“You could hide in the wagon,” Ora offered.
“And if they search it and find me, you’ll all be imprisoned.” Grae shook his head. “I can’t risk that. I’ll pass through on foot.”
“There is no passing through on foot,” Navin warned. “The Sevelde forest is filled with Rooks and booby traps. And being caught is a fate worse than death. The only way in or out is under.”
My mouth dropped open. “Through the mines?”
“But that is not without its risks, either.” Navin’s eyes grew haunted. “Though maybe for Wolves it won’t be as treacherous.”
“So we’ll split up and meet you on the other side,” I said, cutting Grae off with a look. “I swear to the Gods if you suggest I stay behind, I’ll throttle you.”
Grae’s lips twisted. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“We’ll come, too,” Sadie rasped, leaning forward.
She was met with a chorus of nos.
“You look one bad sleep away from death,” Navin insisted, pulling her in closer. “There’s not a whisper of you two deserting, nor Calla for that matter. Only Grae.”
“Why?”
“Maybe they want us to flip?” Hector picked at his dirt-stained fingers. “Maybe they’re hoping we’ll turn him in?”
“Well then, he’s an idiot,” Sadie growled. She looked at me. “Will you be okay?”
“We’ll be fine,” I assured her. “We’ll meet you in the capital. It’ll be easier for us to travel on four paws anyway.”
“Okay,” she said tentatively.
“You two should shift once you pass through the border,” Grae said. “We’ll need all the strength we can get when we reach Olmdere.”
“I can’t believe it,” Navin said, shaking the hair out of his eyes. “We’re finally going home.”
“Home.” My chest tightened as I nodded at him. “I’ve never known the true feeling of it.” Grae released my hand to wrap his arm around my shoulders. “But right now, here with you all, I think I’m beginning to understand.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Ora said, returning with two bottles and an assortment of teacups dangling from their fingers. They made quick work of passing them out and we raised our chipped teacups to one another.
“To the Gold Wolf pack,” Hector said, winking at me.
“No.” I shook my head. “No more packs.” I lifted my teacup higher. “To the Golden Court. To our family.”
They cheered as our cups clinked together and we swigged back our wine. I thought the Silver Wolves would make me feel this sense of belonging, but instead I found it in the back of a wagon with mud-stained human musicians and chipped teacups. And I would fight the Moon Goddess herself to protect that feeling of finally being home.
The first thing I saw of Olmdere was the golden trees, the leaves of every hue from honey to amber to rust. A perpetual autumn blanketed the Sevelde forest despite the humid summer air that made my ringlets coil tighter. Beyond the marigold canopy and peeling white bark, the undulating hillsides of Olmdere waited for me . . . but first we’d have to cross the border.
The air was fresh, the sweet damp scent of earth after a rainstorm. We stopped at the edge of a forest, finding a creek that had turned into a rushing river from the storms. We were all in desperate need of a wash. As I stepped my bare foot into the cool water, I wondered if the ashes from the fires washed downhill in the water swirling around my ankles. The stories of Taigos and the villages above us flowed downstream to where I now stood.
The twisting river provided us each with a spot of privacy to disrobe and bathe. Laughter fluttered downstream as the rest washed away the horrors of the past day.
I sat on the river stones, hugging my legs to my chest and watching the slow eddies of water twine through the forest. The current pushed at my back, spurring me forward toward my kingdom, my destiny. Merem. With the river. That is who I was in my soul.
Twittering birds sang in the trees, their voices nothing like the ones I was used to. The forests of Olmdere even sounded different. The mine below these golden trees was my ancestors’ dying wish. As a child, it seemed glorious and cunning to wish for such a thing. I’d been proud of my kingdom’s wealth, as if it had anything to do with me. But I gave no thought to who mined the gold. Now that I was prepared to venture below ground, it was all I could think of.
I tipped my head back into the water and smoothed my hair off my face. I knew Grae would be watching me through the dense underbrush. He took his position one turn away from me, a guard on watch after all we had been through. We’d split with the rest of the group here, the border only an hour north.
My throat was still raw, my eyes still stung, and angry blisters had broken out on my fingers and cheeks. Once we shifted, they’d be gone, but first we had to go through the mines. I considered shifting for a brief moment then, but I knew it would be too dangerous with humans so close by. My Wolf would want to run, want to hunt, and with my mate so close by, other desires might supersede my good sense. Even in Wolf form, though, running through Sevelde was a dangerous idea, which was why we needed to go under it. I scrubbed a rag down my arms and over the back of my neck. At least there would be no towns tonight. It seemed every town we entered was more treacherous than the last.
“Rolling out in twenty minutes.” Navin’s deep voice easily carried through the forest.
“Aye,” the group echoed back.
With a final scrub, I wrung out my rag and stood. Droplets traced down my skin as I snatched my fresh garments off a low-hanging branch. As I yanked my tunic over my head, I spotted a flicker of light in the water. Narrowing my eyes, I walked along the bank, trying to discern what it was. A fish scale? A coin?
I bunched my trouser legs over my calves and waded back into the stream. Stooping, I reached for the object and pulled up a glimmering rock—a solid piece of gold.
I gasped, turning the nugget over in my hands. It glinted, catching the beams of dappled sunlight. Legend said the ore in the earth was what turned the trees gold. The wealth of my kingdom came from this very place. It was what drove King Nero to uphold Briar’s engagement. Whoever controlled the gold mines of Olmdere controlled Aotreas. But Sawyn had never reopened the mines after my parents’ slaughter. She had left them dormant, boarded them up so that only fleeing humans dared navigate them. Apparently a sorceress of her power didn’t need coins.
I reached for another flickering piece of gold in the murky water, feeling around the river stones and silt. I grasped the smooth, rounded rock and lifted it up. But what appeared in my hands wasn’t a rock at all—it was a jawbone.