“For the Purifier and the captive wolves. The existential threat that a weapon capable of destroying our species represents.”
He nodded once.
“Giselle is already on standby,” he said. “Best tracker we have. She can meet us at the portal by dawn.”
“Do it.”
Solomon turned to leave and stopped at the door.
“Do you think Percival was the escaped wolf?”
“I hope if he did get captured, that he escaped.”
Solomon held my gaze for another moment and left down the hall.
We met again after finalizing the details of our return.
The portal chamber sat beneath the palace’s eastern wing. The archway was new. The third stable crossing in Veyndral, and the only one that hadn’t collapsed or been destroyed yet. Nobody trusted it to stay.
Solomon stood at the entrance in tactical gear. Giselle beside him, lean, close-cropped hair. She gave me a salute.
Footsteps on the staircase. Several sets.
Annora Vael descended first. Braided in high court formal, the council’s preferred queen candidate for longer than I cared to remember.
Behind her, Councilors Iver and Haldren lingered at the top of the stairs. Haldren still moved stiffly from where Solomon had thrown him across the table.
“Your Majesty.” Annora stopped three paces from the archway. “The council sent me to ensure your expedition stays focused on the Purifier. Not on retrieving your pet.”
“The portal chamber isn’t open to visitors, Lady Vael.”
“I’m not visiting.” She produced a sealed letter. “Any deviation from the stated military objective will be treated as abdication. The council wants the Purifier destroyed and the captives recovered. The human is not part of that mission.”
“The human has a name.”
“The human has hunter blood.” The composure cracked. “Her father’s people burned ours alive. And you bonded yourself to his daughter and expect this kingdom to call her queen?”
From the staircase, Iver called down. “Bring back results, Your Majesty. Not the girl.”
My vision was red in the edges and I wanted to rip their throats off and cut out their tongues every time they kept on repeating the same orders as if I hadn’t understood them.
Instead, I took the letter, setting it on the stone ledge without opening it.
“Solomon.”
“Your Majesty.”
He moved beside me.
And we stepped through to the human realm.
39
— • —
Mira
The morning started with my face in a toilet bowl.
