Page 100 of Throne of the Wolf Queen

‘The Vyrium?’ I breathed as Vyrus nodded.

‘Can’t have my little king being a liability when we take the empress on, can we?’ His nostrils flared. ‘You’ve just won yourself one fierce ally, little king.’

CHAPTER 37

SORROW

Whoever controls the heart, commands the beast.

​— ​OLD ASMARAN PROVERB

My eyes opened to darkness. The damp wood beneath my torn fingers swelled, rocked. Salt air choked me as shards of frigid rain lashed down. Rolling onto my front, the bile swept through me and I purged, spitting and gagging as the violence of the world spun in cruel spasms.

‘That’s not very pretty, is it?’

I stilled as her voice sliced through my aching skull. Spitting the last of the vomit, I brushed my tangled hair back, sitting up and meeting the blurry face of the empress. I raised my chin as the world rocked again, and she squealed like a child on a swing.

‘About time you woke. I thought you’d died on me.’

I gripped the fabric of my skirt, soaked, coarse, and threaded it through my fingers. Not the world spinning, not yet, I realised. You’re on a damned boat. Shivering, I raised my head and scanned the gloom. The rain split the pitch of the night, icy fragments slicing into my eyes. Furiously, I blinked, desperate to make some sense of what the fuck this woman had dragged me into.

A glow, orange, fierce caught the corner of my eye and I turned. The abbot leaned over the side of the boat, purging himself as another roll lifted the flimsy craft high, before smashing down. A cough, wet and strained from the shadows told me Ifan sailed with us too. Spray showered us, pooling beneath my sodden skirts. I sniffed, my nose wrinkling as an acrid odour merged with the sea.

‘Fuck.’ I glanced over to where the shadowy empress swung her feet, humming.

‘Speak up, Mrs Asmar,’ she shouted as another swell rose like a serpent beneath the pathetic craft. ‘Has no one told you it’s rude to mumble?’ She squealed again as the surge threw us into the waves, and I shielded my head as the sea crashed down.

I squinted towards a growing ember splintering the inky void, my heart stuttering, praying it was only clouds above the volcano the fates demanded I’d been thrown into.

‘Sometimes I forget she can’t see a thing!’ The empress stood, giggling, as a wave slammed the bow and she fell against a guard. She sat up, and I swiped the rain from my face, desperate to save even a fragment of my sight. There had to be some way out.

But as the chains rattled against the half-rotten planks, shutting off my gifts and the empress hummed, my soul shrank.

She stumbled forward, plopping herself next to me. I sat straighter, meeting her gaze through the gloom and refusing to allow her to see the depth of my terror.

Humming, she grasped my hair and raised my head.

‘Let’s play a game,’ she crooned, her forehead furrowed as she wiped the rain from my face. I tugged back, but she hissed and twisted the loose strands of my hair around her fingers. ‘I love games. I’ll give you three guesses to work out where we⁠—’

‘Vyrus.’ I snorted as anger flashed through her eyes. ‘You’ve brought us to the volcano. The temple.’

Her brown eyes closed, the muscles in her jaw tensed as another wave exploded over us. Strands of paper-thin hair stuck to her lined face. This was the first time I’d been so close to the damned creature. A flash of scarlet caught my eye and I glanced down, my heart faltering at the sight of the almost fully formed ruby, twice the size of Matthias’s fist, nestled against her sodden chest. I could grab it, throw myself over the side. The cuffs cut into my wrists and I swallowed down a sob. Wrapped in chains, I’d sink beneath the swell, another soul lost to the Whispering Sea. Shivers tore through me as she opened her eyes, placed a weak smile on her face. True, I’d die, but she’d never use me. She’d lose all the power Vyrus’s heart had placed in her hateful soul, giving the rest of the world a chance. I blew out a shaky breath, suddenly understanding the weight Matthias bore. He’d lay his life down to gift me a chance of survival. I watched the ruby glinting in the sparse light as the weight rammed into my chest. If I moved swiftly enough, ripped it over her head and dived overboard? My fingers twitched as she shuffled, my breath catching as I lost track of the crimson rock for a heartbeat.

‘Something’s different.’ My head snapped in the direction of a man; his face lost to the dark. ‘I can’t… read her, but I’m getting…’

The man peered closer, and my blood chilled like the water surrounding us. An Anomaly, I realised as he narrowed his gaze. An Anomaly who seemed to be reading my thoughts.

‘She’s thinking of…’ He crossed his arms. ‘Sacrifice. Throwing herself overboard.’

The empress grasped my hair tighter, pulled my head higher as she tutted. The boat rocked, waves crashing into my face.

‘I see why you and Asmar fell for each other. Shame.’ I reached up, dug my fingers into her papery skin. ‘I really hoped you and I were the same. Only,’ she sighed, ‘you’re just not enough are you, Mrs Asmar?’

‘Why don’t you remove my cuffs and we’ll see who’s strongest?’

I couldn’t give a fuck if my gifts slammed into every creature on this craft. It no longer mattered that they obeyed. I only needed to destroy.

Her high laugh carried across the night as another barrage of frigid rain blinded me.