People looked my way—most were curious but trying to be discreet, some were blatantly staring, and the rest were nervously going about their business. I felt a wave of fear spark up from around us and I faltered. Scythe’s hand on my shoulder kept me walking.
“Marrie?” Scythe’s voice carried across the hall and a young lady inclined her head with a smile. She cast me a nervous look, giggling softly under her breath—she couldn’t have been more than fifteen herself. She wasn’t a slave…was she? She wore a dress similar to Lyra’s, though shorter and showing a little more milky skin. Her hair was in dark ringlets, pulled up. God, if she’d had blonde hair, I could’ve looked into her eyes and saw a younger Arii. But her eyes were amber, widening as Scythe introduced us. She bowed.
“Why do you do that?”
“You are nobility, milord—”
“Kia,” both Scythe and I said in unison. I caught his eye and shot him a grin—we were going to get along fine. The girl, however, seemed flustered and sputtered before I reached out. She froze and I patted her, albeit a little awkwardly, on the shoulder.
“Look. I know it’s your…custom or whatever. And yeah, I’m Kitane’s son. But I’m also half human and humans don’t bow to other humans. We’re equal, okay? I’d like to take a bath or a shower or, well, anything with hot water. I’m achy and tired and just feel like overall shit.”
“O-Of course!” Marrie said, opening a door. “Follow me.”
The bathroom was…wow. Built for a king, pardon the pun. The floor was a crisp, cream tile, the walls a milky blue with tan trim. All of the facilities matched—a brilliant, shining chrome. The lights hung on a two-tiered chandelier, casting a star reflection on the floor. The tub was a giant old thing with clawed feet (and they looked surprisingly like wolf claws…) and a large rim. And it was deep.
Marrie pulled a plush towel out of the closet and put it on the sink, then cranked the water on. I saw steam rising from the depths as she filled it, along with bubbles. I felt my skin twitch in anticipation. Oh, thank the gods they had hot water.
She bowed again. “Your bath…Kia,” she said, as if my name was foreign on her tongue. Then she turned her back and stood at the door, hands clasped behind her back, as if waiting on a command.
I paused. “Are you…going to just stand there?” Because there was no way in hell I was getting naked in front of some strange wolf-girl.
Her face was impassive as she looked at me, flushed a little on the cheeks. “You want me to go? I can scrub you clean, milord…”
Oh dear lord. “No, I’ll do the scrubbing, thanks. I don’t know your customs, but in my world, you’d be like my little sister.” The thought of Shae cleaning me in the shower was just…ew. I shook my head. “Go on. Could you bring me some clothes?”
“I will set them outside the door, milord,” she said and then flitted like a faerie out the door. It latched behind her, leaving me in solitude.
I slowly stripped out of my hoodie and jeans, depositing them on the tile floor. I kicked them to the corner, and then stepped carefully into the tub. The water was hot and I let out a low groan as I sank into the bubbles up to my chest. It smelled of sandalwood, maybe a little peppermint. Relaxing. For a long while I just soaked, relishing in the warmth and imagining myself in a better situation.
I grabbed a wash cloth off the side of the tub and went to work scrubbing away the dirt and sweat. When I was satisfied that I was clean, I submerged my head and found some shampoo that smelled richly floral. Girly, but oh well. I sudsed up until my hair squeaked, and then rinsed. Then I pulled the stopper up and as the water began to drain, I stood and reached for the towel.
I padded over to the mirror, large and spotless in a cream and gold frame. I caught sight of my gaze, my slicked back hair dark with water, the hollows in my cheeks, and the slight darkening under my eyes. I looked a little zombie-ish, I guess, but who could blame me? I frowned at my reflection and dried the rest of the way off before fetching the clothes Marrie had laid out for me.
The pants were smooth to the touch and form-fitting, made of hide with cryptic tribal markings winding up the left leg in a fiery gold. The shirt was a loose, soft material with long sleeves and a laced-up neckline. I stuffed my feet into my old socks and sneakers, then ran a brush through my hair. Looking at my reflection, I took a deep breath. “I can do this,” I said aloud, though my voice was a lot more confident than I felt. I felt…tiny, suffering. Alone.
But I’d survive. Two weeks. Two weeks and I would be home. Or so I hoped.
Opening the door, I offered the waiting Marrie a smile and a thanks, to which she blushed, bowed, and headed into the bathroom to tidy up. I turned to Scythe, who looked me up and down appraisingly. “You clean up well. You look the part of Kitane’s son, anyway.”
“Where to first?” I asked as I fell into step beside him. We walked down a hallway lined in small pictures and photographs, and then he opened a door. When it swung inward, I heard the sharp intake of breath and then—
“Kia?”
Chapter Eight
My eyes scanned the crowd—a small group of merchants standing around booths in a large, tall-ceilinged room—and landed on her. Arii. Ariiantha.
My heart pounded in my temples as I took her in, looking worlds different than she ever had before. Wearing cream leggings and no-nonsense boots, she’d shorn her long, blonde hair off at the chin. It framed her face in radical angles, though the back was pulled back in a rat tail. She wore a dagger with a leather hilt at her belt and her blue eyes were wide. Surprised.
I felt Scythe’s hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away. Arii leapt towards me with a soft squeal, wrapping her arms around my neck in a way that made some of the merchants look quite uncomfortable. They dropped their gazes and went about their business. The rest of them chuckled, some even cheered.
I nearly fell backwards under her weight and my arms encircled her for a brief second—before I remembered that it was her text that had gotten me kidnapped. With a low hiss, I disentangled myself from her and shot her a look.
“What is all this about?” I asked, fists clenched at my sides.
“What do you mean? Why are you even here? God. I’ve been thinking about you nonstop since I left. I never thought I’d see you again…” Her words trailed off, eyes shining with such excitement, glittering with happiness. It dimmed a little as I scowled at her.
“Right. Sorry if I don’t believe you.” But my heart ached—here was the girl I’d fallen so hard for and she was so close, yet so damn far away. I stiffened my shoulders and stepped back.
“I thought you respected me, respected my decision to stay with my family. I had a home. I wasn’t willing to leave it, Arii.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
Scythe shifted his weight with a low cough. I glanced back at him to see a frown on his face. Everyone manning booths around us had shifted a little closer. They were pretending to work, but also were listening in. Fine. Who cared if they heard?
“You texted me. And when I went to see you… I thought you’d decided to come back and stay with me. I went to meet you at the school, only to find myself face-to-face with another werewolf who knocked me out and brought me here.” My voice was edged in ice as the memories flared back to life. “They say they won’t let me leave.”
Arii’s jaw dropped open and she quickly looked at Scythe. The man didn’t flinch away from the fire in her gaze. “Is this true? Tallys had him kidnapped?”
Scythe opened his mouth to argue, then thought better of it. He let out a soft sigh and a shrug. “I’ve asked Kia to give Altehrei a chance. Give it a few weeks. And if he’s still unsettled, then I’ll talk to Tallys.”
Arii snorted. “Tallys is a stubborn mule—he wants what he wants, he doesn’t care how it has to happen.” Then she spun on me. Stepping forwards, she poked me in the chest, hard, with two fingers.
“How could you think I would do that to you, Kia? Yeah, I wa
s upset. You belong here, with us, but I understood. I told you I understood. Didn’t you believe me?”
“At first. And then I got the text…”
“I handed my human belongings to one of the Sentries before I crossed over,” she snapped, arms crossed over her breast. “There was no reason for me to bring it here. Someone must’ve found it.”
“And they’d know to do the winky-face? The text was pure you—your wording, your use of smilies. Just be honest with me!”
“I am being honest, you ass! I didn’t have anything to do with your abduction!”
I spun away from her with a growl. I didn’t know who to believe, but my fickle heart wanted me to gather Arii up in my arms and hug her. Squeeze her. Dance with her. I snorted. My heart was a freaking traitor.
“Sorry if I don’t quite believe you.” And my chest ached as her pixie face twisted into a sneer.
“Screw you,” she spat, then spun on her heel and stormed away. She slid like a nymph around booths, heading for the door. It swung open, bringing with it the chill in the air and a couple of fallen leaves that skittered along the floor, and then slammed resoundingly behind her.
I took a deep breath and found it a little shaky. I looked up at Scythe, who looked confused mixed with sympathetic. He patted me lightly on the shoulder. “She’s got a temper. She gets it from her father. Things have been hard for her, but she’ll come around. She seems to’ve taken a shine to you.” At that, his lips quirked into a grin.
“I kissed her once. On my side.” I paused. “How does that work, exactly?”
“I’m no expert; I’ve never even been on the other side, but we have a…gateway of sorts, between the two realms.”
My mind conjured up an image of a large, wrought-iron gate painted gold, gleaming under the light of the moon. The iron was forged to form a pair of howling wolves at the top, singing their song to the soulless night sky. “Can I see it? The gateway?”
Scythe chuckled. “Not much to see, really. But first…” He grasped my shoulder and led me down the aisles between market stalls. He stopped in front of one painted in garish reds and yellows.
A large, dark-skinned woman peered out at me, her eyes the color of polished jade. Her knotted black hair had been twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck and she wore flowing silk and gauzy materials. “This would be Melia. Mel, this is Kia’la Silverwind. He needs fitted for a wardrobe of clothes in your finest materials.”
The woman stood, towering over me at nearly six-three. She strutted from behind the counter, measuring tape in hand. Scythe stepped away as she began to bark orders. I stood stiffly as she took down measurements from all angles.
“You won’t be too hard to fit,” she said, almost to herself more than to me. “A little skinnier, lankier than our dear king. But you have his shoulders.” She gave Scythe a look, breezing past me. “You owe me.”
Scythe waggled his eyebrows. “Of course, Mel. When am I never in debt?”
She laughed, a hoarse bark, and then jotted something down on a piece of paper. Her handwriting was long and scrawling. “What colors do you favor, milord?” she asked, meeting my eyes for a moment.
“Uh.” I thought back to my clothes back home, mostly consisting of blue jeans worn soft at the knees and the butt, various band and logo hoodies, and a couple of t-shirts. “Black? Blue? Red?”
“And gold…” She ticked her pen down the list. “You’ll wear the colors of your Sight, of course, and honor us all.”
She hummed low in her throat as she scratched the pen tip across the paper. I stood there, trying to find the pockets on my pants to stuff my hands deep into them. Of course, these pants had no pockets. I settled with stringing my thumbs through the belt loops instead, letting my shoulders drop.
“Alright then. Taken care of. I’ll settle this order with my girls and we’ll get right on it.” She shot me a slow smile, then smirked at Scythe. “You be sure to bring your tail back down to my booth tonight.”
Scythe saluted her with two fingers and a lazy grin. “Yes ma’am!” Melia bowed to me, then sat back down behind her booth and I followed Scythe down the row.
“Are you and Melia…?”
“On-again, off-again. She’s a wildcat between the sheets.” He laughed when heat burned my cheeks and turned my ears red. “Not that milord needs to know the details of his guard’s sex life. Sorry, Kia.”
We quickly wound through the market. They traded amongst each other with dark bronze coins stamped haphazardly with a dragon symbol, or offered their services as trade alone. Some of the booths sold jewelry and trinkets, some delicate desserts and pastries, another hand crafted boots and shoes.
One man looked down at my sneakers with distaste and handed me a pair of thick boots to replace them with. “Keeps your feet warm come winter,” he said. “It may be mild out now, but when the snows come, they come hard. You need to be able to avoid frostbite, milord.” Still, I kept my sneakers on.
“Don’t mind Balthos,” Scythe chuckled as I slipped the boots into a knit bag we’d picked up. “He lost a paw pad to frostbite a couple years back—he’s against the colder seasons, now. He’s a little paranoid, but winter’s still several moons off. Don’t worry.”
I froze as we came to the last stall. Decorated in silk scarves, the front was a velveteen display of weapons—daggers with beautifully carved blades, the steel gleaming dangerously in the light. They came from anywhere from small blades to long, curved swords. Gems topped the hilts on a few of the more ornate ones. But it wasn’t the weaponry that had my breath stilled in my throat. It was the woman sitting elegantly behind the booth.
“Hello, little princeling,” Sikta crooned darkly. In the canopy of the booth, sitting on a tall stool with a satin cover, she was gorgeous—drop dead, NYC-model beautiful. Her hair lay in tangled curls around a thin face, a deep rusty black against soft milk and honey skin. Her eyes, though. She might’ve been gorgeous, but her eyes gave her true intent away; she was like a cobra, waiting and ready to strike. She flashed a thin-lipped smile, showing the points of her teeth.
“I must say, I am surprised.” Her voice trailed off, and I knew we were both remembering her chasing me down that alley. And the fact that I’d stabbed her…
I felt a shiver trickle its way down my spine like a cold sweat, but I jutted my chin out defiantly. “I’m not here for good. Don’t worry,” I said, glancing back at Scythe, who had stiffened where he stood.
“That’s probably a good idea.”
“Sikta,” Scythe found his voice and uttered a low grumbling growl. In his eyes shone uncertainty and possession. I wasn’t sure I liked that. I was no one’s pawn.
Sikta flicked her wrist and huffed. “You don’t scare me. I know you could never willingly kill a woman. You’d go soft before the deed was done.” Her eyes traced down my form, then met my gaze boldly once more. “And you’re just as weak as your father, no doubt. Weaker, since you share the blood of the mongrel woman he slept with.” Fire danced across her gaze, her lip twisting just a little in a cold sneer.
I knew right then that she’d kill me if she ever got the chance—I wasn’t sure what I’d ever done to her, but it wasn’t good. I couldn’t even muster a response.
“But either way…”
I recoiled as she spun off the chair and disappeared into the back of the booth. A moment later, she returned with a long dagger with curved steel blade etched with runic symbols. “This is a blade blessed both by Skoll…” She ran her fingers over the shine of a beautifully carved sun, “And Hati,” as she touched the opposite side, where a crescent moon lay.
I blinked, unsure of what to say. I didn’t know of a Skoll or a Hati, but taking the blade from Sikta seemed like a damn bad idea. I raised my hands. “No, that’s—” I began when she slid the blade into a leather sheath and thrust it into my hands. The hilt was still hot from her touch.
She flashed a feral grin. “I want you to be able to protect yourself, milord. You won’t always
have a loyal guard at your beck and call. You should be wary. You think I’m a monster? Beasts lurk on the boundary lines, waiting for a chance to slip in and kill.”
“Sikta.” Scythe’s voice was sharp.
She shot him a look that could vaporize and then dropped her shoulder. “Be wary, little princeling, of the big bad wolf.”
I quickly turned away, but her chuckle repeated itself in my head, etched in my mind. I shuddered as Scythe fixed the sheathed blade onto a belt we’d picked up two booths back. The dagger hung heavy at my left side, easily accessible to my dominant hand.
“She really hates me,” I said as we left the marketplace, walking out the door Arii had gone through, though the girl was nowhere in sight. I supposed I was glad about that. The forest surrounding us was ethereally beautiful with trees in rich autumn hues and the air whipping fallen leaves along holding a chill.
“I’d like to tell you you’re worrying too much,” Scythe started. “But I think you’d better keep that blade on you at all times. Sikta has never been insane, but she’s a vicious fighter and she plays dirty…and she’s pissed. You’ve usurped her. She is Tallys’s only daughter, but she doesn’t have the Sight and he’s wary of letting her lead.”
“The Sight?” I was getting tired of hearing it. We headed down a path lined by trees, leaving the surprisingly large building behind us. I saw another set of buildings up ahead—they had an entire village. I wondered, briefly, how many wolves lived here.
Scythe smiled. “Golden eyes. It plays into our legends, if you will. We are descendants of a great wolf god. Skoll is a mighty king, proud and kind, with eyes the color of polished gold. He is the god of the sky, herding our sun through the heavens morning and night. He has given us the gift of our second form, a wolf’s body to sing our wolfsong to the heavens. He has also blessed us with leaders far and wide, promising that each worthy leader will be born with his golden eyes. The Sight, as we call it.”
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