“I’ve heard our travel plans,” I continue. “I think it’s best if we wait till we get to Den and then make our move. I still have the supplies I gathered for our journey and they’ll keep. We might be able to gather more in Gualla. I have Folost and Mary who will come to our aid if I call for help. And on the journey to Den, you can teach me how to use the magic of yours that’s in me. I’m hoping I can use it to find more spirits to bring to our cause.”
Her eyes widen slightly, the dark voids threatening to swallow me whole. Her words quiver. “There is no escaping, not for me…”
“Those are Conri’s words, not yours,” I say firmly. She opens her mouth to object, but I speak over her. “You escaped once.”
“But I had help.”
“And you’ll have help again,” I insist, squeezing her hands as Evander calls in that it is time for us to go. I stand. “Don’t lose faith, Aurora. I made you a promise and I intend to keep it.”
Bardulf is waiting on the other side of the tent flaps to take Aurora away. Other lykin begin to break down the tents. I leave in the opposite direction with Evander. Walking slowly as we make our way toward the center of camp where everyone is beginning to gather. The pack is markedly larger than yesterday.
“Evander,” I say softly. He slows his pace as well, showing me he’s listening. “You helped Aurora once; will you help her again?”
He says nothing, gaze drifting from the ground to the distant horizon. He’s silent for long enough that I look up at him expectantly, bracing myself for what is to come. Will he deny it, thinking that I am firmly under Conri’s spell? Will he be aghast that I would even dare ask so boldly?
It is bold. But I have to be. I’m trying to thwart a wolf king.
I pause, shifting to face him. That brings his eyes to mine. He can’t look away. I command all of his attention and it sends a tingling rush across my skin.
“I need to know if you’re really on our side.” I still don’t know why he would be. But his actions suggest he is. Evander’s motivations are obscured, but I’m not going to question them when we need all the help we can get.
Finally, after what feels like forever, he offers me a slow nod. “I will always be on your side, Faelyn.”
The side that isn’t Conri, is what I assume he means. The best option we all have.
I nod. “Good. We start laying our plans in the coming weeks.” I start walking again, feeling somewhat like a general charging off to war.
“What do you need of me in the meantime?” He wears a slight smile, as if he finds all this amusing. I suppose if he’s risking his life, amusement is better than complete and utter terror.
“I’ll let you know as the time comes. For now, hold until further orders.” I embrace this new vision of myself. Conri has his knights and alphas. But I have a knight of my own, the moon spirit herself, and hopefully, soon, an army of other spirits ready to get Aurora across the world and returned to the sirens.
“As my lady commands.”
We arrive in the center of camp, where everyone is amassing. It isn’t long until the lykin have taken their wolf shapes and Aurora and I are back on Conri and Evander’s backs.
I grip the fur between his shoulders, right at the nape of his neck. He glances back at me and our eyes meet once more. My heart skips a beat. My breath catches.
With a brief howl and a leap, Conri is off, leading the charge. I suck in my core, and lean forward slightly as my wolf knight and I charge toward the horizon.
CHAPTER 17
It is a miracle that Aurora,Evander, and I somehow manage to avoid Conri’s suspicions during the three days between the two pack encampments. We struggle to navigate time with Aurora and myself so I can begin learning how to better tap into the magic that is now within me—and make some small progress in so doing—as well as finding time for me to sneak into Evander’s tent to take care of other matters.
Perhaps it is the chaos of the temporary camps that helps us go undetected. The tents are less permanent—though Conri’s is always set up to the point of maximum comfort. There is less of a schedule and more of an organic flow to the pack. People are rarely in the same place twice, so they don’t take note of where you are or what you’re doing. Which allows Evander and I to continue what have become our evening walks with enough time for me to see Aurora and slip away before being returned to Conri with the wolf king none the wiser.
Strolling with Evander in a late dusk has proved…surprisingly delightful. So long as I can manage to set aside how awkward I feel knowing what the capstone of my evening is. But Evander shares with me the mythology of the lykin and vampir—stories that I can tell are the grandmothers to the tales I was toldgrowing up. He explains how young lykin do not come into their powers in full, transformations included, until they go before the great wolf spirit. We seem to effortlessly talk about anything and everything, so long as it doesn’t have to do with either of us.
He doesn’t ask. Neither do I. It’s an unspoken agreement that suits us both.
But I know our habits will need to change the moment I see the next camp, larger than the last pack’s. We can’t be too consistent here or people will take notice. Which is why when I am dismounting Evander I make it a point to pretend to twist my ankle and fall dramatically.
Conri is there in an instant, shifting from his wolf form to his human form and wrapping his arms around me before I can hit the ground. He’s on one knee, clutching me to him. When he studies my face, what looks like genuine worry is alight in his eyes. No doubt a show for all the others that are gathered.
“Faelyn, are you all right? What’s wrong?” he asks. His attention shifts to Evander, now a man standing over us. His eyes narrow slightly. “What did you do to her?”
“No, no,” I say hastily, suddenly worried my ploy has turned sour. “It wasn’t him. Merely my own clumsiness when dismounting.”
Conri continues to give Evander a hard stare. For his part, the knight stands there passively, expression unreadable. I lift a hand and rest it on Conri’s cheek, guiding his face back to me.
