Florian’s breathing quickened—definitely from the slight incline of their walk as they headed uphill, and not at the mention of his father.
“And I’m still worried about you,” Kade said.
“I’m fine,” Florian said quickly, though he couldn’t meet Kade’s eyes as he said it. Kade didn’t reply for a long moment, and the only sound between them was the crunch of their footsteps atop the light layer of snow that seemed to be permanently dusted over every surface of the wolf kingdom.
“Florian,” Kade murmured. His voice was soft, aggravatingly gentle, as if he had seen through every defense Florian had managed to put up. He looked away, his face burning with frustration.
“I’mfine,” he repeated. Even without looking, he could feel how Kade’s gaze lingered on him, the way his body tensed next to him.
He didn’t respond, but they kept walking. The landscape around them was all the same, snow and trees; and after a little while, Florian’s pounding heart relaxed to what felt like a normal pace. As they reached the peak of the first hill, Kade finally stopped, leaning against one of the thick evergreens that surrounded them to look up at the mountains ahead of them.
“There’s a few trails through the mountains,” Kade murmured, pointing. “You can get up to the top of these and see right where the Blight touches in the valley below, to the west. It’s a weird view.”
Florian nodded, following his gaze. The thought of making the ascent only to look down at the Blight itself seemed unsettling, almost bleak. But Kade didn’t seem like he was about to start heading in that direction either, his gaze simply lingering on the mountain for a long while.
After a few minutes, when it didn’t seem that Kade would be moving on anytime soon, Florian kicked some snow out of the way to make a tiny clear patch and sat down on the ground next to him.
“We should go back soon,” he said, turning his head up to look at Kade. “Back to the Winter Court, I mean.”
Kade looked down at him, a hint of tension crossing his brows. “Soon?”
“Yeah,” Florian said. “I don’t want Tatiana to be too worried about us, and... I mean, it’s nice here, and I like it, but I think I would start feeling restless, I guess. We still have a lot to do, and a lot we don’t know.” He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to broach the topic just yet; but Kade nodded and spoke before he could continue.
“Whatever you want to do, Florian,” he said. “I don’t think it would hurt anything if we stayed a little longer. But it’s your call.”
Florian nodded, absently running his fingers through the snow. It was only ever a thin, light layer that melted away the moment it was on his fingers, leaving behind only a lingering cold sensation on his skin. He wondered if it ever snowed harder.
“Maybe tomorrow,” he said. “Or the day after.”
“The day after,” Kade replied. “My dad will be mad if we leave in a hurry, I think.”
“Okay,” Florian agreed. “The day after tomorrow. I think I can just teleport us back the way I got us here.”
Kade blinked down at him. “I still can’t believe you can do that. I didn’t think it was possible. No other fae can, at least not that I know of.”
Florian shrugged. He didn’t entirely understand it, either. “Seems like I have to have been there before for it to work, and I don’t think many fae go anywhere in the Veil other than the Winter Court now. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess.”
“A gift horse?” Kade repeated, the confusion obvious in his voice. Florian managed to laugh at that, grinning up at him.
“It’s an Earth saying. Means not to scrutinize a gift too hard,” he said.
“Do you usually give horses as gifts?” he asked, still sounding unsure.
“No, no,” Florian laughed. “Well, maybe a long time ago. I guess it would have to be a really nice, expensive gift, when people still needed horses. It would be like getting a car today.”
“Hmm,” Kade hummed, unconvinced.
“Whatever,” Florian chuckled. “You say weird things too. The whole time we’ve been here, half the people are like ‘Wolf-God’ this and ‘Wolf-God’ that.”
“Idon’t say that,” Kade said pointedly. “But I guess it could sound weird if you haven’t heard it before.”
“Is that what wolf shifters believe? In a Wolf-God?”
“It’s a creation myth. Meant to explain how shifters came to be: there are animal gods that gave their power to small populations of fae, and that’s how shifters were made,” Kade said. “I don’t know if anyone really believes it. It’s just something people say. But no one says it in the Winter Court, so I dropped the habit pretty quickly.”
This time it was Florian who only hummed in response. It occurred to him that he had no idea what the fae believed, if they even had a religion—though if wolf shifters had a creation myth, it would only make sense the fae would as well. He wondered what it was, and what Jerah might have thought of it all... He remembered at the funeral, before his memory got hazy, they had said something about his soul going back to the old magic—maybe that was what they believed. Pain swelled in his chest at the thought; he only let himself hold onto it for a moment before pushing it back down.
“So you don’t think there really is a Wolf-God?” he asked. Kade snorted, making Florian glance up at him in surprise.
