“I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but...” Kallik started. “Can you shift, like us? Could you show me?”
“Oh. Sure,” Florian said, surprised. He looked around the room—it seemed big enough for his wolf form—then closed his eyes and focused. His body tingled with magic, with the discomfort of muscle and bone morphing and rearranging. When he opened his eyes again, he was lower to the ground, standing on all four legs, looking up at Kade and his father. Kallik’s eyes were wide, his mouth slightly agape.
“Incredible,” he murmured, reaching out to stroke the top of Florian’s head. “And all black fur. So lovely. Wolf-God, I was there with Jerah when we spoke to the hag... I didn’t think I would live to see it happen.” He pulled his hands away to rub at his eyes, and Florian’s ears pressed back flat against his skull. Even though the man was not a wolf, Florian could still smell the sadness coming off of him in waves.
“We’re going to go speak to the hag, as well,” Kade said. His tone was still rather stilted, clearly trying to keep things calm and professional. “Can you show us how to get there?”
“Well, I can point it out to you, but it was over twenty years ago now,” Kallik sighed. “Bring me a map.”
“You can change back now, Florian,” Kade murmured, as he stepped away. With a sneeze of a laugh Florian padded along next to him for a few steps, before shifting back. He straightened up from the floor as Kade was pulling a rolled-up map out of his backpack.
“It was right about here,” Kallik said when Kade presented him with the map, circling it with a pencil. “But it was heavily warded. There’s a ritual you have to complete... A gift we had to present.”
“Do you know what the ritual was?” Florian asked, frowning. Jerah hadn’t said anything about a ritual—but then, he was sure Jerah had thought that he would be there with them when they went to go meet the hag. Maybe it was somewhere in his notes.
“Hmm. Something to pass through the ward. Something valuable... It was Jerah who had received the missive from the hag, so I’m not sure.” Kallik closed his eyes, brows furrowed, as if intensely trying to remember. “I’ll do my best to think of it before you have to go. How long will you be staying?”
Florian and Kade shared a look. They hadn’t agreed on an exact timeline, only that they wanted to get their bearings in the wolf kingdom before heading to the second Arrow, which lay only about a day’s travel into the Blight. Florian had no idea how long Kade was willing to spend with his family; from the few interactions he’d witnessed so far, they didn’t exactly seem to get along.
“At least a week,” Kade finally seemed to settle on. “Maybe a little longer. With everything that happened with Jerah... We don’t want to rush.”
“I understand,” Kallik said. “In that case, I’ll try and have an answer for you before you leave. There are guest rooms for you, of course.” His eyes narrowed as he looked between them. “I planned for you to stay in separate rooms, but...”
“We’ll share,” Kade said flatly, turning around and putting the rolled-up map back into his backpack.
“Fine,” Kallik sighed, waving them away, and Florian followed Kade back out into the quiet hallway. “We’ll see you both at dinner.”
“Let’s drop off our stuff,” Kade said, taking his hand. “And then I want to go see my cousin.”
“Sure,” Florian agreed, following him readily. Kade led him back out to the foyer and through the opposite door, which led to a wooden staircase. They went right past the second floor and up to the third, where Kade led him down another hallway with a series of doors—two doors were open, which Florian assumed were the guest rooms that had been prepared for them.
“Let’s take this one. It’s bigger,” Kade said, stepping through the door at the very end of the hall. When they were both inside, Kade shut the door behind them; and before Florian could react, he had pulled Florian into his arms and kissed him.
“What—What’s this about?” Florian laughed, breathless, when he finally pulled away.
“Thank you,” Kade murmured, still holding Florian close. “No one’s ever... stood up for me like that before.”
Something about the words, and Kade’s voice when he said them, made Florian’s heart pang with a soft sympathy. For a moment he was almost glad he didn’t have parents; maybe it was better to not have to deal with such fraught relationships.
“Of course I would stand up for you,” Florian said, pushing himself up on his toes to kiss his cheek. “Well, it was partly for myself, too.”
“You don’t believe I would ever do something like that, right?” Kade asked, his tone suddenly urgent. “That I would... use you? Or the Winter Court?”
“No!” Florian exclaimed. The very thought seemed absurd. “Of course not. I meant what I said, Kade. I mean... It seemed like they didn’t know you at all. Their assumptions were crazy.”
“Okay. Good.” Kade sighed, looking down at him. That same expression was in his eyes—full of adoration. “I...”
Florian’s heart started to hammer.
“I... I appreciate it,” Kade finally settled on, making his pulse slow just a bit. “I guess it’s my fault. I don’t really talk to them about anything. Maybe they really don’t know me that well.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, so instead Florian pressed his face into Kade’s chest, hugging him harder. It was cold, but Kade felt warm.
“Let’s go,” Kade said after a moment of holding each other quietly. “I do want to go see my cousin.” Florian laughed and pulled back, looking up at him with a grin—Kade was smiling faintly, too.
“Lead the way,” he said.
