“What? You’re leaving? We’re not going to talk about the Alpha of Daemos staring at you like?—”
“We’re not talking about it. My plan is to crush it down and repress the memory for the rest of time. Later,” I say, releasing her and shoving my way through the stream of Rawbonds.
Egith disappears through the lower door on the right side of the room, the same one Stark’s wolf came through. I make sure not to glance back towards the stage where I’m sure he’s still standing, probably glaring at me. I swear I can sense his piercing eyes on me even as I flee after Hartsfeld.
In the Strategos quarters, I finally catch up to her. Egith ducks into one of the four side rooms off of the pack common area. We beat all the other Rawbonds back here, the path Egith took turning out to be a shortcut. I push past the knot of fizzling anxiety in my stomach and knock on the open door.
Egith turns and stares at me. This room is hers, I realize.
It’s sparsely furnished, with only a bed, a side table, a dresser just like the ones we have, and a small table and chairs. Despite that, there are hidden luxuries everywhere. A heavenly-looking throw blanket draped over one of the chairs. Exorbitantly expensive-looking weapons hanging on the walls. Oil lamps instead of candles. Even a few stacks of personal books on her windowsill.
She doesn’t say anything. Just keeps staring at me, a brow lifting and the corners of her mouth dragging downward. The look screams,what the fuck are you doing here?
“I don’t belong here,” I blurt.
“Excuse me?”
“I need to get out of here. My sister was taken by Nabbers and I have to get to the front to find her.”
Egith crosses her arms. “What are you talking about? Nabbers?”
I shift my weight. “You know? Nabbers?”
“Idon’tknow, actually,” she says dryly. Which lights the same rage I felt earlier again.
The spark of it catches and spreads, and my cheeks heat.Of course, she doesn’t know. I just thought… she’s important, right? Everyone’s always known that the king doesn’t give a shit about the commoners, but even such a high-ranking Bonded doesn’t know? Doesn’tcareto know?
“The Siphons have been kidnapping kids from the commoner side of Sturmfrost,” I tell her, unable to keep acid out of myvoice. Egith’s eyes widen. “For generations, actually. That’s why I enlisted, to find Saela.”
Egith stares at me again. She does that a lot. When she speaks, there’s no pity in her voice. “There’s no leaving.”
“Why?” I ask her point-blank.
Egith’s eyes narrow. “It’s not done, Rawbond.”
My blood pressure rises at that complete and total non-answer. “But I can’t even communicate with my wolf!Shedoesn’t want me, so why do you?! Just let me go!”
Egith is suddenly right in front of me, moving so fast my eyes hardly catch it. “Shut up,” she hisses, glancing over my shoulder. “You need to keep that to yourself.”
“Wha—”
“You’re already drawing attention, what with,” she gestures to my hair, “all that. That’s fucking strange enough. If anyone else finds out that your wolf isn’t communicating with you at this stage, they’d take you out immediately.”
“But they can’t,” I reply weakly. “Not in the quarters.”
“They’ll find a way,” she says gravely. “Survival here is binary. You live or you die, and I can tell you right now which it’s going to be if you keep this shit attitude going forward. The only way out is through, and the packs donottolerate weakness amongst their ranks. If you want any chance of finding your sister, you need to keep your head down and fight for it.”
So Egith is not going to help me leave, and if I draw any more attention to myself, someone will gut me before long.
Shit.
Shit.
Egith takes a step back. “I’ll look into this Nabbers issue. It’s…” Her brows pinch. I think she’s upset this was the first she’d heard of it. “I’ll find out more.”
“Why do you even care?” I ask.
“Excuse me?” she growls out.
