned her stomach. She closed her eyes, supporting Kellan’s shoulder for her own comfort as much as his.
Channon lifted his head. “Silver’s this way,” he said, his voice strained by their putrid surroundings.
“You said the mage was here?” Rayna turned to Cassian. “Can he help Kellan?”
“Perhaps, but I’ll take him to Priestess Marielana for now.” Cassian held out his arms for the injured Sylrian.
Kellan grunted as he stumbled out of Rayna and Mina’s arms. “Don’t forget about me now.”
“We won’t.” Rayna touched his good hand. His skin burned with fever. She gulped. “I’ll see you soon. And Kellan?”
He looked up at her from beneath his sweat-logged black hair.
“Thank you.”
He winked before allowing Cassian to lead him to the Priestess.
Rayna, Mina, Kado, and Katrine followed Channon through the insanity. Rayna did not bother trying to find her aunt’s scent among the overwhelming miasma. She took Channon’s hand, and let him guide her.
They made their way down a row of injured Maenorens when Mina ran suddenly ahead.
“Rox!”
The Beta jumped up from where he sat hunched by a bedside. “Mina!” He folded her into an embrace and lifted her off the ground. “Thank the gods you’re all right.”
“Rayna, Channon, Katrine, Kado.” He greeted them all with a relieved sigh as he and Mina separated. He paused, searching the area. “Kellan?”
“He’s here,” Mina assured him. “He’s badly hurt, but Cassian is seeing to him now.”
The conversation barely registered with Rayna as her gaze fell instead to the blanket-covered shape behind Roxen. As she approached, Rayna made out a gentle rising and falling, and a few wisps of silver-blonde hair.
“Silver,” she whispered, kneeling beside the cot.
Roxen crouched next to Rayna. “She’s been given a sleeping draught.”
Tears sprang from Rayna’s eyes. “What happened?”
Channon sat on Rayna’s other side, taking her hand.
“During the coup, Lord Revine captured Seperun. Silver saved him, but one of Revine's supporters threw a dagger. It hit her chest.”
Rayna covered her face with her hands. “Is she—?”
“It punctured a lung.” Roxen cleared his throat. “She would’ve, but, the mage arrived and saved her. He says it will take time, but she will heal.”
Rayna folded over her aunt’s bedside, careful not to disturb her, but desperate to be close. Her aunt—the last of her blood family—had narrowly escape death once again.
This time, Davin Dantes—the man whose face she'd never seen—yet had saved her countless times, was to thank.
“You said Seperun was captured?” Katrine asked. “Is he—”
“I am quite well, Miss Saelia.”
Rayna stood as Markus Seperun joined them.
The Regent’s neck was bandaged and a nasty bruise swelled around his right eye. He smiled, though it must've pained him. “You all made it. I am so very relieved.”
Rayna swallowed. Would he be so relieved if he knew they'd failed so spectacularly—if he knew what would soon be raining hell upon them all?
But a crowded place of healing was not the appropriate venue to discuss such matters. “Seperun, thank you for seeing to my aunt.”
He waved her off. “I did nothing save almost die. Alphena Silver, Beta Roxen, Priestess Marielana, Alpha Arlo, and Alphena Haerian came to Maenor’s aid. We owe them a great deal. I owe them a great deal.” He shook Roxen’s hand.
The mention of Alphena Haerian distracted Rayna for a moment, but she would learn about that later. She had far more important matters with which to contend. “Seperun, I wondered if I might see Master Dantes, to thank him for saving my aunt.”
“Of course. He is,” Seperun grimaced, “indisposed at the moment. But I know he is anxious to meet you. We mustn’t disturb him long, though, the magic he worked to save your aunt and others has taken a toll.”
Rayna glanced at her sleeping aunt. She hated leaving Silver, but she needed to speak with the Maenoren leadership privately, to warn them of what was to come.
“I’ll stay with Silver.” Channon kissed Rayna’s forehead.
“Actually,” Seperun said. “I think it would be best if all but Miss Myana, myself, and Master Aronak stay here where you can be looked after. I don’t want to tire Davin out too much.”
Mina, Katrine, and Roxen nodded their assent.
“We’ll take care of her, Wolfie.” Mina embraced her.
Rayna hugged her back. “I know. If she wakes before I’m back, come find me.”
Rayna and Kado followed Seperun through a servant’s exit near the back of the ballroom. They passed through a larder and a kitchen before re-entering the main corridor.
“Why did he include me?” Kado whispered to Rayna as they stepped over a shattered vase.
Rayna shrugged. “You’re the white wolf. I suspect that’s reason enough.”
“Or, he knows what I did.”
“We did,” Rayna corrected him. “I told you to kill Terayan. You had no way of knowing that was what he wanted. I still don’t understand it.”
Before they could argue further, they reached the door to a tower that had once housed Rhael’s suite of rooms. A familiar man guarded the door.
“Daveed!” Rayna greeted him warmly.
The stout, bald-headed young man looked worn out, but healthy.
“I’m so pleased you’re all right.”
He smiled shyly back. “As am I, Rayna. Davin is resting upstairs.” He opened the door.
Seperun took a torch from the wall and lit their ascent up the winding, marble staircase.
Rayna had never visited Rhael’s quarters, though of course they'd be much changed now. Still, the thought of setting foot where he 'd once lived, slept, and conspired to kill her sent a shiver down her spine.
They entered the receiving salon—a wide, but sparsely furnished room. Incense and the scent of warm broth filled the space.
“Markus, is that you?” A voice, cracking with weariness but nonetheless a pleasing, lilting sound, called from an adjacent room.
“Aye,” Seperun responded. “And I’ve brought visitors.”
They followed the voice into a bedroom. A four-poster bed took up most of the space.
In it, lay the man that had once sent Rayna on a quest to break the Sionic Hex.
Davin Dantes sat up straighter. He was of an age with Seperun, but the similarities ended there. Davin had a full head of silver-streaked, black hair, and the sharp, angular features of most Maenorens. He could've been any face in a crowd, though Rayna recognized something in his high cheekbones and warm smile.
Perhaps she'd seen him in a dream before?
Seperun led her to a chair by Davin’s bedside.
Kado hovered by the entrance.
“Rayna Myana, how lovely to meet you at last.” Davin's amber skin was waxy, and lines crinkled around his dark eyes.
“Master Dantes, it's an honor.”
His smiled turned lop-sided. “I’m no one’s master. Call me Davin. Tell me, how is Silver?”
“Alive, thanks to you.” A sense of ease came over her as they spoke, as if they’d done so before. “I mean that. Thank you for saving her, and thank you for allowing me to save Channon last fall. It seems strange that we should only meet now, after all you’ve done to help. I owe you a great deal.”
Davin
drank from a glass of water from his bedside table. “We all must do our part in times like these. I believed you and your aunt would be key in the war to come. My only regret is that I did not arrive in Anhorde sooner. I had to recapture Rhael's twelve-year-old son, Rhalen. Revine's supporters had freed him from the Cult of Demetrian, though he was not the malleable figurehead they'd hoped for.”
“Rhalen,” Rayna said. “Seperun told me he is a Covenant Mage, like his father?”
“I'm afraid so.” Davin frowned. “He did not have the chance to kill all his brothers, so did not complete the Demetrian ritual, but he had power enough to slaughter an unlucky group of civilians before I caught up to him, simply to test his power.”
“I saw them.” Rayna swallowed, remembering the burned bodies that had reminded her of Rhael's evil magic. “What will become of Rhalen now?”
“We will determine Rhalen's fate another day,” Seperun said. “Davin should rest.”
Rayna shifted her gaze, catching Kado’s. “Before we go, Davin, Seperun, I must tell you both. I failed to stop the Ascension, in fact—”
“We,” Kado interrupted. “We failed to stop Terayan. In fact, we played right into his hands.”
“I know. I sensed Him come into our plane. I know what Terayan raised.” Davin sighed. “Come closer, Kado Aronak.”
Kado came to stand at the foot of the bed. “Rayna was only there because I fell for Terayan and Amblin's lies. Everything that happened, it’s my fault.”
Davin held up a hand to silence him. “You were deceived. We all were. Marielana and I thought we knew what Terayan had planned. We thought Terayan needed to sacrifice you, Kado—the avatar of a bound god—to bind a different god's powers instead. But our assumption proved false. You were never the sacrifice Kado, you were always meant to kill Terayan, so that he could become Razorn's vessel. If I had only discovered that, you would never have made such a mistake.”
“But why did it have to be Kado?” Rayna asked.
“Only a god can bring another such being into this world,” Davin explained. “The white wolf, a god’s reflection, and a twice-blessed seer together, was enough to approximate such power. But having Kado kill Terayan wouldn’t have been enough. Magic is all about intention.”
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