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In that moment, I wondered if my father had felt the same way before he died. It was like a strange familiarity of a memory that wasn’t my own. We’d lived this moment before—Sawyn striking down the Gold Wolf line, and the other Wolf packs doing nothing to stop it. King Nero had been there the night of my birth. Had he cowered behind his throne then, too? I was certain I knew the answer. It highlighted all the lies he told, the facade of a life he built. Welcoming his new Gold Wolf daughter was nothing more than show. Once again, the Silver Wolves would not lift a finger to help my pack.
Sawyn ignored my voiceless screams as she took Briar’s hand and flipped her palm up. With one long, sharpened fingernail, she traced a symbol on Briar’s palm.
“Tell me,” Sawyn purred. “Who is your one true love?”
Without looking, Briar lifted her free hand and pointed into the darkness.
“Ha! Come.” The sorceress laughed as Maez walked forward, her eyes filled with that same hypnotic glow. “So not your prince, after all.” She grinned up at the empty throne and the king behind it. “I suppose my magic was wrong, Nero. I thought a Marriel princess was the mate of your son...” She sneered over her shoulder at Grae, who remained pinned to the stone beside me. She didn’t even bother to look back at me—the Marriel princess who was his fated mate.
“All the better for me.” Sawyn snickered. With a flick of her hand, the throne toppled over, revealing more of King Nero’s hunched figure. “You will never have a claim on Olmdere, Nero. Your lust for gold has made you too brash, but you’re nothing more than a weak, pathetic little puppy. Who was the last Wolf king who actually deserved his throne? I bet we’ve lost his name to time. This little Gold Wolf will serve as a reminder of who the true power on the continent is. If you do not wish to befall the same fate as her, you will stay out of my kingdom.”
With that promise, she pricked her fingernail into Briar’s finger and held up a single droplet of blood. Casting her glowing eyes to Briar, she commanded “Sleep, ” and Briar dropped like a stone.
My voice shredded as I watched my sister fall, blood vessels bursting in my eyes, and yet no one heard and no one saw.
Once again, I was just my sister’s shadow.
“I will be taking your niece with me,” Sawyn declared, grabbing Maez by the upper arm. “Just in case you get any ideasabout breaking this curse.” Spots clouded my vision as the tendrils of magic retracted. “All that you have, Nero, is becauseIallow it. Remember that.”
Darkness pulled in on Sawyn, and, with a whoosh of air, she and Maez vanished.
The moment they disappeared, the magic pinning me to the wall snapped. I collided with the ground, my head cracking on the hard stone. I faintly heard Grae screaming my name over the roar of rushing blood in my ears. I wanted to say something, but my throat was used up. I wanted to go to my sister, but I had no strength. I wanted...
The scent of earth and smoke circled me as the darkness pulled me under.
Twelve
The sound of whispered, bickering voices roused me. A throbbing pain exploded behind my eyes as I squinted into the bright morning light. With a groan, I tenderly touched my bruised temple. Adjusting my thin nightgown, I propped myself up on my elbow. I was in Briar’s bed, the one I had lounged upon eating candied almonds less than a day before.
Briar...
I gasped, bolting upright and scanning around the room. The horrors of the night before came flooding back to me. Where was Briar? I needed to find her.
My ears rang, a high tinny sound as two growling voices crept from beyond the bedroom door. Blood drained from my face as I identified them—Grae and King Nero.
“There is no way to break the curse,” the King snarled. “Maez is either locked in a tower or under a spell herself. The only reason we know she’s not dead yet is because the other one lives. There will be no retrieving her.”
“She is your niece!” Grae hissed.
“And I grieve her along with the rest of the kingdom.”
“We have to go get her,” Grae insisted. “We can’t just leave her to that sorceress.”
“You step one foot in Olmdere and Sawyn and her Rookswill kill you, Grae,” Nero growled. “You are not going. What’s done is done. We can still mine the outer reaches of Olmdere in secret. The pack won’t question it once you marry that girl.”
My hands shook with unrestrained rage. I shot out of bed, snatching the charcoal gray robe hanging over the back of Briar’s chair and belting it. I threw open the door and the two men paused.
“Calla,” Grae breathed, relief washing over his expression as his eyes narrowed to the bruise on my head.
I glared at the King. “You were never going to help Olmdere, were you?”
Nero chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Why would I do such a foolish thing?”
“Because you swore to my parents.” I stormed forward and Grae took a half step between us, putting a steadying hand on my shoulder. “You were meant to be their ally!”
“My allies are dead,” King Nero snarled. “The only thing left of their kingdom worth keeping is the gold mines.”
I blanched.
