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I did not know what to say to that.

Roark sat up and propped his elbows on his knees, fists in front of his mouth, considering every word. If her bond with my father is intact, I don’t know what to think anymore. She warned me, no one ever truly knows the queen’s next step.

I pressed a kiss to one of his shoulders. “Perhaps we won’t ever know her every plan. Whether she was involved in sending word of our union or not, it doesn’t matter. She wants the bones destroyed, same as us. So we must make our own moves. We’re running out of time.”

Roark peered at me. And what moves are you thinking, wife?

“If the Jorvans know of us, if Ingir is making such violent moves against us, I think we must speak to Thane. I don’t know how, but he needs to know what is going on in his own kingdom.”

Roark lifted one of my palms off his chest and kissed the center. Agreed. Auki and Brynn have smuggled enough supplies for about a week. We could make our way to the Black Fjords and send word to Stonegate.

“Don’t you think it would only draw out the Stav Guard?”

Not if Thane is the only one to understand the missive.

I furrowed my brow.

Roark offered a sad sort of smile as he spoke. When we were boys, Thane and I had secret signals we’d write to each other. A code, you could say. If we can get past the Dark Watch, perhaps I can send one. It might intrigue him enough to meet.

Hope flared like a roaring flame in my chest. “When?”

He shook his head. The úlfur will be more protective of the borders and of you after the attack. It might still be some time, but I will learn their new rotations and make a plan from there.

My shoulders slumped a bit in disappointment. It felt like we had no time left. I did not know what Fadey could see in the mirror, if he could only enter with me, or if he’d managed to slip into the trance on his own.

I did not know if he’d heard any hint of our discussion with Nivek.

Roark began to shift so he could face me directly, but he let out a rough grunt when the wolf pup took our nearness as his cue to nuzzle his bony head between us, his tongue lapping at Roark’s cheek. He shoved the beast away and pointed to a fur mat in the corner of the room, a silent demand to get off the bed.

The fara tucked his tail, plodded to the mat, and curled onto his lonely new bed with a look of utter dejection.

I snickered and kissed the top of Roark’s shoulder. “We have another problem.”

Which is?

“You, husband, need to choose a name for your new little wolf.”

29

Lyra

“Why, in the name of all the gods, would you call this brute of a fara wolf Kyrre?” Gunter looked disgusted.

“What’s wrong with it?” I scratched behind Kyrre’s shorter ear.

“It means ‘peaceful.’ ” Gunter raked his fingers through his hair. “Who wants a fara wolf named ‘peaceful’?”

Throws them off, Roark gestured three times before Gunter made a signal that he’d understood.

“I still think you should’ve gone with Myrkr or something a little fearsome.”

I chuckled and let Kyrre loose to join the other young wolves in the pen. Brynn had insisted upon a strict training regimen for the pup with the keepers first, then Roark would need to learn how his fara would take to his commands.

“With you, I’d use a whistled tune,” Auki had explained. “Specific sounds for commands. Brynn has words she will shout at Òlmr. It becomes like you are both warriors, side by side.”

In the days after the attack from the Stav Guard, we’d mourned the fallen, worked with our new fara wolf, witnessed the Dark Watch pike the heads of the fallen Stav Guard at the ravines so any more attempts from Stonegate would be met with a warning, and told the others everything.

From Nivek’s words, to Elisabet’s strange loyalty in one moment, then her coldness in the next. More and more, I was convinced Roark’s mother wore many masks.