“It’s one your ancestors benefited greatly from,” Hector reminded, crossing his legs and staring at the slates above him. “The Wolves became Gods to the humans, and the Kings became Gods to the Wolves.”
“Even without Grae,” Sadie cut in, “we’d still have come. Maez is like our sister. She’s our family. And if Princess Briar is still alive, that means Maez is still alive, too, and I won’t let her rot away in a dungeon, even if it means being killed for saving her.”
I rubbed my hand down my face, grimacing as my fingers skated over my bruised jaw. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t put us in this position, Calla,” Hector said. “But maybe when you’re Queen of Olmdere, you can pardon us.”
My eyes darted to Grae. “You told them?”
“That’s your story to tell.” Grae shook his head. “But they guessed it.”
“It seemed far more likely than that faery finding another random Gold Wolf pup the exact same age as the princess and deciding to raise them together,” Hector said, tipping over the side of his bed to look at me. “They say the Marriels had green eyes and red hair. Your sister got the red hair and you the green eyes.”
“And then you and Briar both finding fated mates on the same full moon. It’s so obvious now that I think of it.” Sadie chuckled. “I don’t know why we hadn’t guessed it before.”
“No wonder King Nero didn’t want us to rescue Maez,” Hector said. “He traded one Gold Wolf Princess for another, and the mate of his son, no less. He doesn’t need Briar anymore.”
“That’s all we’re good for,” I snarled. “Being married off to princes.”
Grae’s fingers stilled on the laces of his boots, but he didn’t reply.
“I’ve been thinking,” Hector said, no subtlety in his change of subject. “We should try to find some nitehock while we’re in the capital.”
“Stealing poisons?” Sadie leaned over to look down at her brother. “You can’t be serious.”
“They’re said to nullify dark magic.” Hector glared back at her. “And we honestly need all the options we can think of. Does anyone else have a better plan? How are we meant to kill Sawyn with her full power turned on us? You saw what she did in Highwick.”
“If a few more Wolves tried to fight her off, it could’ve gone differently,” I noted, and Hector had the good sense to look ashamed. They’d been there and they did nothing.
“But there won’t be a few more Wolves,” Hector countered. “Just us four, maybe five if we free Maez and she’s in a good enough condition to fight . . . that’s not exactly an army.”
“We won’t find nitehock in the human quarter, not prepared at least,” I said. “Maybe the seeds, but even then we’d have to find an illegal trader. And it’s too risky to go near the Ice Wolves.”
“They wouldn’t look twice at us if we were with the humans. We could slip in and out of the palace through the servants’ quarters undetected. Wouldn’t you feel better storming into your castle knowing you had a weapon that could actually defeat the sorceress?” Hector looked between Sadie and Grae for support, but neither of them looked convinced. “Galen den’ Mora is playing in the capital in two days’ time. We could go with them. It’s the perfect cover.”
“I’m with Calla,” Sadie said, laying back in her bunk. “It’s too dangerous.”
“So is going into Olmdere without any way to defeat Sawyn,” Hector snapped.
The whole room stiffened. Hector had a good point. We needed every advantage, and if we were too afraid to steal poison from the Ice Wolves, how well would we fare killing a powerful sorceress once we reached Olmdere?
“Maybe—”
“We should get a move on if we want to be back before sunset,” Grae cut me off, changing the subject once more. This wasn’t exactly the room for finished conversations.
“You two should go,” Sadie said. “We’ll hang back. I want to listen to their rehearsals.”
Hector snickered. “You just want to watch Navin play.”
“If you want to hike up a mountain on our day off, Hector,” she suggested sweetly, “I won’t stop you.
“Especially if you decide to throw yourself off,” she muttered.
“Good point,” Hector said, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t heard that last part. “I’ll hang back and keep an eye on things here.” Hector looked at me and then pointedly up to the bunk above him where Sadie was sitting.
“I already told you there’s nothing to keep an eye on,” she said, leaning forward and glaring down at her brother.
He shrugged, feigning innocence. “Then it won’t matter that I keep my eyes open anyway, right?”
I bent and pulled back on my boots. “I’m ready to go,” I said, marching to the door. “I can’t take any more of the sibling bickering.”
“Agreed,” Grae said, giving the pair one last stern look. “Keep a low profile and stay out of trouble. We’ll be back by sunset.”
“Aye, aye captain.” Sadie gave a mock bow.
“Insufferable fools,” Grae muttered, pushing out the doorway.
“You picked them to be your personal guard,” I pointed out, following him out the doorway.
“That’s because I’m a fool, too.”
Twenty-One
Our boots crunched through the ice-crusted snow. I panted whorls of steam as each footstep squeaked beneath my feet. We walked in stilted silence, climbing toward the crater high above us. My lungs burned in the thin Taigosi air, my brow slicked with sweat.
“Nearly there,” Grae breathed as he climbed toward the ridge. “Do you remember the story I told you about Herren’s last wish, little fox?”
“Why? Are we going to freeze to death?” I clenched my jaw, bracing against another gust of wind. Was it possible for eyelashes to freeze?
He grinned. “So you do remember.”
“Of course I do, it was a good story.” I wheezed. “Herren’s family was trapped up a mountain, attacked by ebarvens and freezing to death. A faery appeared to grant his last wish. He wished that his family stay warm until help arrived.”
“The faery cleaved the mountain in two, drilling into its hot core.” Grae carried on the story, just as he had when we were young. “And Herren’s family survived in the hot springs, keeping warm and hiding from the ebarvens until aid came.”
I glanced back at the town of Hengreave. We’d climbed so far from the village that it was only a dot in a sea of white. “They built a town at the base of the mountain, believing the land was blessed.”
Grae stumbled the last few slippery steps up to the peak. “And the waters are still believed to be magical, even to this day.”
I gasped when I saw the turquoise water come into view. Steam curled from the lake and a faint sulphuric scent wafted in the air.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, staring at the rivulets of ice that melted into the lake at the center. Giant icicles dripped down from hollow caverns like the teeth of a frozen beast.
“This is one of my favorite places,” Grae murmured.