“Probably trying to figure out how he can leave us to the wolves,” Agatha hissed.
“No, don’t say that,” I said.
“You don’t know it’s not true,” she replied.
“But I do know it’s not true…you know!” I said. “Why do you want him to be bad all of a sudden? He’s saved us and helped and–”
“Humiliated you,” she said.
“No!” I felt myself turning red. “No, it was–it was something you don’t understand.”
“What? Your dormantshiftercoming out?”
I looked at her in shock.
“Sorry,” she said, and did look it. “I just–it’s been super stressful and scary. I just–I’m sorry.”
I said nothing to her and went to the camp where Roman had laid blankets for us. But there were only two beds. “Roman–”
“We won’t be sleeping tonight,” he said. “Too much to do.”
“But surely you can’t stay up all night?” I said. “We’ve already done a lot of riding.”
He smiled. “Thank you. But it’s a well practiced thing. Our care is for you to sleep.”
We lay down in the blankets, both wearied from the few hours in the saddle. “So how far is Jebra?” I asked again.
Roman laughed again, but he didn’t dismiss me this time. “You ask about Jebra so casually for one that doesn’t know where she’s headed.”
“We know where we’re going,” Agatha said.
Roman shook his head. “No, you don’t. Jebra is–Jebra is a myth, a legend. Plenty of people will claim they have been there, and yet none can tell you what it looks like. Plenty of people know the way there, and yet have never been. It is a place to be feared as much as it is awed.”
“Why is that? I’d never heard of it until the letter–” I blurted, stopping myself.
Roman smiled, like something had just been confirmed. “First of all, is an old word. In a tongue long before ours. Before it was called Jebra, it was called the city ofMahlwreith. It was a prosperous city that many people of many abilities lived among. There were as many sorcerers and witches as there were werewolves and shifters. There were men and women who could sing you to the heavens, as well as the deepest of slumbers. Your future could be told and your years reversed. Your ills could be cured in the blink of an eye. And all of it was ruled by a King and Queen very much in love.”
Agatha’s eyes had continued to grow, I knew that mine were the same.
“The King and Queen had two daughters, Andrea and Arathea. Twins born in a long year and of a blue moon. They were fated for greatness and to change the world. But when the King and Queen died, both were struck with grief. And both fixed their grief differently. One turned to the lighter arts and magics, while the other to the dark. The city began to divide. Soon there were divisions between people and families where there’d been solidarity for centuries. The city was breaking apart and dying. And when the sisters finally came to blows, their powers were so developed and deadly, that their clashing destroyed the city. Andrea, who had remained in the light, was so overcome with grief at the destruction of the city because of Arathea, that she killed herself by enveloping everything and everyone, including her sister, in a firestorm. When the smoke cleared there was nothing but ruins. With no sign of either sister.”
Roman watched the stars now, speaking to them instead of us. He finally looked back at me and his eyes were cold, burning. He loathed me for making him tell me this, and yet I knew that hehadto.
“It was renamed to Jebra after this event, as it seemed the only fitting title,” he said.
“What does it mean?” I whispered.
Roman was silent for a long time. I almost thought he hadn’t heard me. “It means forbidden,” he said.
I slept a shallow sleep full of nightmares and pleasant dreams. Of Jebra and the story of Mahlwreith’s fall. I kept seeing a wolf in my dreams, watching and protecting me. But I knew that it was Dion. He was there, but I couldn’t understand how. When I finally figured out that it was him, I fell into a deeper sleep.
I awoke at dawn to the sounds of Roman moving around the camp. I immediately noticed that one horse was missing, along with Dion.
“Where’s Dion?” I asked urgently.
“Ahead to Doraj,” Roman replied. “He felt that something was off. He wants to check things out.”
“But I thought we were headed to Toreem?” Agatha said, rising onto her elbows.
