Page 108 of Throne of the Wolf Queen

‘Shh,’ he whispered. I slipped slightly, desperate to see him, the panic threatening to consume, as I realised I never would again. If she noticed, though. If that abomination knew he was here… ‘Shh, love. We’re getting you out.’

We. My wolf was here. I dragged in a shattered breath, rubbed my fingers against his skin. Focused on the ridges, the warmth.

Those I loved the most, my husband, my damn wolf may never leave this isle. But I’d use my final breath to make sure the fucking empress wouldn’t either.

CHAPTER 41

MATTHIAS

If you’re reading this, then my body has finally given up and I’m making mischief on the other side. I pray to Evella my Keya is with me. But you have to know what I found, those years I wandered the world, desperate for power, before I found my purpose and became a mentor. A book of secrets, one I should have shared with the world, but my stubborn old heart wasn’t ready to part with. It lurks under the floor, under that damn yellow rug Keya adores so much. I fear what may become of Eusis should someone with a heart of stone, dark intentions, discover it. Enja’s book of secrets. Burn it. For the love of Evella, burn it before her secrets bring upon the end of days.

​— ​THE PERSONAL EFFECTS AND JOURNALS OF MRS GLESNI GRACE

Each step towards the temple had torn me apart. I’d slipped through the severed flesh of those Vyrus had eviscerated, the wolf grabbing me, hauling me up as we raced towards where Sorrow lay. The raging volcano, cleaving the tiny ebony island apart, yet another enemy. But nothing, nothing, not even death, would come between me and Sorrow.

Pablo found her first, as I’d trembled, hiding behind the crumbling Vyrium columns. I’d watched the empress as I dived between the cascading rocks, the wolf leading me to Sorrow once he knew where she was. I’d seen it all. How the empress had torn the final fragment of jagged ruby from Vyrus, the confusion etched onto her face as she turned page after page. My body fought the urge to slam a sword through her chest when she spoke of the blood of a Deviant.

My pulse eased a fraction as the candles flickered against Sorrow’s face, how her expression shattered as her wolf pressed against her neck, till her eyes opened, seeking me, but finding nothing. A woman, dead, lay against her shoulder and, gently, I prised the body away.

‘M…’ Sorrow’s voice broke. Her hand reached forward. I clutched her fingers, pressed them to my lips while I fought back the tears. ‘Matthias. My sight. My…’

‘I’m here. And Pablo.’ I kissed her knuckles again. ‘I swear on Evella’s soul, we’ll survive this.’

A sob broke through her. I huffed, grasping the bands holding back her gifts.

I glanced past her, to where the empress turned the pages of a book resting upon a lectern, her brows furrowed. Vyrus writhed weakly on the floor, blood pooling from the cavity that had once been his chest. The empress twirled his heart. My gaze narrowed as it crashed with a dull clang against… against what? A glass heart?

‘Shit,’ I muttered, working away the binds across my wife’s wrist with a dagger. Memories from The Chronicles slamming into me. A heart of crystal, one that blessed us with protection. Pablo whined as my gaze flipped to the broken corpse slumped by Sorrow, the golden blood seeping through her ebony skin.

‘Evella,’ Her name issued like a prayer from my lips. The cuffs fell and I grasped them, laying them down so as not to alert the empress, a woman who now possessed two divine hearts. Sorrow exhaled, her body slumping as her gifts returned.

We froze at the scuff of a boot. Dipping low, I gripped Sorrow’s hand, ready to throw her behind me. A figure, hunched and limping, emerged through the haze of ash and smoke. My jaw clenched at the man backlit by the amber light.

Ifan.

Swiping his nose, he stood next to the empress as she turned the pages with a violence that threatened to tear the tome in half.

‘Don’t suppose you ever learnt the old language?’ The empress clicked her tongue. ‘No. You were never blessed with brains, were you?’

My heart stuttered as his eyes locked onto mine. I gripped Sorrow tighter, ready to drive my sword through his traitorous heart. But my brother, my little brother, inclined his head, crossed his arms and blocked the empress from my view.

My gaze snapped onto the God, on all fours, wrenching what remained of himself from the floor coated with a film of viscera. The God who’d freed me from the Vyrium. Vyrus had killed them all. Yet Ifan stood. Not a single whisper told the woman he’d been thralled to I was there.

‘I may not make sense of this,’ she said. ‘But I’m certain a god can.’

Vyrus cried. Thunder ripped through the sky.

‘Mr Vengeance, do come and help me. Assist your usurper. Witness my ascension.’

The God’s legs hauled him up as she pressed the crimson heart to her cheek, her eyes closed. Reverently, she placed the hearts within an obsidian bowl, surrounded by flickering candles. If I could get the hearts from her…

‘If she heads this way.’ Sorrow’s chest heaved, as though she knew these were our final moments together. ‘I might be able to get his heart. Give it back.’

Her wolf nuzzled her face, and I swear tears swirled in his amber eyes. I scratched behind his ear. Fought the thundering of my heart.

‘Do you think you can control…’ I glanced down to the Goddess, her gilded blood fading as it spilt across the obsidian tiles. ‘Evella?’ Fight her with a God?’

She blew out a tattered breath, shook her head. I swiped a lone tear from her cheek.