Page 43 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“She got to Sankai-ed.” Briar’s chest heaved as she clung to me. “She went back down and searched for them after the storm... but she found no trace of them.”

Hector whined again and I knew he feared the worst. Their bodies were probably buried in the storm. I tried to push the thought away. Sadie was the toughest Wolf I knew. If anyone could survive, it would be her. But Navin? There was no way he could have pulled through.

I tried to fight the pain blossoming in my chest. Then selfishly another thought popped into my mind, and I hated myself for it. “Did they uncover his secrets? Do they have any more answers?”

Hector’s growl shook through me, making my whole body tremble. It was a shitty question. His sister might have just died, and I was still trying to uncover Navin’s secret plot. His secrets had probably died with him.

And yet I was the Queen, and for all that it grieved me, part of my duty was to ask such shitty questions, so that others didn’t have to. So I stared him down, and his ears flattened back in submission.

Now wasnotthe time for division.

Grae reappeared through the trees in his human form dressed in a thick fur cloak. Whorls of steam escaped his mouth and billowed behind him, his breaths coming out in sharp pants. He carried an armful of clothing and two pairs of boots. He dropped the boots beside us and laid one fur cloak over Briar who I still cradled in my arms, then he wrapped the other cloak around my shoulders and crouched down beside me.

“We should get you two inside,” he murmured gently, even though his face was tight with pain.

Briar didn’t respond for a long time, but when she did, she said, “There’s something else.”

“Gods.” The look in her eyes had my heart doubling pace. “What?”

Her throat bobbed. “Maez was so weakened by grief it slipped out of her mind. A memory. In this sandstone little border town...”

My eyes widened. “What was she keeping from you?”

“Sadie’s father and uncles tried to capture her and take her to Rikesh.”

“Rikesh?” I swept the hair from Briar’s face. She wasn’t making any sense. “Why?”

“Nero arranged her marriage to Prince Tadei.”

Hector let out a piercing howl as Grae and I growled in unison. “He can’t do that.”

“He can.” Briar’s glassy gaze met mine. “At least, he believes he can, as does Tadei. And Sadie wasn’t the only one Nero arranged a betrothal to.”

“What? Who?”

“Me,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

“But you have a mate!” My scream was so shrill it made Hector jolt. It was actually Briar who was calm this time.

“I know, Calla.”

“Who did he promise you to?”

“Hemming’s son,” Briar said, glancing at Grae as she clutched the cloak tighter to her chest. His lip curled and a deep growl rumbled out of him. “His new heir, Evres.” Briar’s composure shattered once more, and she groaned and clutched her stomach, her body shaking with pain. “It hurts,” she cried. “Maez hurts so badly.” She tried to pull from my grip. “I need to go to her. I need to help her.”

She tried to stand, and my arms banded around her tighter as Grae took a step between her and the edge of the clearing. “You’re not going anywhere,” I said. “Especially not now.”

Briar battled against me, and I squeezed her tighter to me. She was strong, but I was stronger. I could feel her heartbreak radiating off her and couldn’t imagine the pain of being forced to stay away from my mate. It was cruel. But losing her to Nero would be far crueler. She couldn’t just go gallivanting off to Valta.

“Maez will return,” I reassured her. “You’ll be reunited soon. It’s okay.” Her battling arms weakened and she sagged in my grip. “It’s okay.”

Grae and I exchanged pained glances, and I knew he was imagining what it would be like to be separated from me, knowing I was in pain and being unable to reach me. Gods, he’d known that pain before. I couldn’t hold his gaze, that sorrow suddenly fresh within me. I just held Briar tighter to my chest and rocked her until she went limp.

Sadie

I came to with my hands bound in metal shackles behind my back, too tight for me to break, even with my strength. Whoever had tied me up was either incredibly cunning or had detained Wolves before. With my arms in such a position, shifting would probably rip me in two. I’d seen it happen and the thought still made me sick to my stomach—a soldier panicked during a training exercise and had shifted, tearing a whole arm and part of their torso off in the process. No amount of shifting back healed him of that—even Wolves don’t survive after losing a leg. He bled out in the forest of Highwick where we were training. I’d been thirteen at the time.

My feet were also shackled and a gag bit into the corners of my mouth. My head throbbed, an aching pain shooting out from behind my eyes, and I swore to the fucking Gods that if I passed out one more time, heads would roll.

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