And he took her hand, pressing a kiss to the back, and bowed over it. “My lady.”

Even Cirri looked surprised, but she squeezed Wroth’s huge paw in her hands. To think that only a few days ago, those claws had been raised against her, and I had been prepared for—dreading—the need to kill him… but I hoped he would see that it was possible to find happiness in this necessary arrangement.

Even if it took an extra lifetime—but we had all the time to wait.

He straightened, shook out his mane, and didn’t offer Kajarin a single backwards glance. But as he strode through the gates, he lifted a hand to us before dropping to all fours, racing into the freedom of the forest.

Cirri exhaled slowly. I feel for him.

“As do I.”

Kajarin’s servants packed their lady into the carriage, climbed in after her, and two human guards took up their places on the driver’s seat, cracking the reins and driving the horses out through the gate.

The Lady of the Rivers looked out the window as they passed, and blew a kiss to Cirri. “Don’t forget, darling!”

Cirri only had time to scowl at her, and then the carriage was gone, and my people were closing and barring the gates. Thank the ancestors, it was all over, and I hoped that next year, we could simply celebrate Bloodrain by raising a glass and calling it a night.

Silence reigned in the courtyard for a long moment.

“Don’t forget what?” I asked.

She twitched irritably. The usual spew. She’s a human loyalist.

Ah. That one sentence made everything so clear. “I see.”

She tried to recruit me to the cause. Cirri snorted through her nose as she talked, shaking her head. Clearly I have other plans. But it makes me wonder how a loyalist was chosen at all. It couldn’t possibly have worked out.

“It is questionable.” I stared at the closed gates, thinking it through. Surely Auré had found at least one other candidate? Pureblooded Veladari women weren’t exactly growing on trees, but neither were they uncommonly rare. Plenty of noble families, particularly those to the west and south, had held out during the Forian War, turning their estates into fortresses, avoiding the warg attacks so common on their eastern neighbors. “And insulting, that she tried to lure my own wife away.”

Don’t be insulted. She reached up and stroked my cheek. Nothing she said could take me from you. Not even if she offered the world.

“Ahh, but what if she offered… a library?” I leered down at her, and Cirri rolled her eyes upwards.

Oh, well, in that case, I’d certainly have to hear her out. I’m absolutely mad for libraries.

“Don’t fear, lover, I’d lure you back with a better one.”

She looked up from under her lashes, giving me a sly smile that made my blood flow hotter instantly. I know you would. 

Then she curled a finger, a come-hither gesture that I was helpless against as she stepped around me.

She ducked into the stables, into a darkened, quiet world. A haze drifted through the air, the sweet scent of hay and horses filling my nose.

We have a few moments alone, she said, still smiling. Before someone shows up with a list.

Cirri rose onto her tiptoes, pressing one of those soft kisses against my lips.

The blood in my veins boiled instantly, and I pulled her into an empty stall, out of sight of the courtyard. Nobody would come looking for us here.

As I wrapped my hands around her waist, her soft sigh filled the air, a more beautiful sound than any music. Her lips moved carefully at first, then became hungry, growing in confidence. Time became nothing, all of my focus on the lovely woman in my arms, who would become fully mine in a year.

I leaned down, nuzzling at her throat, admiring the lips that were reddened and pillowy from kissing as she linked her arms around my neck. My tongue flicked over the column of her neck, teeth aching with anticipation of sinking into flesh—

Shouts rang out, echoing through the courtyard. The gates slammed. Swords rattled. Then came the screams of my name.

Cirri jerked her arms down, staring up at me with huge eyes.

Almost as one, we ran for the stable door, heedless of ruffled clothes or reddened lips. Fear pounded through my veins with every stride, the knowledge that I would be investigating a ruined carriage, the torn-up body of my brother’s wife, and despite his hatred, he would have to carry the burden of guilt alone…

But it wasn’t one of the Rivers servants who waited in the courtyard. The messenger was a human boy, one I vaguely recognized as one of Visca’s newest recruits. So young, face still fresh and stubble-free, limbs still lanky.

He’d collapsed on the cobblestones on all fours, trembling with exhaustion, dirty face streaked with tear-tracks.

“Where?” I demanded.

The boy looked up at me, still gasping for breath. “Tristone. Walls came down. She sent me, ‘cause I'm the fastest.”

And all at once, the fear became ice. The Rift-kin. My people.

While we had been dancing, going through the motions of celebration because tradition demanded it, the people I’d sworn to protect had been slaughtered. I’d pushed so hard for those damn walls to be shored up, but with the mines only recently reopened, they had needed months more work, and now… this was where we were.

I knelt, putting a careful hand on his shoulder. “Are there any survivors? Has Visca asked us for any specific supplies?”

The boy looked at me with that empty, shell-shocked look I’d seen on soldiers before, his eyes wide but seeing nothing. A flurry of nervous twitches ran up the right side of his face, pulling his lip up in a sneer, and he retched suddenly, violently, shaking his head.

“None,” he whispered. “Just… come. As fast as you can.”

I gave him a last pat and stood slowly, mulling through my next steps. The servants had gathered, faces pale; I gestured to Yuli. “Take him inside. Give him something hot to drink and keep him warm. He’s in shock, and he’s run a long way. When you’re done, tell Wyn we’ll need her there.”

She nodded, face strained, and she and one of the other maids surrounded the boy, offering gentle murmurs as they got him to his feet.

Cirri was just as pale, her hands fisted at her sides, but she raised her chin as she looked at me. I’m coming with you.

“You don’t want to see it,” I said, regretting that the embers of lust had mutated so quickly into cold fear of what I’d find. How quickly the whims of fate changed… and now I knew what Hakkon had been planning.

Visca had brought the soldiers east, and he had struck in the north, in one of the villages supposedly defended by its walls. I should have known. It was my job to anticipate what he might do, and yet… so many times, Hakkon had gotten the better of me.

You can tell me no, but I’ll ride behind you, she said. Just accept it. What do you need next?

I nodded, taking a deep breath. “The rest of the soldiers stay. The keep can’t be left untended. We’ll bring healer’s supplies, in case… just in case.”

Cirri nodded. I’ll get them. She turned on her heel, striding away and breaking into a run.

“Take me with you.” I found Miro at my shoulder, green eyes blazing. “Especially if she’s coming with you. Better to have two pairs of eyes looking out than one.”

I counted the guards on the wall, on the gate. Twenty. Enough to hold the keep against invasion until reinforcements arrived. “Be ready in five.”

Miro strode off, and I was left alone.

Alone with a mountain of regrets and self-recrimination. How could I not have seen it? And now all of Tristone would pay for my short-sightedness.

I should have forced the mines open earlier. Damn their superstitions, their outdated beliefs—the walls had been more important. It was easier to whip men into working against their will than to pick up their ravaged corpses.