Page 9 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
“I want you to tell meeverythingabout Olmdere—their armies, their provisions, their plans for attack. Start with that, and you willbeginto prove your loyalty to me today and every day for the rest of your life, do you understand?”
I wanted to look away, but his hand gripped my chin so tightly it was sure to bruise. His pupils were far too wide for his eyes. He looked at me and through me all at once, both here and not.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I whispered.
He swept a thumb across my cheek, inspecting my skin, my lips, my eyes. Each glance burned my skin like a brand.
“Good,” he purred. “It would be such a shame to scar up a face as lovely as yours.” His grip tightened again to the point of pain. “But understand, I don’t trust you to be a good Wolf yet,” he said, finally releasing me and returning to the dais. I wanted to droop in relief but remained standing tall. “And also understand, Crimson Princess—no oneis coming for you. Notyour sister and her humans, not even the one you once called a mate.”
My eyes flared as I looked up at him.What did he just say?
Nero cocked his head at me, looking all too pleased with himself. “You didn’t know, did you?” The pack laughed, the sounds pealing off the vaulted ceilings. “The Moon Goddess sought to rectify that ill-fated bond between the two of you once and for all.” Nero lifted his hands up to the stained glass window high above him—the one that many moons ago had filled with the holy light of the full moon that blessed Maez and I as mates. Dread coiled in me like a snake as Nero continued, “Maez thought it was a good idea to get mixed up with a human magician, thought she could best the King of the Onyx Wolf pack with her dark magic.” He tsked. “Luo should’ve been better prepared for it. I always thought his younger brother would’ve made a better king—he knows what needs to be done to keep a pack in line. Luo was too lenient. I would’ve never let such an attack happen to my pack.”
The group grunted their agreement, a few even clapping at their King’s words, but my mind had frozen on one thing he said.
“Dark magic?” My brows pinched. I still didn’t understand. I knew I shouldn’t ask, especially now of all times. My position was already precarious and this line of inquiry could result in more pain for me, but Ihadto know what he meant. Maez was my everything, and I would damn myself to further suffering at the hands of these evil Wolves just to know of her fate. “You say Maez got mixed up with a human magician... I don’t understand. What does that mean?”
Nero’s smile broadened as if it gave him a great deal of pleasure to deliver one final blow. “Your mate as you know her is gone, Briar,” he said. “She took that dark magic into her heart. She’s a sorceress now.”
My heart stopped beating.
Calla
WEARING A MASK OF CONFIDENCE WAS EXHAUSTING. I TRIED TOkeep my back straight, my chin high as we toured the new mill at the center of the little village of Hanstock. Half a day’s ride from Olmdere City, the town had been hit hard by Sawyn’s reign. The blight had only eased in the last year. Magic was returning to the soil, the earth was healing, but still, the scars upon the town were clear.
I moved with the keen sense of being watched by the hundreds of townspeople who followed me through the village, being guided by their village elders. Grae stood close to my side, closer since I told my guards to stay with the carriages. Grae had protested but I’d insisted. These people—our people—were traumatized and barely healing. The last thing they needed was a show of force. I was there to serve them, not the other way around, and if another war was coming, I needed their good favor. We might be staring into the face of lean times again.
“The stonework is lovely,” I said mildly to the elderly woman who walked beside me.
“It is, Your Majesty,” she replied, looking proudly at the spiraling stone mosaics. “It is thanks to your trade with Taigos that we were able to build it. The rations have been keeping us goingduring the rebuild. It has been a long time since we haven’t feared for an empty belly.”
I tried to conceal my pained expression, wishing I had some of Briar’s talent for hiding her unease. The rations from Taigos had been supplied before Queen Ingrid betrayed us... before Ikilledher. I doubted there would be any such supplies coming from the Ice Wolves in the future.
But instead of voicing any of those fears, I smiled and said, “I’m glad of it.”
Soon the fields would be bountiful with crops again. Soon we wouldn’t need any alliances to fill our bellies. Soon... I prayed it would be enough. But that was if the Ice Wolves didn’t bang down our door in retaliation. Let alone Nero, who had already vowed to claim Olmdere for himself.
Meanwhile, more and more humans found their way to our shores... the ones who survived their passage from Damrienn. And I knew there was a whole mountain of dead bodies still lying on its beaches and littering its waters. Nero seemed content to wipe out the humans completely. Our enemies were only growing, and every day I wondered if I should blockade the golden forests of Sevelde just as Sawyn once had. And if I did... was I any better of a ruler for these people than a sorceress?
My eyes drifted through the crowd, finding some of the Damrienn refugees amongst them. Many had stayed close to the city, but others with agricultural skills had settled farther from the capital. More mouths we needed to feed and potentially many more coming. What good was this safe haven I promised them if I couldn’t feed them? All of the things I wanted to be and all of the things I was had never felt so incongruous.
“I think we should go out for a hunt tonight,” Grae murmured beside me so quietly only I could hear.
I let out a little hum of agreement. We’d donate a few stags to the village after our visit. It would feed the peopleandget some of our aggression out.
Grae’s hand found the small of my back and I lowered my shoulders at his touch.
When we finished the tour of the grain silos, we stopped at the steps of the mill that looked out over the town’s population. Everyone waited in silence, looking at me, and I knew I was expected to say a few words. If only Vellia had taken some time to teach me to string a sentence together during all of our fight training.
I cleared my throat.
“I never knew my parents, the late King and Queen of Olmdere,” I began, much to the surprise of the crowd. “But many of you did.” I searched the weathered faces that nodded knowingly as I spoke. “It is said they were good people, just and fair people. But those stories were taught to me by Wolves.”
The crowd looked confused as I continued.
“I am only now beginning to learn who my family was outside the stories we tell amongst ourselves. Much of what I see in my past brings me pride and much brings me shame. And all I’m left to do with that is forge a new path ahead,” I said to the murmurings of the crowd. “Many of you know of what I am, many of you also claim this word ‘merem.’ It is, after all, a human word.With the river, carving its own path. That is what we all must be now. Finding a better way into the future than our predecessors. One in which we are all given a chance at safety and comfort and joy. One where ambition isn’t only for those who sit on thrones with coffers filled with gold.” The crowd voiced their agreement louder now and Grae took a step in toward me. My voice rose to be heard over the buzzing din. I unbuttoned the top three buttons of my tunic, baring the golden scars across my chest, knowing that they spoke louder than any uttered promise. “I will fight for that future with my life!” I shouted to the cheers of the crowd. “I vow that we willallknow that future within our lifetimes. I will give everything to make it so.” The crowd erupted into cheers.
“For Olmdere!”
