AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The icy winds whipped through the tent and my eyes cracked open. Seeing it was still nighttime, I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep. My whole body trembled, the furs unable to fend off the chill as the storms picked up in the night. My fingers ached, curled so tightly in my blanket. Ostekke gut me, I was a fool. We were Wolves, we’d survive, but the bunks would be nice and warm right now... especially with Grae beside me.
“Grae?” I whispered, teeth clacking together.
“Yeah?”
“Are you awake?”
“I am now.” His voice was husky with sleep. “Why?”
I shuddered, curling tighter into a ball. “Are you cold?”
“Freezing.”
“Me too,” I whispered, craning my neck up to see his shadowed figure lying across the threshold of the tent. The blustering wind rustled through the canvas. I couldn’t make out the details of his face, but I knew he was watching me. “Well, get over here.”
“Thank the Goddess,” he rasped. “I thought we might both die from stubbornness.”
I held my breath as he prowled over to the bedroll. He lifted the side of the blanket and I gasped at the rush of cold air.
“Sorry.” He shuffled in.
I rolled to my side, facing him, and he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into him so that we both fit. I tucked my face against his warm chest and sighed.
“Better?” he asked, and I nodded, folding further into his warmth. His arms tightened around me and my trembling eased.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
I’d tried to push him away but couldn’t, even as my anger at him for trying to stop me prevailed. There must be reasons for what he said in that tower. I could taste it even now—fear. He’d feared me leaving for reasons I didn’t understand, had tried to make me stay because of that fear, but it made it harder to hate him for it. He was here now, his warmth reviving me, and the only thing that still felt right in this awful world was him and me.
“Thank you for taking pity on me.” Grae chuckled, his warm breath in my hair.
“I did it for myself,” I muttered, thinking of Navin’s story again. “It seems Marriels only ever consider themselves.”
Part of me wished I had never known about the horrors of Olmdere, but it also fed the fire deep in my belly. I knew with even more certainty I couldn’t turn back. My people had suffered in ways I hadn’t ever known. But now that I knew, I wouldn’t turn a blind eye to it. I had wanted to defeat Sawyn to avenge my parents, to fulfill our own legacy. Those goals felt hollow and selfish now. I hadn’t considered how much my people might need me—people my ancestors had vowed to protect. Sticky black shame filled me. It tarred my bones.
“I’m sorry for what has happened to Olmdere,” Grae murmured, placing his hand on my cheek, careful to avoid my cuts. He tipped my head back, making me look into his eyes. A knot tightened in my throat as my eyes welled, letting him see my shame. “I know you care, Calla. You wouldn’t be this upset if you didn’t, but what Navin said is not your fault.” I shook my head, trying to look away, but he held my face as a tear fell down my cheek and he swept it away with his thumb. “What happened to your kingdom is not your fault. None of this is your fault, little fox.”
The dam broke as tears came spilling down my cheeks. Grae dropped his hand to pull me into him again. Tears stained his shirt as I sobbed. He ran a soothing hand down my back as it all rushed out of me. I felt rudderless in a fierce and unrelenting storm, thinking of all the things I should have done. All the ways I could have prepared.
I should’ve protected my sister. I should’ve helped my kingdom sooner. I should’ve demanded more of this world, and listened harder when it was demanding more of me.
My parents were gone, my sister cursed, my kingdom in ruin, and I was the last Marriel who could save it. But it wasn’t just Briar’s life that hung in the balance. An entire population had suffered devastating losses. It was too much. Before, my destiny had just been daydreams, and now, it was real and raw and vicious.
I fisted my hands in Grae’s tunic as I wrung out my grief, clinging to him with desperation—the anchor in my storm.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, arms tightening around me. That tenderness broke me further. “I’m here.”
I allowed myself to fall apart in his arms, knowing he would hang on to me. I purged that sorrow from me, that festering pain that threatened to swallow me whole, some of it building within me my whole life. My sobs slowly morphed into sniffles, riding over the sharp cliff of pain and tumbling down into exhaustion. The tension in my body eased and finally I could take a deep breath.
With each slower breath, I saw the road ahead with new clarity. I’d defeat Sawyn and spend the rest of my life making it up to them. No more people would risk their lives fleeing my kingdom. I’d give them something I’d never truly felt myself—home.
“How long have you two been together?”
I lifted my eyes to meet Malou’s assessing silver gaze. Grae bristled beside me, sitting a little straighter at the question. Theback of the wagon was packed with the twins and Navin on one bench and all four of us Wolves across from them.
“It depends when you’re counting from,” Grae said. “Some might say we’ve been together our whole lives.”
Mina smiled dreamily.“That’s so romantic.”
