Page 61 of Garden of Poisoned Delights

“Really important.”

“It means I can’t change the rules. No one can. You made it here, so you deserve to be here. No one can kick you out or abandon you or say you aren’t good enough to be here, because that would be breaking the rule of what makes you Lukoi. Do you understand that?”

Zeno was quiet for a minute. “I don’t know.”

“No one will send you away,” Victor said. “You made it here, and we want you here. Lukos wants you here.”

For a moment, it almost felt as though he were saying it to himself, too—to the scared young man he used to be, discarded on the shores of Lukos with nothing but a thin coat. He leaned forward, and even though he’d intended to just take Zeno’s hand, the boy threw himself into his arms and held on tight.

“I knew you were good,” he whispered. “I knew it.”

Victor did cry a little at that, but only Sava noticed his fogged glasses and gave him a wry smile. He held onto the boy until he’d cried himself out, and he settled him down in the pit with another cup of tea. Victor climbed into bed with Sava, wrapped up in his arms.

“We should make him toys,” he whispered, “or trade Micah for some. And a sled, we need a sled!” Victor rolled half on top of Sava, looking down at his grinning face. “Maybe skates, if the pond froze properly. I can make him a notebook out of birch paper if he wants to study the language. His workbook is very clever, it separates the sounds by color so I can probably do that, too. What? You’re smiling at me.”

“You’re going to be good at this,” Sava said, and Victor felt heat rise to his face. “But then, you’re always good at loving people.”

“Pot, kettle.” Victor kissed him and rolled over to his side. “I’m sorry you can’t be kuvar. I still don’t understand how any of this happened, but I’m glad it did. He needed to find us, I think.”

“Yes.” Sava looked away, his expression going thoughtful. “He did.”

“Excuse me.” Victor looked up to find Zeno at the foot of the bed, still wrapped in blankets. “Can I, um, is it okay if I…”

Sava patted the bed, and Victor moved aside as Zeno climbed on. The boy plopped down between them, hugging his book, Victor’s book, tight to his chest. He handed it over, and Victor stared at it for a moment, confused.

“Can you read to me?”

“Oh!” Victor reached for his glasses, angling the book toward the light of the fire. “Of course.”

“I’m on page 23,” Zeno whispered. Victor nodded, flipped to the right page, and quietly began to read.

* * *

Sava was not surprised when he heard the knock at the door, hours after he should have met Dragan at the springs.

Victor and Zeno were in front of the fire, reading and working on one of Zeno’s books. Sava didn’t entirely understand the boy, who spoke too fast, but that would come in time. It warmed him more than the fire to see the two of them there, hunched over a book with Speedy dozing on his bed, paws twitching as he dreamed.

Sava had just finished preparing a stew for their evening meal when the knock came, and Victor glanced up at him as Sava headed toward the door. Zeno looked between them, his face taking on the pinched, worried expression that Sava understood without needing any words.

Victor spoke in a soft, reassuring tone when Sava went to open the door. Dragan stood there, his expression grim, and a look of relief flashed over his face before it settled once more into inscrutability.

“Snow-Walker,” he said, voice loud and his dominance so strong that even Sava could feel it. “I expected you this morning.”

Sava stepped back to let him in. “Yes. I was not there.”

“I am aware.” Dragan pulled off his coat, dragging his boots over the mat to clean off the snow and mud. He glanced over, saw Zeno pressed up against Victor’s side, and raised his eyebrows at Sava.

Sava gestured. “I was on my way to the springs when I found him. His name is Zeno.”

Dragan glanced over at the boy, who looked back warily, then said something in his language that made Victor smile.

“He read my book, Wolf-Breaker,” Victor said. “He came here to find me.”

“Wolf-Breaker,” the boy said, slowly, in Lukoi. “Kuvar.”

“Yes,” Victor said, ruffling his hair. “Wolf-Breaker. Kuvar. Very good, Zeno.”

Dragan smiled at the boy, but he turned to Sava. “Walk with me. Tell me how this came to happen, finding a small boy from faraway in the snow. Are there others who came with him?”

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