Dante shifts beside me. “Celeste.”
“I know.” I cut him off. “I know.”
Slowly, slowly, I crouch, my eyes darting between the pup and its mother, back and forth.
The wolf pup climbs into my lap with an awkward flop, heavy and warm and squirming. I lift it carefully, cradling it against my chest. Itsheart flutters wildly beneath its ribs. It shifts in my arms, sniffing at my chin, its warm breath reminding me of freshly baked bread.
The mother doesn’t move. But her eyes stay locked on mine.
“I’m giving them back,” I whisper. “I promise.”
She answers me with a soft growl. A warning that I should not betray her.
I cross the dew-slicked grass, every footstep deliberate, my breaths short. At the edge of the trees, I bend and set the pup down. It sits for a moment, wagging its tail as if confused by the separation.
“Go on,” I whisper again, backing away with slow steps. “Go home.”
Finally, the mother wolf emerges from the brush, silent and massive, her fur dark and speckled with leaves. She walks with the grace of something ancient. Wild. She lowers her head, picks the pup up by its scruff, and vanishes into the dark.
I don’t breathe until they’re gone.
A pair of arms wraps around me from behind.
“I swear…” Dante mutters against my hair. “One day, you’ll be the death of me.”
I lean back against his chest, feeling the thrum of his heartbeat. “Why? Because I make friends so easily?” I turn in his arms, giving him a teasing grin.
“No. Because you keep offering yourself to dangerous beasts.”
“Hmm.” I tilt my head and grin. “And yetyou’rethe one holding me.”
He huffs a laugh. “Exactly.”
Our gazes feed each other’s for a moment before he leans down and presses his lips against mine. Before it can deepen, he pulls back and presses an impossibly small kiss to the side of my head. “As much as I’d like to spend the rest of the night kissing you, we need to get some rest.”
I play off my disappointment with a laugh. “You’re bossy when you’re worried.”
“I’m always worried when you’re near danger.”
I rise up on my toes to press one more kiss, impossibly tiny, to his lips. “Then you’d better get used to it.”
He smiles, brushing his knuckles down the side of my cheek. “You better keep that headstrong attitude when we return to the castle. If the king has discovered you ran off again, he won’t be pleased.”
I sigh and rest my forehead against his chest. “He never is.”
ChApter
Six
The moment Ivystone’s towering walls come into view, unease grips my chest like a tightening fist. It’s not the usual dread that comes with returning to the castle—not the suffocating weight of politics or mourning veils or the king’s ever-watchful gaze. During the last mile of our journey, the worry I carry for my uncle grew with every step. I can only offer a prayer up to the gods that Uncle Kormak has finally awoken.
I glance at Dante, but his expression is unreadable, his focus fixed ahead as we guide our horses through the outer gates. If I know him, his worry lies with how the king will punish me if he knows I’ve run off with my squad during the mourning period. And how he’ll punish us both for being together when it is forbidden.
Mylo peels off toward the stables, but before Dante and I can follow, a line of guards steps forward, barring our path.
One of the guards takes an additional step, his posture as straight as a board. “The king demands your presence. Immediately.”
The words are for both of us, but his eyes are locked on me.
