Poppy
We left without telling anybody.Jade assured us he’d relay a convincing excuse to the rest of the family about why the two of us had suddenly disappeared, so that was a relief. But I couldn’t help feeling sorry that I hadn’t at least spoken to Rorik. I agreed with Viol that he shouldn’t get involved—Jaki and Andri needed him safe at home—but I knew my old friend would’ve wanted to help. Especially if it came down to a fight.
“Poppy,” Viol rumbled.
I looked up at his handsome dragon face. It was the first word he’d said since we left Chromatimaeus Island.
“Yes?” I replied. Even in wolf form, my voice sounded small against the rushing wind.
Viol was silent for a few beats. “There’s something I should tell you about Sorrel.” With a growl, he added, “No, it’s about Konrad.”
My stomach, already twisted into knots, went fully taut. “What is it?”
As I waited for Viol to continue, thin streams of dark smoke began flowing out from his nostrils. He swallowed back therising fire in his throat, but the smoke kept coming, like he couldn’t fully contain his temper.
“The night I saved you from that house and we sneaked away together,” Viol began gravely, “I saw Konrad talking to Sorrel.”
The way he said it made me shudder in cold anticipation.
“He was manipulating your brother,” Viol growled. “Like he wanted to prey on him.”
Ice seized my heart. I felt ill.
Even though Konrad was long dead, and Sorrel hadn’t been as much a victim as he could’ve been... it still hurt.
“I’m sorry,” Viol said, voice laced with pain. “I didn’t tell you back then because I didn’t want you to panic. And because I was determined to save him. Just... please know that, before all hell broke loose, I tried. But then...”
We both fell silent. After the incident, there’d been no time to talk about anything. I didn’t blame Viol for it. Now, knowing what he’d just revealed, I felt a deeper understanding of his actions.
“Rorik saved Sorrel that night,” Viol said tightly. “I was stuck watching in the shadows. Couldn’t blow my cover because I was trying to rescue you. But Rorik saved Sorrel. Took him away from Konrad, back to the barracks with the other omegas. And if Rorik was as noble back then as he is now, I know he’d never let anybody—not even Konrad—touch a hair on Sorrel’s head.”
A bit of warmth seeped back into my chilled heart. Rorik had been there for me longer than I realized. Back during life in the tundra, I was afraid to get too close to him for fear of rejection. I never dared tell Rorik about my desire to leave the clan. But in hindsight, that seemed silly. He was family—he hadbeenfamily for a long time.
“Sorry to dump this on you now,” Viol mumbled.
I exhaled a sigh. “It’s all right. Thank you for telling me.”
I was grateful. But Viol’s confession stirred the old guilt I’d buried beneath layers and layers of survival. Sorrel didn’t deserve to be left behind. I was responsible for him, and I ran away.
But this was a chance to right my wrongs. I’d rescue my brother—and I wouldn’t bend to the alphas’ whims to do it.
Viol banked smoothly around a low dark cloud. Its frosty moisture made my fur bristle. The air temperature was dropping fast; even its scent was crisper now.
“Won’t be much longer now,” he announced. “We should mentally prepare. They want me in exchange for Sorrel, but obviously, that’s not gonna happen.”
As he spoke, I stared down at the expanse of familiar dark water. It frothed and churned like a reflection of my emotions. A dark part of me felt as if the last fifteen years were a dream, and that this cold and dreary landscape was my true reality.
But I knew that wasn’t true. I swallowed my own words to Viol:This is not the past. We do not live in the past.
Instead I focused on the feeling of Viol’s paws, careful and gentle. I knew this was painful for him, too, yet he’d carried me all this way without a single complaint. And he’d returned to the tundra for me. For Sorrel. He didn’t have to, but he did.
“We’re here,” Viol said quietly.
When I raised my head, I shuddered at the familiar sight of the tundra clan. Time had not been kind to the village. It looked worse now; charred roofs, shabby new buildings. Many of the old ones were left in ruin after the avalanche destroyed them. Everything seemed smaller. I didn’t know if it was my memory playing tricks on me, or if the clan’s population had decreased and the village shrank to compensate.
The clan alphas were expecting us. We knew that when Jade relayed their threat. They had technology we omegas lackedaccess to, including television; it was only a matter of time before they reacted to Rorik’s failed mission with outrage.
But to see Sheba and Knox waiting below sent a chill across my skin that spiked all my fur on end. It was like seeing a pair of ghosts, a jarring visual reminder of everything I’d tried so hard to forget.
