by Alexia Purdy
Rafaela
“You can’t hide things from me. We’re partners, remember?” I kept my voice low, knowing the walls had ears, even in our bedroom.
Gil let out a long sigh as he yanked off his boots. The silence that followed infuriated me even more. Our ceremony had been quick and nothing special. Usually, marriage ceremonies were a large extravagant thing, and we’d be having a real celebration as soon as I set it up, but on the eve of burying the leader of our pack, the ceremony had been abridged.
Husband and wife. I didn’t feel like an equal whatsoever. In fact, after the humiliating announcement yesterday and subsequent funeral, I hadn’t had time to corner Gil about not telling me his father had passed. This was unacceptable, and I’d be damned if I was going to let it go.
“My husband must tell me everything from this moment on. You get that, Gil? We’re no longer kids, we are rulers. Both of us.”
“I get it.” Gil sat up, staring off toward the wall, his back to me. “I apologize for not telling you. Had I known you’d lose your head over it, I would’ve rushed to tell you my father had died. I figured you’d hear it just as fast as anyone else.”
“You can’t expect me to find out when everyone else does. That’s not how it works. You tell me these kind of things first. Not second, not third, or with the masses. First. Always.”
I hated sounding like my mother, who was now Queen Mother, assuming the position since Gil’s own mother was not up to the task. She wasn’t all there anymore, and I knew my mother was having her own ordeals now. Her position was one of grace, keeping things running smoothly in the castle. Mainly helping me out.
The only person not here to help me out was Lilliana. She’d be my righthand girl if she hadn’t got herself banished for losing her Ardent talisman and getting another artifact stolen along with it. The foolish girl could die if her source of power fell into the wrong hands. It was all I could stand to think of her right now while I was still so mad at my new husband.
“Gil?”
“Okay! I told you. I won’t do it again. You’ll be the first to know everything, always!” Gil’s voice echoed in the room, and I cringed to think someone could be listening to our fight.
“Keep your voice down,” I hissed. I threw my hands up into the air. It was no use to argue now. It was over, and the past was unfixable. I knew that more than anyone else.
“I’m sorry, Rafaela. Really… I am.” Gil was facing me now, and I sank down into the bed, defeated even though I’d won.
“Okay.”
Slowly peeling our clothes off, we readied for bed. I slipped on a camisole and let the cool, silky fabric calm me. I was exhausted from the last few days; tired beyond belief. My fight had been extinguished, and I didn’t want to spend my wedding night angry.
“Tomorrow, nothing will ever be the same,” I said more to myself than Gil.
Gil turned toward me and shifted in bed, pulling me into his arms.
“Hey, it’ll be okay. You’ll see. No one else is as capable of running the pack like us. You know that, right? I’m here for you and you for me. We’ll keep it going just fine.”
“I know. It’s just… Lily’s gone, and things have gotten crazy here. We have enemies within the pack and outside it too. There’s so much to lose. I need her. She’s my sister.”
“It’ll be fine. I got your back. Lily’s a tough girl. If anyone can make it in the Outlands, she can. You know that.”
“Can’t we pardon her?” I sat up, pleading with my eyes.
Gil pressed his lips together, frowning slightly.
“I would if I could. You know that. The elders won’t allow it, no matter what we want.”
Slumping my shoulders, I slid back into the bed and turned away. He was right, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Sometimes I wish we weren’t royals. It’s an enormous weight on our shoulders that feels like it’s an ocean’s worth of water to drown us. It’s impossible, isn’t it? Maybe if she gets the talisman back?”
“One step at a time, of course.”
I reached back around to snuggle into his arms. In spite of everything else, he made me feel safe and loved. Those were always the reasons to keep coming back to him for more. We were partners, more now than ever, and we had to keep it together. Especially me.
“Rafaela?”
“Yes?” I turned to peer into Gil’s eyes. They always held me captivated. Even when I thought I couldn’t know anything more about him, he never failed to show me something new. I longed to get lost in them and forget everything that had gone wrong.
“The talisman that was stolen from Lily… we have to find it.”
“I know. I have a team already investigating it.”
“No. I mean, it’s the second one stolen from our wolf pack in the last decade. You know what it means if someone uses it against us, right?”
I frowned, sitting up as I thought about what he’d just asked.
“Yes. The owner of the talisman dies if another uses it against them. But the owner of the last stolen talisman is already dead.”
“Yes, they didn’t use it against its owner, but Lily’s still vulnerable.”
“We shouldn’t have banished her.”
“I had no choice. The person who stole it from her has something to do with my father’s death, and the elders made me.”
“Fuck the elders!” I jumped out of bed to pace the room while I seethed. “All they ever tell us is the prophecies this and the prophecies that. I’m sick of them deciding what we can and can’t do. They know nothing. The predictions were made in an older world, another time. How can they apply to us?”
“The one of the four talismans. Remember? I think the person who stole Lily’s talisman and the other one almost a decade ago is close to acquiring two more.”
“But they would have to be from the MarkTiers, from our rivals! How would we know if they are also missing two talismans? It’s not like we chat on the phone every week. They hate us.”
“As we do them.”
“This can’t be good. We need to know.”
“I’ll set up a meeting.”
“What if they refuse?”
“When have they refused? We’ve never asked before.”
“Both packs have been in a silent stalemate for as long as I can remember. The last time they were here was after Lily’s betrothal to that prince… what was his name?”
“Ephrem.”
“Right. Not since then, and you and I both know that didn’t end well at all. We haven’t heard from the MarkTiers since, except when there were scuffles in the Outlands between the guards. That’s it. Not exactly encouraging.”
“I know.” Gil lay back onto the pillows, rubbing his face. He hadn’t shaved today, and the dark circles under his eyes matched my own. The events of late must’ve worn on him, too. I’d been too preoccupied with my own worries to have noticed. My insides soured.
“We have to help her. Lily.”
“We’ll figure it out.” He nodded, sighing before covering his eyes with his arm. He needed sleep as did I. How could we ever rest again when things were so complicated? How did I even begin to help Lily out from this side of the stronghold? If she was even still alive. I hoped she was. Finding her talisman before anything more happened was a priority. If only the Elders saw it that way.
If only….
Chapter Nine