Page 29 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“I don’t keepanythingfrom my mate.” Maez’s dark eyes narrowed at me. “Just don’t go far from the wagon. I don’t want to have to rescue your tail again.”

I released an angry breath. “I hadn’t had breakfast and I wasn’t prepared for the heat and I hadn’t dressed for a chase through the tunnels of town, okay?” I wrapped my thin cream scarf around my nose and mouth, protecting me from the sand that was getting kicked up in the wind. “And yes, maybe I was also a little rattled about the fact that my father had brokered a marriage for me to Prince fucking Tadei!” The music faltered for a second, played off as a trilling note, but I heard the musical stumble and knew Navin was listening to me.

“Which doesn’t mean you should do something foolhardy now.”

“I can’t—I can’t stay in here! I was almost trapped into a marriage. I won’t be trapped—”

“You know we’d never let him take you,” Maez said quietly, shaking her head. “Calla would wage another war just to get you back. You are a member of the Golden Court. You are no one’s to marry off to. The Silver Wolves are not your pack anymore. We are our own pack. Our ownfamily. A better one.”

I felt the belonging in those words, the family we’d fought so hard to become and the promise of murderous wrath if anyoneshould lay their hands on me. But I didn’t want any war started on my behalf. I couldn’t be the reason more people died. It was why I would never want to be a queen. I never wanted to shoulder the responsibility of sending others into battle even if I’d gladly go to battle for my own Queen.

“We’re in the middle of the desert,” I said, ignoring Maez’s words. “There’s no one around for miles. And the sun isn’t blistering in the sky. I’ll be fine.”

I lingered on the steps for a second, waiting for Maez to stop me, but she just clicked her tongue and wandered back to the kitchen, probably in search of something not burnt or rock-hard to eat.

I listened to the sound of Navin’s music resuming as I walked across the dark sand and up into the jagged hills.

The moon was so bright in these parts that it cast the whole landscape in her eerie silver glow. The constellations, too, were brighter and more numerous than I’d ever seen before, the sky milky with brilliant white patches.

I climbed to the top of the rock formation and sat, staring out at the vastness of the nighttime sky and the desert stretching out before us. A scorpion scuttled from one rock to the next, the only sign of life in this place. I wrapped my scarf around me, turning away from the sudden gritty gust of wind. It appeared out of nowhere and then everything was calm and still again. My skin prickled against the chill, surprised by how cool the desert nights were.

I spotted Maez’s silhouette on the horizon as she ran out into the stretch of desert to shift and contact Briar. It would be an awful message to relay. I hoped at least Calla was getting somewhere with the Ice Wolves.

I heard the lute finish its final notes and then moments later footsteps approaching. Even without the telltale silence, I knew it was Navin who was hiking up the hill after me. He had long, confident strides, the loose rubble crunching under his feet.

“Here.” I felt the warmth of a cloak wrap around my backand realized it was my own. I didn’t know if I liked the idea that he’d climbed up here to bring it to me, but despite myself I pulled it around me. “The nights can get chilly down here.”

I frowned as he perched on the rock beside me and stared up at the moon. “First you reprimand me for dressing too warmly and now for not enough.”

“Do you think me bringing you your cloak is a reprimand?” he asked to the stars. “These parts can be treacherous, the temperatures extreme. You couldn’t have known.”

“But you were angry with me,” I said, hating the way my voice went up an octave.

“I wasn’t angry,” he said carefully. “I was terrified.”

Part of me broke at that. “I knew you’d be terrified of me.”

“What?”

“When you saw my Wolf, I knew, I—”

Navin’s hand reached over and turned my chin to face him. I pulled out of his touch, not wanting to see his disgust, but when I met his eyes, they were wide and honest. “I wasn’t terrified of you.” His brow furrowed and he shook his head. “I was terrifiedforyou. First, I thought those men might take you. Then I thought I was going to watch you die from heat sickness right before my eyes.”

“But...” I stood, needing to put some distance between us. I backed up, leaning against the peak of sandstone behind me. “When you saw my Wolf... you were afraid.”

“Afraid? No.” His cheek dimpled, the flicker of a smile. “I was awed by you,” he said, rising to a stand. “You were—are—the most magnificent creature I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t bear it, Sadie.”

“Bear what?”

He took another step toward me. “To think of all the things you deserve and all the ways I failed you.”

I opened my mouth but had no idea what to say to that. What else was there to say? Navin took another careful step until he was standing toe-to-toe with me. I wanted to tell him that hehadn’t failed me, but I was still too hurt by his actions during the battle with Sawyn to say it honestly. And I had the strong sense he would spot the lie a mile away.

“This was never a good idea anyway,” I murmured, keeping my gaze fixed to our touching boots.

“It wasn’t?” Navin cocked his head. “Why not?”

I snorted and met his storming gaze. “Youknowwhy.”

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