Red and Her Wolf (Kingdom, #3)

An echoing laugh filled with both shock and disgust fell from Galeta’s pearl pink lips. “To you? Miriam. The Shunned.”


Danika inhaled sharply at Miriam’s new name. No longer was she Miriam the Delighted. The air shivered with ribbons of static as Kingdom responded to Galeta’s authority. Miriam’s lavender eyes grew huge in her face, and shone with unshed tears. But she nodded bravely. “Aye. To me. I’ll take her someplace safe. Someplace Malvena will never find her. I’ll teach her all she needs to know, make her strong enough to return and set it right.”

Flying to her friend’s side, Danika gripped Mir’s arm, and gave it a gentle squeeze. Miriam patted her hand and nodded.

“Yes.” Esmeralda nodded. “Yes, just so.”

“Nay!” Ewan roared.

But this was clearly a day when no one meant to listen to another.

“Then it is settled,” Galeta nodded, “the girl must never again be found. Which means you can never return to fairy. You’re an outcast. A ghost. Nothing.”

The last word settled into Danika’s heart like a dirk. The head mistress’ image disappeared from within the mercurial portal.

Esmeralda turned. “You do understand what you’ve done, Miriam?”

Heart clenching, Danika looked at her friend. “Take it back, Mir. Don’t do this. You can’t. You mustn’t. I cannot lose you forever.”

Miriam nodded. “Aye, I do,” she said, ignoring Danika’s pleas.

Then the room erupted into chaos. The ground rumbled, Jana exploded, and the power that’d begun seeping from within now shot like a streak toward Danika.

“Finis!” Miriam held up her hand, the undulating sphere of green stopped mere inches from Dani’s body. “Ye are not for her,” she whispered to the ball.

Sweat poured free down Danika’s neck, her entire frame shook. She’d been chosen to be a Ten. She was powerful.

Then she frowned. Why had Miriam sent it away?

The ball gathered into a tighter knot and then blasted itself into Esmeralda who shrieked, the sound like a banshee’s wail as flames licked at her flesh, consuming her in a net of sparkling green radiance.

“She’s dying!” Danika cried, rushing to retrieve her wand, ready to extinguish the flames. But Mir stilled her.

Within moments it was over. Esmeralda slumped on the ground, panting and breathing heavy. Clumps of ivy slithered from her pores, covering her body in a lush and living drapery. It took a second for her to stand. Her hair curled in becoming waves down to her waist, ivy threading throughout. It moved as a snake, sliding slowly down her neck, sheathing her body down to her legs. Her eyes were no longer green, they were black as night.

She nodded toward Miriam. A silent exchange passed between them.

Esmeralda opened her broad monarch stained wings and flitted first to the red wolf, passing her wand lightly along the length of his body. Pops and snaps sounded as his bones shifted, reformed, and became whole again. She then turned toward Violet and made to touch her forehead.

“No, Ese,” Miriam shook her head. “She is mine. I will strip her of the memories myself.”

Ese turned with a sad smile. “As you wish, Miriam.”

A scent of lavender and sage traveled in the new Green’s wake as she flew past them. Then she turned, and looking directly at Miriam, whispered, “I will not forget.” With those cryptic words, she left.

“Forget. Forget what? What has happened?” Danika could barely understand anything of the night. Where was her timid friend? Who was this new fairy, commanding such powerful creatures around? Even Galeta had eventually given in to her.

Miriam closed her eyes. “I’m leaving, Danika. I must take the Heartsong far from here.”

“No!” Ewan roared again, and rushed to the still frozen side of the huddled mass draped in red. “Leave her in peace. Give her to me, to heal, to love. I will protect her.”

“Ye will get yourself killed,” Miriam snarled. “Ye will do as I say. Ye will go with Danika, ye will stay in human form for fifty years. Fifty years. No less. After that time it will be safe to resume wolf form, Malvena will no longer care if ye’re discovered to be amongst the living.”

“Mir,” Danika pleaded, grabbing hold of her friend’s arm. “Please, what has happened to you? Was it that vision you had in the forest?”

It felt like her entire life had just been turned on its head. This was her friend, from the moment of their birth underneath a moonlit rose garden, they’d been inseparable. Why would Miriam leave? Forever, no less. This couldn’t be happening. Surely they could find a place to hide them within Kingdom, a place Galeta would never think to look. “Tell me, Mir. Please.”

Miriam shook her head. “I ken what ye’re thinking, sister. Galeta has a track on me. There is no place to hide in Kingdom. I wish I could tell ye all, but I canna. Not now. I will, I swear it. But not yet. She must be safe. Time is quickly fleeing. Take him and go, Dani. I’ll find ye again.”