Page 14 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
“Rasil craves power, Your Majesty,” Navin said. “He wants praise and acclaim, too. And I do believe that he wants a world without Wolves and to position himself as the hero King for all of humanity.”
“Is that all?”
“But he is careful not to put himself in harm’s way,” Navin continued. “If he’s wise, he will stay out of the Wolf battles and wait to use his magic on whoever comes out victorious.”
“We will need to come up with a contingency plan to handle Rasil in the event he decides to ally with yet another Wolf King,” Calla said. “Right now, Taigos and Valta are too busy with their own infighting, but if Nero manages to pull either of them into a war against the Golden Court...”
They didn’t need to finish that sentence. There were very few paths to success and a hundred to failure.
“Has Ora arrived yet?” Calla asked.
Grae’s laughter sounded. “They only just left. The fishing boat isn’t due for another week.”
“Soon enough,” I said, trying and failing to sound comforting. “We will be prepared for their arrival.”Soon, so many things on the precipice but nothing solid. I hated to ask but forced myself to anyway. “Any sightings of Maez?”
I looked skyward, wishing I could see streaks of emerald lightning, wishing she would find her way back to us. I’d never gone so long without my best friend beside me. I couldn’t accept that she and I would never be standing side by side again, howling up at the full moon.
She had to come back.
“No sightings,” Call said, defeated. “And we are still working on a plan to rescue Briar. Highwick has yet to respond to any of my correspondence trying to negotiate for her safe return.”
I heard the pain lancing Calla’s voice but felt helpless to ease it.
“Right,” I stated, unknowing what else there was to say. “We will contact you when we reach the temple with any more updates.”
“Be safe,” Calla said.
Mina’s music faded away until only the wind sang across the opening of the well. We remained frozen in silence for a minute, our momentarily buoyed spirits struck low again.
“I hate these half-hearted communications,” I muttered.
“And I,” Navin agreed. “But neither do we have the capacity for joviality at times like this.” He rubbed a hand to his weary eyes. “I had hoped for better news, both to give and receive.”
I was about to reply when I heard a rustle in the forest just behind him. A beating human heart. A stick snapping under a heavy boot. Before I even gave it a conscious thought, a knife was unsheathed from my bandolier and thrown. My weapon whizzed through the air, embedding in a tree trunk... right beside Kian’s head as he emerged from the forest.
“Kian?” Navin blustered. “What are you doing here?”
Kian looked at the knife a hair’s breadth from his ear. “You missed.”
“I don’t miss,” I snapped. “That was a warning. Don’t sneak up on a Wolf if you care about your life.”
“And I thought us musicians were dramatic.” Kian laughed as he plucked my knife from the trunk and tossed it at my boots.
I curled my lip at my now-muddied weapon. “Did you follow us?”
He threw his head back and let out a mocking laugh. “I followed the map.” Producing the leather-bound songbook from his breast pocket, he waggled it at us as if in evidence.
“Why are you here, Kian?” Navin said tightly.
“Are you the only ones allowed to use whispering wells now, oh fearless leader?” Kian asked his brother incredulously. “Some of us have our own personal messages to send.”
The muscle in Navin’s jaw flickered. “Personal messages to who?”
“An old friend.” Kian shrugged. “She’s always been sweet for me, but alas, our timing has never worked out.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, about to spit more vitriol his way when a shadow appeared overhead. With a rush of wind, a large object fell from the sky and collided with the ground. Kian leapt backward, narrowly avoiding impact. The object splatted onto the overgrown grasses, smoke curling up from its sizzling form. My nostrils flared as Haestas let out a clicking rumble from above that I swore soundedpleased.
There, in the center of the clearing, was the charred body of a dead mountain goat.
