In all the years since, I couldn’t find out anything about who the Vandawolf was or where he had originally come from. It was apparent that his family had died, but otherwise, his background was a mystery even to the humans in the city.
For ten years, he was simplythe Vandawolf.
Then, a little more than a week ago, Asha was gored by a monster in the wasteland outside the city. It happened moments before Thaden Kane appeared. The human healers refused to help her, so the Vandawolf called me instead.
It was the first time I had the chance to be near her in ten years.
In the quiet moments after I had worked over her mauled body, my heart in my throat as I did everything I could to save her, I said to him:“You chose to keep Asha alive. You don’t want her to die.”
He scowled back at me and quietly threatened to kill me.
After that, he gave me the task that has brought me to this moment.
He told me to go to the prison beneath the castle where he was holding Thaden Kane prisoner and to extract any truths from him that I could.
Thaden lied to me over and over again, so many times.
But it was what I saw him do on the final night before we left the city that revealed his true identity to me.
I followed him to Malak’s orchard, where the apple trees sparkle in the dark, and watched him prowl to the very spot where Malak’s private anvil used to rest—a location known only to a few people.
Thaden had crouched and pressed his right hand to the ground, and while the acoustics of the place stopped me from hearing what he said, I read his murmur in the intense twist of his lips:Fuck you, Father.
Before I had a chance to speak with Gallium alone, the Vandawolf’s guards scooped me up, and I couldn’t warn my brother, let alone Asha.
Now, I expect the Vandawolf to rise to Asha’s defense. I have accused her of being like Malak—a cruel and unjustifiable accusation.
Ineedhim to rise to her defense because I can’t pick a fight with silence.
Butdammit, despite my taunt, he doesn’t reprimand me.
I’m forced to escalate all on my own.
Stepping toward Asha but speaking to the Vandawolf, I say, “You tested Asha when you made her pick up Malak’s hammer on the night you separated us. I wasn’t there to see it, of course, but I heard about it. The way her whole body lit up, the strength she displayed, the awful power she suddenly controlled. You made sure she only ever used that power against the monsters. You controlled her darkness.”
As I move toward Asha, both Gallium and Thaden step toward me. Gallium is shaking his head, as if he strongly disagrees with me.
Thaden’s hand has dropped from my arm and the crease in his forehead has deepened.
Asha’s hand has risen to her heart and her breathing is shaky.
I stop only three paces away from her.
I hold my head high, remaining as cold as I can be. “I have a memory of you, Asha,” I say, speaking more quietly now, deliberately using a partial truth against her. “Gallium and I were huddled behind Malak’s throne while you fought for our lives and tried to protect us. But you aren’t that person anymore. Now I wonder if you ever were.”
Her breathing is sharp, her lips pressing together, but I don’t stop speaking, continuing to attack her with my voice.
I step even closer to her and fill my words with ice. “The humans didn’t cover you in soot, darling sister. They scratched off the shiny surface to reveal what was underneath.”
Asha finally flinches back from me.
It’s a small action, but it speaks loudly.
Tendrils of both silver and black light spill around her clenched palm, which she holds tightly at her side.
I worry that I’ve pushed her too far…
But her voice is controlled as she turns to Thaden and does exactly what I need her to do.
