Page 75 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
MY PULSE DRUMMED IN MY THROAT, ECHOING OUT THROUGHevery inch of my body, making every cell vibrate as we tiptoed through the silent capital streets. But if any guards were stationed within the greater regions of the city, they didn’t spot us. Our passage through the human quarter was eerily smooth; not even a rat skittered upon the midnight streets.
We approached the palace gates uneventfully, which only made my heart thunder louder. I’d expected at least the castle would have candles in their windows or the warm glow of a fire flickering between half-closed curtains, but apart from the two guards stationed at the gates, there was not a single sign of life.
The Songkeepers’ tricks had already come in handy, though. They’d hummed a quiet tune that had made the two guards at the front gates fall asleep, dropping like heavy stones. I quickly shot out of the shadows and grabbed their keys. I unlocked the front gate of the palace, and we zipped into the silver stone courtyard and barreled toward the front door.
What an odd sort of army we were—me with my knives and the Songkeepers with their instruments. Haestas circled the castle high overhead, her shadow peeking from between the clouds. It was only clear to those who knew to listen for it, but the whoosh of her wings brought me great comfort. I reminded myself againand again of the way she shredded that sea creature, the way she captured that Onyx Wolf. We would be okay.
But when we got halfway to the door, Navin froze, his hand shooting out as I collided into his leather-clad arm. The air was knocked out of me by the force of my abrupt stop.
I looked to the threshold. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I snarled. “What is your ostekke’s asshole of a husband doing here?”
Rasil stood, his arms folded across his barrel chest and a rueful smile on his face.
“Hello again, Navin,” he said, pursing his lips and looking Navin up and down. “You’re looking well.” His hawklike eyes roved over the group. “So that’s where you all disappeared off to? You even got Timon to join your suicidal plan.” He tsked, shaking his head as twenty more humans appeared behind him, fanning out. They held neither instruments nor weapons, but their presence was foreboding nonetheless. The last many weeks we’d spent preparing to battleWolves, yet here was a line of human magicians, looking like they wanted to tear us in two.
“Siblings, family,” Ora called to them. “We are gladdened to see you.”
“Save your pleasantries for someone who actually buys them, Ora,” Rasil spat. “You’ve undermined my authority with your softhearted nonsense for the last time. Wagon or no, it isIwho is the Head Guardian of the Songkeepers, not you.”
“You defend the castle of a Wolf king?” Navin called. “First you betrayed us in Rikesh, now this? Are you loyal to the Wolves now?”
Rasil let out a deep laugh. “That’s rich coming from someone who’s fucking one.”
The Songkeepers behind Rasil curled their lips in disgust, and I bared my teeth back at them. A few had the good sense to school their expressions.
“What is your plan, Rasil?” Navin asked, shaking his head. “This is the opposite of everything you once believed in. Firsthelping the Onyx Wolves, now the Silver? Why come here to ally with a Wolf king?”
“We’ve come to collect one of our own,” Rasil said with a devious smile.
My brows knit together in confusion as Kian broke off from our group and wandered over to Rasil’s side. “I’m sorry, brother,” he murmured under his breath, unable to meet our eyes.
“You absolute motherfucker.” I shot forward and Navin barely had time to grab me by the belt to hold me back. “You betrayed us?Again?”
“Sadie,” Navin grunted out my name as he struggled to hold me back.
“I’m going to rip out your throat with my teeth!”
“I promise you can kill him,” Navin groaned as my elbow collided with his side, “but not right now.”
I eased up but Navin kept a grip on my belt just in case. He knew me too well.
“Your brother has been telling me all sorts of stories, Navin,” Rasil mused. “About your travels, and your discoveries, and most importantly about a song—a song that can control Wolves no less.”
His eyes filled will delight as my stomach dropped to my boots. “Gods.”
“So you see,” Rasil said. “I haven’t come to defend a Wolf king. I’ve come to take his crown. In fact”—his smile widened—“I hear there are three Wolf crowns in Highwick this night. Perhaps I will take all of Aotreas for our kind while I’m at it. I always thought I would make a good king.”
“We won’t let you do that,” Navin shouted.
“And how exactly are you going to stop us?” Rasil asked.
The Songkeepers behind him parted and the samsavat skittered out, its body rippling across the ground toward us, its mouth open and gnawing at the air.
I grabbed my knives, dropping into a fighting stance as the beast charged, but Navin beat me to the attack.
He let out a whistle and Haestas dove from the clouds, eager. The opposing Songkeepers ducked, retreating farther into the doorway as the dragon scorched a trail toward the samsavat. The creature squealed, making my ears ring as it was eviscerated, trying to flee Haestas’s flames. Bile rose up my throat at the burning, writhing monster who quickly crumbled into ashes before my very eyes.
Navin looked through the flames at Rasil, victorious, only for a fleeting second until he saw the look on Rasil’s face.
