Page 1 of Throne of the Wolf Queen

CHAPTER 1

SORROW

Your Alliance is nothing but a rusted nail in a decayed coffin; a feeble link to a ruined world. The Gods, those old and new, delivered a message to the masses. A message through their new vessel. A message through me. I am the blaze, the cure, the resolution. All shall bow to my might, or all shall smoulder in my pyre.

​— ​PROCLAMATION OF THE EMPRESS ON HER ASCENSION TO THE ASMARAN THRONE

I’d hated the frigid corridors of Bronzehold as a child. Now, a grown woman, I despised them. The way my hitched breaths misted in the pathetic shreds of moonlight. How my boot steps echoed off the dull grey stones. The fact that most of the fuckers here were desperate for the justice they’d been denied after I’d torn through Romero on an Asmaran beach. Only a fool would leave the sanctuary of their rooms.

But, as the image of Matthias’s green eyes burned through my mind, I’d torn myself from the itchy sheets, desperate for a reprieve.

Pablo growled as we turned a corner. My fingers twisted into his coarse fur. We’d been living within the unforgiving stone of my childhood home for three long days. Sleep little more than a tattered memory. Enfys’s rooms lay on this corridor, though as I peered through the gloom, no guards watched over their fledgling queen.

Strange.

My heartbeat scattered. I could enter those rooms. I knew I should talk to my sister. After all, she’d lost so much on that beach too. Her future as a Sister of Evella torn from her bloodied hands. Drufaera’s crown now lay upon her sun-blessed waves – Romero burnt to ashes by my flames.

The wolf halted, a low growl rumbling through him as a shadow shifted further along the dim corridor. My breath caught. At the scuff of a boot, the flash of a blade, my shoulders relaxed.

‘It’s a guard,’ I whispered, conscious of waking the sleeping courtiers, or worse, my eight-year-old brother, who’d start his incessant whining if I woke him. The guard leaned against the corner as I reached Enfys’s door.

I straightened, wiping my hands down my skirts as I stared at the wood. The wolf turned his amber eyes to meet mine, his ears twisting towards the door. My fingers brushed the handle. Blowing out a breath, I hesitated, my courage failing me.

‘She has so much to deal with,’ I said, turning away. The wolf snorted. ‘She… needs her rest.’

Ignoring how my heart twisted, I sped up. I’d head back and try and get some sleep after a quick stroll to the end of the corridor to watch the path of the crescent moon upon the⁠—

Pablo halted, his hackles rising under my cold fingers.

I glared at him. ‘What are you⁠—’

The wolf lunged as a blade skimmed past, barely missing my throat, sparks flaring from where it struck the stone. The guard — no, assassin –– crashed into two towering suits of armour, cursing as they collapsed upon him.

‘Shit,’ I hissed, diving inwards to grasp the silver threads of the gift Evella had blessed me with. A sob rose through my throat as they shivered. I’d been prepared on the beach, when I’d last fought, but now my would-be murderer had caught me by surprise. I slammed my fist against my chest, issuing a stream of curses as the ribbons trembled, the darker, wilder purple streams rising and swamping the more subdued silver.

I didn’t need the violet ribbons, though. I’d spent eight years suppressing them after they’d swamped Mama’s body, watching, helpless as she’d attacked my little sister, before Glesni showed me how to embrace them. As my attacker still breathed, they held no value.

And if I didn’t find somewhere to hide, the only dead body would be mine.

The wolf dug his teeth into my skirts and I clung to his grey fur, my boots slipping as we tore from the assassin. I glanced back as steel clanged. The guard rolled onto all fours, eyes I couldn’t see but sensed boring into me.

‘I know what you are, traitor,’ he hissed as I dived back towards my sister’s rooms. ‘I saw what you did on that beach. I know you’re a⁠—’

I lost the last of his tirade as my fingers found Enfys’s door handle. Vyrus’s balls. My chest tightened as the guard screamed, sword raised as he flew towards me. Cursing, I twisted the stiff metal, the wolf slamming into the wood as the guard roared. I kicked the door, panic swelling as my magic slipped through my distracted grip.

I bashed my shoulder into the door before smashing my boot against it. My assailant was so close I could almost see the whites of his eyes. The door creaked, begrudgingly opening enough for Pablo to slip through. Sucking in a breath, I forced myself into my sister’s chambers, slamming the door, practically melting against it as I twisted the lock.

My chest heaved as my back fell against the wood, and I scanned the dark rooms, the door shaking violently as the guard fought with the lock.

‘Enfys?’ My voice broke through the thick gloom, and Pab whined. A blade of worry stabbed into my chest. Where was Enfys? Had someone gotten to the queen?

‘Damn,’ I said, resisting the urge to slam my head into the door even as it rattled behind me. The queen. Why would the queen be in her old bedroom as the kingdom of Drufaera fell to her now, and not her father’s chambers?

The door stilled and I lay my ear against it, desperate for the tread of disappearing boots. Instead, the guard pressed his mouth to the door.

‘Think I’m alone, Deviant bitch?’ he snarled.

My weak eyes slid over to the now-rattling window as Pablo barked a warning to a shadow blocking the flickering moonlight.