Page 54 of The Wolf

Was she the soft-hearted girl who saved his life when they were children … or the coldhearted double-crosser who both committed evil assassinations for his stepmother whilst at the same time saving members of the Hood’s Merry Men—who’d saved Brine’s life even as she drugged him?

Brine doubted he would get any answers unless he asked Scarlet directly.

This time, he’d make sure she had no pockets of sleeping powder.

TWENTY-SIX

SCARLET

It had been two days since Brine recognized her and stayed silent.

Through the combination of her hidden supply of mimkia and sheer determination, her wounds had healed and she hadn’t slept. Every time the sun went down, she sat next to the door with her weapons and waited for the inevitable.

But Arwen’s wolves never came.

Neither did Brine.

She rolled her neck and tossed her cloak onto the fence surrounding the sparring yard. Mourne eyed her from the far side of the ring.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she muttered, bracing herself. “Go!”

The wolf launched himself at Scarlet and she entered fight mode as he swung at her. She ducked out of the way and danced out of his range. Mourne never let her down when it came to sparring. He always made time for her. And today, all she wanted to do was let off some steam.

She was filled with anger and fear.

Every time she spotted Brine around the estate, Scarlet had managed to avoid him. That couldn’t last forever. Arwen wouldn’t allow her to skulk around. She liked to watch Scarlet squirm too much.

Scarlet landed a punch on Moune’s ribs and rolled out of the way as he sent a jab her way. She danced out of the way, mind full of too many questions.

Why had he been on her stepmother’s ship? Why did he want to know why she was there? Why did he say silent?

Because he thinks you’re his mate.

Which was really laughable. As if a wolf and a human could make a life together in Betraz.

Plus, a mate wasn’t something special. It was a physical reaction of the pheromones of another. It wasn’t preordained. It was coincidence. Nothing more.

Her mind wandered back to the night in Callmai. It was one of the stupidest things she’d ever done. It rankled that she didn’t know why Brine was there. Something just didn’t add up. Who would target Old Mother’s ship? Sure, there were those disgruntled with her, but none crazy enough to try anything.

What bothered her the most was the fact that Brine seemed toanticipatethe explosion. Could he have been the cause?

“Pay attention!” Mourne chastised, kicking the back of her knees, sending her sprawling to the ground. “It isn’t like you to be in your own head when you’re fighting.”

“I know,” she grumbled, allowing Mourne to give her a hand to help her back to her feet. She groaned and rubbed her bum. Her tailbone smarted. “The trial was on my mind though. There hasn’t been one in years.”

Mourne nodded. “Indeed. What do you think about it? I’ve heard rumors that Lady Arwen’s grandson is not allowed to shift during the trial.”

Scarlet held a hand to her mouth, uncharacteristically unable to keep her emotions from her face. “But that’s … he’ll surely die!” The idea bothered her more than she liked.

“One has to wonder if that’s the point.”

Scarlet considered this carefully. Was that what she wanted? For Brine to die? Truly, Scarlet had no idea how loyal he was to her stepmother. She supposed it made sense that, even if he wasn’t all that loyal to her, there was no point in openly displaying this. But if he submitted to this trial then he was dead.

She sighed.

What was the point of it? Scarlet was tired of the games. Regardless, she knew constantly troubling herself with Brine’s fate would ultimately lead to nowhere but misery.

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