Page 198 of A Warrior's Fate

Isla’s answer had Zahra’s smile growing along with a nod of concession. “May I ask now where you’re headed?”

Isla couldn’t think of any valid excuse but a semi-truth. “The library. Marin wanted me to retrieve a book for her.”

“I didn’t know our warriors also served as errand girls.”

So, she remembered her position, too.

Isla bit the inside of her cheek.

Did she also remember where she was from?

“Not an errand,” she said. “A favor.”

Another nod, now in understanding, before Zahra moved in even closer. “I’m quite happy that I ran into you. I’ve been meaning to thank you for what you did during the rogue attacks.”

Pride blossomed in Isla’s chest, though behind her, she swore she felt the weight of the moment banging on the window. As if the ghosts lingered in the courtyard just outside it. The death, the screaming, and chaos.

Isla forced a grin as she answered as she had to Kai, “I did what I could.”

“Well, it was commendable. You saved many lives. All I wanted to do and couldn’t.” At Isla’s inquisitive stare, Zahra continued, “Without my wolf, I fear I would’ve been more of a hindrance than a help.”

Without her wolf?

“You can’t shift?” Isla attempted to abate her surprise and resist the desire to crawl in a hole for speaking so out of line. It wasn’t her business.

Zahra pursed her lips. “Not anymore.”

Isla swallowed. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask. “When did her ability to shift stop” was the biggest one.

Zahra gestured out the window. “I was just about to head back to the House for some lunch if you’d like to join me.”

Isla’s eyes widened at the offer.

Her hand went to her stomach, grumbling low in response. With all that was going on, she’d forgotten to eat. It would also be rude to refuse, but she had to get to the library, to Jonah, to the book, the original marker, the old messages. “Uh, I really should—”

Zahra pinned Isla’s tongue with a narrowed stare and a lofting of a perfectly manicured brow. A look of dangerous, daring persuasion.

Isla let out a nervous laugh. “I’d love to.”

Two guards and two members of the House staff flanked the large double doors of the home’s entrance. Isla wasn’t sure if the additional protection had been commonplace, or something established after recent events. The doormen readied their grips on the thick, curved metal handles as the two women meandered up the stone walkway to its several ascending steps. They greeted their former queen with a bow of their heads. Further away, the guards did as well.

The four sets of eyes rested on Isla with wary yet curious looks before they bowed again, now in greeting, not nearly as enthusiastic.

She could’ve sworn amusement perked Zahra’s features.

Isla stared back at them with the same level of judgment, recalling two words.

Deimos. Traitor.

She wasn’t sure who she could trust.

The large wooden doors groaned as they were pried open, the reverberation enough to prepare Isla for the grandeur that awaited her, along with the scent of jasmine and hints of rose that tickled her nose. Yet, her breath was still stolen as the taps of her shoes echoed through the House’s short opening archway—much like the Pack Hall’s underpass—and entered the great foyer.

Her steps beside Zahra slowed until she came to a stop. The former luna carried ahead before she realized it. She turned and said something that Isla missed as she spun herself where she stood.

Between the multiple structures of the hall and this house, Kai was a dirty liar.

Not a palace, her Goddess-damn ass.

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