Red and Her Wolf (Kingdom, #3)

“I’ve been busy while I’ve been away, Dani.” Miriam’s old face and countenance transformed suddenly, she appeared younger now, and more spry as her hands flitted about wildly. “I’ve set up an underground network of spies and allies, they will usher us safely toward Malvena’s keep.” Miriam glanced at Ewan, the strange lavender eyes keen and sharp as she said, “we must split up. We cannot travel together. Dani and I will take one path, you with Violet…” she nodded, and reaching into her skirt pocket, extracted a rolled parchment, “will take another.”


He grabbed the tan roll from her hand, knowing it to be a map of some sort. Glancing at it quickly, he looked back at her.

“Read it, learn it, then burn it.” Her gaze bored into his, hot and demanding. “If anyone discovers this trail, we’re ruined.”

Danika licked her lips and Ewan’s pulse thumped.

“We’ve one chance, Wolf. One, to right the wrongs of a night long ago. Can I trust ye to keep her safe?”

His nostrils flared, anger burned through his veins like a shot of poison. “None will harm her, I vow it.”

She exhaled; her small shoulders sagged with relief. “Good. Good.” Miriam grabbed Danika by the elbow, leading her away. “The moment the lass passes through into Kingdom, Sleeping Beauty’s spell will dissolve. Do not contact us for any reason, the map will lead ye. Stay to the course. I’ve got a tracker on Violet, but it’s not always reliable. Do yer best.” She shook her head. “Goddess be with ye, Wolf.”

Her words still quivered with worry. Ewan frowned. “I’ll guard her with my life, Shunned.”

Miriam’s mouth turned down. “Be wary of her, Ewan, she is not what you think.” With those cryptic words, she walked away.

Danika hung back. She looked the same aged sprite he remembered, slightly pudgy, face filled with a goodly light, but there was tension now where there didn’t used to be. Perhaps she had tried to do best by him, but the wound was still too fresh, too raw to forgive and forget.

She nodded, as if she understood his thoughts. “I’ll open a portal for you both, it won’t last long. I smell the wolves all around us. Jinni,” she looked at the silent, nearly translucent ghost of a man. Dark eyes burned with some unnamed emotion. “You are not to accompany us. You must stay here in Alaska, go due north. Several miles out, there’ll be a flat clearing with a star in it. Wait there.”

The ghostly jaw worked from side to side. “How long?”

“Until it’s time.” Inhaling sharply, she nodded, and left.

Ewan had seconds. He turned to look at his friend, the only one of the bad 5 who’d ever treated him with an ounce of friendship. He held out his hand. “May the sun shine upon you, my friend.”

Morose eyes stared back at him. A cold shiver passed through him when Jinni’s hand phased through his own. Goose pimples rode the length of forearm. “And you, Wolf.”

With a nod, Ewan ran from the demons creeping closely on their heels.

Chapter 5

Ewan stood within the safe embrace of the spiraling tunnel, scanning unfamiliar surroundings. Night sang all around him, the whistle and whisper of the wind telling its secrets on the gentle breeze. Cicadas hummed, the bejeweled sky glinted so bright as to seem a sort of twilight.

Ewan hefted Violet higher in his arms, cradling her limp head against the firm beat of his heart, willing her to open her eyes. They hadn’t yet crossed the threshold into Kingdom, his heart thumped hard at the thought of finally getting to introduce himself; know her, have her know him. Cursing his clumsy human form, he scented the impossible stretch of dun colored sand dunes, trying in vain to detect friend from foe. He’d committed Miriam’s map to heart, surprised at the many stops they were to make before reaching Malvena’s keep, he’d had no flint to burn the scroll with, so he’d dropped it somewhere within the channel of light that’d transported them here.

Twin planets, glowing a hazy bluish-lavender, filled half the sky. Kingdom was massive, beyond imagining. Ewan had never left the comfort and safety of the western borders; this was eastern lands, Jinni’s territory. He could have used the ghost now, though Jinni would likely have thought Miriam crazy for bringing them here.

In the distance, beyond rolling hills, lights flickered and danced. That was the first of many stops for them. Gathering his courage close and Violet closer, he kissed her cold brow and stepped beyond the threshold.

Pulse rushing through his ears, drowning out all other noise, he watched and waited for the first flickering of the spell to dissolve. The breeze caught a streamer of blond hair, wrapping it like a coil around his wrist. He wasn’t sure how much time passed as he waited; a buzzing noise forced him to glance up. The green iridescent body of a large scarab beetle sailed past his periphery.

There was no time to waste, outside, they were exposed, his feet took them where his mind dreaded to go. Sand caught between his toes, rubbing them raw the farther he walked. The lights that’d seemed so close before, mocked him, seeming to move further and further away the more he walked. One hour slipped by, then one more. Soon, he’d lost track of time completely.