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Lyall relaxed in his chair when no one refused his offer. To be fair, it sounded a lot like an order. Violet would have told him to shove his commands somewhere dark and private, but she wasn’t a fool. The deep line in the alpha’s brow smoothed. “When we spoke last night, I assumed you were a rascal lion. What brings a Lionborn all the way here?”
“I prefer to be considered a rogue. It grants me a freedom I can seldom afford. As you know, the commander of the King’s army found me before I’d even made my decision to come here.” Mios shrugged. “I was still weighing my options then. It was between the Tulahn cave or another one down south. I guess things do work out since I ended up here, so close to where I intended to go in the first place.”
A cave? He hadn’t mentioned anything about that last night.
“Are you talking about the mine?” Ellie asked.
The lion frowned. “I thought it was a cave? My map said it’s on your lands.”
Lyall appeared to mull it over, popping a chunk of potatoes into his mouth. Their buttery coating lingered on his fingertips which he promptly sucked clean. “It’s partially on our land. The entrance to the cavern used to be in the next town over. The humans were mining some precious gems from there… They paid us a cut from their earnings while the endeavor lasted—not that it was that long.”
“What gems?” Violet asked, leaning forward with a heavy feeling in her chest. Did they mean god stones? It made sense now that Mios was looking for this cave. Would she be able to find one herself while in this part of the kingdom?
The alpha shrugged, draining the last drops of his drink. “We don’t cherish precious rocks, especially not the magical ones. They call for trouble… and they did. The Crows came five years ago. They usually travel in pairs. However, this time the Society sent several of its most senior members.”
“The Corvus?” Gavin whispered.
“Don’t know.” Violet got the impression that Lyall couldn’t care less about the hierarchy in the Society of Crows. “Twenty Crows showed up, demanding that we take them to the mines. When we told them no, they burned down our school and crops and left. A little while later we learned that they blew up the mine and buried everyone inside.”
Violet swallowed. “How many did they kill?”
“We don’t know.” Ellie pressed the words through tight lips. “We tried to break them out from the back entrance. But the fuckers blocked that one as well.”
“There is no mine or cave to go to,” Lyall said. “Just a large graveyard crawling with spirits.”
Silence descended as the reality of what had happened to those poor people sank in. The Crows swooping in and murdering non-magical humans wasn’t unheard of. It was one of their favorite ways to punish those that sought a way to escape the drafts. And of course, a stone that could hide potentially magical children from their grimy hands needed to be destroyed.
Had the miners even meant to look for god stones in the first place? Or had they stumbled across them by accident?
Mios’ shoulders slumped, and he buried his face inside his palms. His frustration equaled Violet’s own. For a night she’d held some hope. But if Mios knew where these stone caves were, it was likely that the Crows also had a similar map. Those other caves were likely long gone as well.
“So now that’s out of the way, shall we play a throwing game?” Ellie pointed at the boards to the side. Clearly, she was trying to lift everyone’s spirits. “They say lions have the best reflexes, but I bet I can kick your ass. Fair and square.”
Mios laughed against his hands and let them fall away from his face, all devastation wiped clean off his features. “It will be like taking candy from a child.”
“That’s it, take that back. Whoever gets the most bullseyes out of five pays four gold coins to the winner.”
Violet’s beer stuck in her throat. Four coins for a knife throwing game? Surely no one would ever do that…
“All right, little wolf. No changing your mind once I’ve taken all your gold off you.”
… apparently someone would. Damn those rich folk.
24
VIOLET
Ellie headed toward the boards and picked up a leather roll that held ten hand-sized blades. They played five rounds before Ellie had lost all her coin. While none of her knives hit the bullseye, Mios managed to get most of them and won every time. After her failure, they changed their bets to beer drinking. The wolf shifter downed an entire pint after each loss. By the tenth game, she was absolutely wasted. Ellie had transitioned from cocky to bartering away her services in an attempt to recover her gold. Violet had seen this kind of desperation only too often with gamblers when they’d lost everything.
“I’ll be your guide to the cave if you still wanna go…” She hiccoughed and stabbed the table with one of the unused knives. “You need someone who knows the terrain!”
Lyall had made himself scarce once the game had begun. He probably wouldn’t be happy to know that his daughter was trying to leave the pack for a random adventure across the Iron Kingdom.
“Let the alcohol wear off before you sell your soul away, little wolf,” Mios said.
“Little? Have you seen me?”
“Ellie has a point,” Gavin said, stepping to the table where the knives lay spread out. It was his turn to play.
