She’s overwhelmed right now. I tug her braid gently in affection, then turn my gaze against my father. He bows his head, backing away from us.
Ruby approaches. Her attention shifts between Saela and me. And then,with alarming directness, she says, “It’s interesting that you have a Siphon in your party.”
I do everything I can not to tense and turn back toward the Bonded. To keep my blood in my face where it belongs. But I quickly do a mental run of the bonds to make sure Hannelore didn’t hear that comment.
“Who is her sire? Who turned her?” Ruby asks.
Her interrogation catches me off guard. It confirms that Astreonans can somehow sense what Saela is despite her outwardly human appearance. My back starts to sweat.
I quickly weigh the risks of telling the truth—that my sister was sired by our common enemy—versus lying. What would be safer for Saela?
“She doesn’t remember being turned.” Truthful—kind of.
“Hmm. Well, that’s worth taking into consideration. Sire bonds can be strong. Lucien can aid you in managing it,” she replies. “There are ways to block it.”
“No need,” I tell her. “We have a necklace that seems to protect Saela from it.”
Confusion flashes across Ruby’s face, and then she says, “Make King Lucien aware of that as well.”
Then Ruby turns and strides over to my father. She lithely wraps her arms around his neck, and the two of them proceed to engage in one of the most vomit-inducing public displays of affection I’ve ever witnessed. Father looks like he’s trying to gag her with his tongue. Ruby runs her hands down his back andsqueezes his ass.
In front of his daughters?!
Saela makes a choked sound and turns away.
I’m green by the time they finally break apart.
With final arrangements in place, Ruby departs with Hannelore and Siegrid toward the Nocturnan camp. She leaves Elias and his group—mostly attendants and guards, plus my father and their sluggish horses—to lead my party across the border into Astreona.
The Siphons mount up, and their equine companions startle slightly andbegin to bray as our wolves draw closer. I can’t blame them. They’re prey animals, and direwolves are the strongest predators out there.
If it isn’t an indication of incompatibility, I don’t know what is.
The gravity of what we’re about to do settles back over me. The jittery wrongness from earlier spiders up my arms as I rub Saela’s back. This will be the first Nocturnan diplomatic party to enter Astreona in five centuries.
Thatmattersin a way that makes it hard to breathe.
Venna and Noemi fan out behind me on their wolves. Stark rides next to me, his presence like a silent, spreading shadow. I tighten my arms around my little sister and nod to Elias.
We’re ready to begin our journey into the unknown.
30
MERYN
Horses are baffling. They’re slow and can’t talk and won’t stop shitting everywhere. In the middle ofwalking, they’re shitting.Why?
Anassa growls her agreement as she steps around another stinking pile. We’re both on edge, and our slow progress is making everything worse. Even when Elias urges the horses into a brisker pace, it’s nothing compared with how fast we’d move at a direwolf’s natural speed.
I’m uncomfortable enough as it is, but I also have to keep reining in Anassa’s urge to sprint ahead or to kill and eat a few of the horses just to punish them for not being wolves.
It’s a bit of a feedback loop in my head, my frustration triggering Anassa’s and back again. It doesn’t help that my senses keep screaming that we are surrounded by our enemies.
My hand itches to take my sword from its sheath and decapitate Elias. We can make our way south on our own.
Saela shifts in front of me, and I remember that I’m hoping to keep relationsrelatively civil. At least until we can hear out their king and uncover everything we can about her condition.
I take a few calming breaths. It does jack shit. I’m going to bounce out of my skin.
