Yet.
The wolves watch the glowing object as if mesmerized, until a crashing sound startles all seven of us. Horses.
Kaelen must be coming for me.
“You should go now,” I tell the wolves, feeling almost compelled to do so. “I promise we’ll leave the meat for you at the edge of the woods.”
With one last glance at me and then at the amulet, the pack lopes off into the trees, vanishing from view.
When Kaelen and Andras arrive, I tell them what happened, expecting they won’t believe me, but they only nod, scanning the area.
By the time we rejoin the others, the amulet has stopped glowing and pulsing. Everyone talks at once, but I won’t answer questions until we pull out the rest of the antelope we salted and packed into parcels last night. Neville, Bern, and Andras help me unwrap the meat and make a neat pile just inside the tree line.
“This makes no sense, Soli,” Trick says, exasperation heavy in both his voice and his hands-on-hips stance. “They’re animals. They can catch their own food.”
“And we can hunt and catch more for ourselves,” I say, stubbornness grinding my words until they drop like stones from my lips. “I gave my word.”
“To ananimal,” he says, exaggerating the word to show that I’m being unreasonable, I guess. Or too naive to understand how the real world works.
Maybe I’m both. But I gave my word, and we’re doing this.
When we’re finished, I clean my hands, put my water flask away, and climb back on poor, patient Cloud. She has been so calm, waiting for me, but now she raises her head and whinnies a note of distress. I almost smile, proud of myself for learning her different moods and sounds so quickly, but then focus on what might be upsetting her.
“Soli,” Chitai calls out quietly. “Your wolves are here.”
The six of them stand just at the edge of the trees, the alpha in front, watching me.
“Good hunting, my friend,” I murmur, nodding to her.
Just as I click my teeth to Cloud to move forward, I hear Elianna gasp. The wolves have all bowed their heads to me in return.
Kaelen canters up next to me and matches his horse’s pace to mine. “That’s one thing sorted out,” he says, his lips quirking a little despite his bleak expression.
“What’s that?” I ask absently as I watch the wolves carry off the meat we left for them and vanish back into the woods.
“There’s no reason for you to be afraid of a few draugrs when you can tame an entire pack of wolves.”
Hours later, I’m still thinking about the wolves. And about Kaelen kissing me, and about the look on his face when he said he wanted to drag me into the forest and …
Elianna, for once alone on the wagon seat, pulls up next to me and Cloud.
I nod hello. “Are you as hungry as I am?”
“He’s not for you, Soli,” she says, frowning.
It startles me to hear her voice my own thoughts so precisely. Maybe magic? Or am I so transparent? “I know. Of course I know. He’s a prince, and I’m only a—”
She snorts. “You’re notonlyanything. You just held your own with a pack of wolves, for Artemisen’s sake. But that’s just it.For Artemisen’s sake. That’s why we’re doing this. The amulet—I saw it glowing. Her magic is reaching out to you, through you. Even if, by some miracle, we survive this and succeed, do you really believe she’ll ever let you go?”
My mouth falls open. For all my careful thinking, this is a result that never once crossed my mind. I guess I had vague notions of Artemisen taking her amulet, curing Altarra of everything bad Corvynne put inplace over the past century, patting me on the head, and sending me on my way.
To go live in that cottage filled with books, maybe.
A lovely daydream but probably leagues and leagues away from reality. “Do you really think … why would she want me?”
Elianna’s voice is kind but somber. “I don’t know. I don’t even pretend to know. Maybe she won’t. But the goddesses have always jealously clung to their own. Artemisen, may she be restored, didn’t even allow the Sylvan people out of her forest for many long centuries, or so I’ve heard.”
I’m shaking my head. “I don’t … Why would she think I’m hers?”
