Page 20 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“Do they live in groups?” I wondered, staring down at the carpet of honey and marigold. “Do you think there are many more down there?”

“So long as they don’t come up here, we shall never need to know.”

“Whoa!” the driver called, and the carriage rolled to a stop.

I stuck my head out the window again, spying a group of a dozen humans huddled by the side of the road.

“Gods,” I breathed, throwing open the door as Grae called my name—probably to remind me that, as Queen, I shouldn’t be the first one to run into an unknown situation, but we both knew that wasn’t me—and hustled after. “What happened?” I stared from one dirt-covered face to another. I knew the look in their eyes too well—haunted. Too wide, too wary. Many were covered in bloody bandages; others had tear streaks carved through the mud on their cheeks.

When their eyes landed on me, they all began dropping into bows. I suddenly felt a strange shame in my fine attire—my beautiful riding jacket, polished boots, and golden crown. Guards moved farther and farther in front of me, and I shoved between them. I got their motive, but what exactly were they defending me from? These clearly traumatized people?

“Rise,” I implored them. “Please. Someone, tell me what happened.” One of the elders at the front stepped forward. “What is your name?”

“Elyra, Your Majesty. I am the”—she paused and looked around before saying—“oricsia of the town of Eastbrook.” She bowed again.

I inclined my chin to her and placed my finger to my forehead in honored greeting. “Oricsia” was a human word that loosely meant grandmother, but implied much more. Many of the human villages were matriarchal. Oricsia meant Elyra was a village elder, a leader and guardian, a cherished one amongst her town.

“You’ve come from Eastbrook?” I tossed the town name around. “But that’s in—”

“Damrienn,” Grae said, moving to stand beside me. The group bowed again to him, and I couldn’t help but note how they inched farther backward.

My stomach dropped. Somehow instinctively I knew, but it still twisted in my gut to hear it. “What happened?”

“The Silver Wolves,” Elyra said, pulling her shawl tighter around herself. “They sent the Silent Blades to attack our village.”

“Attack?” I choked out. “Who are these Silent Blades?” I looked to Grae but he shook his head, as confused as I was.

“Much has changed since the fall of Sawyn,” Elyra said, clearing her throat when her voice wobbled.

“I haven’t heard a thing from Damrienn since Sawyn’s demise,” I said, shaking my head. “Nor has Taigos, if Queen Ingrid’s letters are to be believed.”

“You wouldn’t have heard of what’s been happening. They’ve stopped all trade,” Elyra said. “Only Wolves are permitted to travel the realm now.”

“What has Nero done?” Grae’s voice dripped with venom because he already knew. He of all people was aware of what his father was capable of.

“The King said it was the humans who corrupted you.” Elyra met my gaze. “King Nero told us were it not for those human musicians, you never would’ve taken the word ‘merem,’ never welcomed humans to sit on your unlawful court, never permitted Wolves and humans to”—her cupped hand waved through the air—“betogether.” My stomach tied into a knot as a hot flush crept up my cheeks. Nero knew about Sadie and Navin then,or at the very least suspected human-Wolf relations within my borders. Elyra’s rheumy eyes bore a flash of sympathy as she added, “Nero said it was the humans that encouraged you to betray your pack.”

Fury rose in me at that. It wasNerowho betrayed me and my sister. Briar and I had been willing to give ourlivesover to him and his pack, and all he did was threaten us and use us for our court’s gold. Corrupted by humans? More like enlightened. It was only once I met Ora that I realized that belonging to a family wasn’t done out of fear.

“I knew he’d do something like this,” Grae snarled. “It was only a matter of time before his hatred finally made him snap.”

The humans trembled, shifting farther away, and I put a hand on my mate’s chest and gently—but firmly—pushed him back behind me. These people were already too afraid of his anger whether it was justified or not.

I searched their fearful faces. “Nero has punished you all formyleaving?”

Elyra bobbed her chin, the wrinkles around her mouth deepening with a frown. “He tore down our temples.” I gasped, unable to hide my horror. In only a few moons, he’d managed to destroy his kingdom so much? “He told us we are only allowed to pray to the Wolf Gods now, only to use the Wolf words. He said he allowed human customs to stray too far from his leadership and that he’d shepherd us back to Wolf morality. I’m no longer allowed to call myself oricsia.” Her solemn eyes met mine. “You’d no longer be able to call yourself merem.” That sentence slammed into me like a kick to the gut. Because I had claimed a word, claimedwho I truly was, he’d taken it away from everyone else, too. “Anyone caught not obeying Wolf laws is being rooted out by the Silent Blades.”

That name again. “Who are these Silent Blades?”

“It’s what we call his spies,” Elyra said. “They are Silver Wolves who police the human villages, hiding as humans untilthey find a reason to proclaim a town disobedient. There’s not a single town where the Silent Blades have not found someone guilty ofdisobeyingtheir King.”

“No,” I whispered, my words coming out as shaky as Elyra’s own now. “How could he do that to you?” The words stung coming out of my mouth and yet nothing about Nero’s true potential for evil surprised me. He was angry I’d taken backmycourt from him—and thereforestolenthe gold he felt belonged to him—believing that because I didn’t have a cock between my legs that I should forfeit the entire region tohim. But I hadn’t, and in doing so I’d embarrassed him. And for that slight, he was taking it out on the most vulnerable. It astounded me still how many lives one man could unflinchingly destroy just for his lust for more gold.

“There’s more, Your Majesty,” Elyra continued, beckoning forward a fearful human who seemed the same age as me. “It’s all right, mezmevia.” The woman—Elyra’s granddaughter judging by the word the elder used—had a blanket wrapped around the crown of her head that draped down her body so that only her eyes peeked out. She had piercing hazel eyes that watched me warily as her grandmother wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “You can show them. It’s okay.”

The woman dropped the blanket to her shoulders revealing a blistering brand that covered her face from her jaw all the way up to her lower eyelid. The sight of the scabbed and weeping red paw print on her cheek made bile rise up my throat and fire fill my veins.

“What is the meaning of this?” My hackles rose as I stared at the brand. So much anger filled me that I had to force my Wolf not to take control, no easy task. The pull coiled deep in my belly, my bones aching to shift, my mind begging for the fury and vengeance that only my Wolf form could bring. I would gut Nero for what he’d done to these innocents... but he wasn’t here, and there was no one nearby for me to eviscerate.

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