Page 25 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

“Myst.” I give a huff that’s somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. “You old troublemaker.”

I reach to stroke her forelock, but she tosses her head up and gives a hard stomp to my foot.

“Ow!” I double over, clutching my toes. “What the hell was that for?”

Myst pins me with her black eyes. I don’t have the gift to talk to animals, but this horse and me? We’ve always understood one another. And right now, she’s telling me that I’m a complete and utterfool.

“Yeah, well, Lady Suri beat you to that conclusion,” I murmur.

The carriage driver lifts the whip. “My apologies, Lord Basten. Don’t know what’s gotten into this one.”

I step aside, motioning for Myst to go. She side-eyes me one more time before trotting on.

Breathing hard, I realize I’m standing in the street like a stray dog.

As I mount Dare and rejoin the travel party passing through the city gates, I press my wrist guard hard enough to reopen the wounds. Blood weeps down my knuckles, mixing with rain, dripping into the mud.

Chapter 8

Sabine

On the fifth day, we emerge from the steepest mountains. A few farmsteads dot the hilly landscape, hacking out patches of garden space and pastures amid the forest terrain.

As the valley widens, villages crop up. At first, they’re only a few clusters of homes. As midday approaches, they turn into larger settlements, some of which have trading posts or an inn. But even in these bastions of civilization, the forest always feels barely contained, as though if the villagers don’t keep a close eye on the woods’ perimeter, they’ll wake to vines snaking through their windows.

It can’t be an easy life here, yet perplexingly, every horse we pass is fat, and every wagon is overflowing with bright orange pumpkins. The people do not appear destitute. Children laugh as they play Blindman’s Bluff in the fields. Shopkeepers nod to our long line of soldiers. Happy, dusty dogs chase alongside the goldenclaws.

“You look vexed, Highness,” Tati observes, walking alongside Two.

“In Astagnon,” I start haltingly, “we know little about Volkany, but what we glean does not suggest it is a prosperous kingdom. I was told stories of beggars. Thieves. Starving families eating tree bark.”

Tati chuckles. “Volkany may be a wild kingdom, but it has always been blessed. In every Return, it has been the first to worship the newly woken gods. So, it has earned fae favor. Those who sacrifice to the gods are richly rewarded.”

I shift on my goldenclaw saddle, toe-tapping anxiously, and look over my shoulder at the soldiers following us in formation. Like the Volkish villages, the Volkish army is different from what I’d expected. To be sure, there’s plenty of passed brandy, dice games, and eye-watering course language. However, the presence of female soldiers seems to balance out the regiment’s energy, bringing a kernel of civility.

From what I can tell, most female soldiers belong to the mage faction, commanded by Tati and composed entirely of godkissed soldiers, but I’ve spotted women in the infantry and archery factions, too.

What would you think of this place, Basten?

As soon as I think of Basten, my smile fades. Where is he now? My heart sinks like a stone dropped in a lake. All our months together might mean nothing to him. If I’d been captured two weeks ago, he’d stop at nothing to rescue me. But now, I can’t have faith in that. All of Duren thinks I’m a traitor—I can only imagine the poison he’s hearing about me.

As I struggle to swallow the lump forming in my throat, I become aware of two eyes watching me.

I twist sharply to find the cloudfox ducking behind a glowing emerald fern. My heartbeat rattles off-kilter.

You again?I snap.What do you want?

Despite my angry tone, guilt twists my stomach in knots until my breakfast threatens to come back up. I can’t shake the awful feeling of being inside its head, forcing it to expel electric charges, agonizing along with it under the punishing crush of pain.

Yes, the cloudfox wronged me—but the fact that I caused it pain feels like a betrayal of everything I hold dear. Maybe it’smeI’m really angry with.

Its silver-tipped ears disappear behind a fern, only to appear again a few minutes later, this time on the far side of a fallen log.

Why are you following me?I ask warily.

The cloudfox’s blue eyes glow the same cool hue as a moonlit glacier before it turns and bounds off into the shadows.

On the seventh day, we clear the last mountain pass and get our first view of Norhelm. A deep valley plunges below us in a dramatic V shape, carved by a raging river that tumbles down cliffs to form a series of waterfalls.

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