Page 13 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“Esh no.” Navin let out a bitter laugh. “I can’t deny somewhere deep down I still love my brother. Maybe something in all those childhood memories makes me hang on to him even though he betrayed our family by siding with that sorceress.” He dusted his flour-covered hand down the thick fabric of his trouser leg and then stole a glance my way. Those brown eyes that swirled like molten bronze held a magic all their own. Every time I looked into them, it felt like falling under a spell. “But I didn’t save him out of love,” he said, holding my gaze. “I wasn’tchoosinghim.”

I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t handle all the things unspoken that passed between our eyes. I severed that spell and stared back out at the speckled sunlight through the honeyed canopy.

“Did he do it?” I asked.

“Hmm?”

“Did he share the secrets you were hoping he’d keep?”

Navin paused for a long time before replying, “No, he didn’t. And it makes it a lot harder to hate him now.”

What were these secrets? And why was it so important that Navin’s brother not share them? I knew he wouldn’t tell me if I just asked outright. Already he’d told me more than I’d expected. Guilt was a powerful tool. Maybe he felt a little heartbreak, too.

“This secret,” I hedged, holding up my hands when Navin tried to interject. “You don’t have to tell me what it is. But does this secret with your brother also have something to do with Ora?”

He stared straight ahead and I already knew the answer: yes.

Shit. This was bigger than a family secret then. This would be no small thing if the Silver Wolf pack knew about it. Somethingwas happening right under my nose, but I couldn’t catch the scent of it yet.

“Keep your secrets,” I said quietly. “As long as they don’t impact me, it doesn’t matter. But will you promise to tell me whatever Ineedto know to keep Maez and me safe on this trip?”

“All you need to know is that Ora knows something very important,” Navin said. “I don’t know how much the Silver Wolves know, if they know anything at all. But if those Wolves can get Ora to talk... it could set the whole world on fire.”

“Fuck.” I sucked in a sharp breath, jostling my knee anxiously up and down. What in the Gods’ names could Ora know that would be so world destroying? “Nero is probably torturing information out of Ora right now.”

Navin shook his head. “Ora has ways of protecting their mind if not their body.”

I glanced at Navin from his knitted cap to his pointy boots. “Whoareyou?”

He let out a rough laugh, making his broad shoulders shake. “I’m a musician.” I scrutinized him for a long time before he asked, “Who are you, Sadie Rauxtide?”

“A Wolf, once Silver now Gold, a member of the Golden Court, a soldier, a killer,” I added pointedly.

A skin chaser, I thought in my mind.A person too rough and too heartless for a gentle soul like you.

“Thank you for telling me about this,” I said with a nod, rising to stand.

Navin stared back out at the rolling golden forest that completely consumed the wagon now. “Thank you for coming with me.” His voice had grown hollow, and I wondered if he was reliving what horrible memories transpired in the mines below us. Could he still taste that fear? Was he thinking of his father’s body still down there somewhere, unburied, but continually mourned?

“If the oxen can lead themselves...” I paused at the curtain. “Why don’t you come inside?”

“I think I need the fresh air right now,” he whispered.

I sighed, turning around and dropping back onto the bench beside him. I reached out and threaded his hand in my own, just as I had done during the ride over. He squeezed my hand in silent acknowledgment and then went back to humming.

“I think I need some fresh air, too.”

Sadie

I listened to Navin hum tune after tune as we rolled through the Sevelde Forest. Holding his hand was like holding a flame to candle wax: I wanted it to burn me, but it only made me melt more into his side. I couldn’t deny the comfort of his warm grip on my own.Just a physical comfort, I assured myself as I wrapped another layer of thorns around my heart. It didn’t matter how my body responded so long as it helped me uncover his secrets.

If Navin was aware of the ebb and flow of my incongruous thoughts, he didn’t show it. Even at rest when he wasn’t performing, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from carrying a tune. It was only when the golden trees were far behind us that Navin finally fell silent.

When we rolled into the sleepy border town of Durid, we only had to pay one crover for the border tithe. It was strange not having Sawyn’s Rooks posted every few stretches along the trail. They had bullied us out of quite a lot of money on the ride to Olmdere before Sawyn’s demise. I wondered for not the first time what would come of the former Rooks like Navin’s brother.

When Calla was saved by their dying wish, I saw the way the light patched them back together, as if an entire sun wasconsumed into them, their scars like rivers of gold across their body. The Rooks’ swords clattered to the ground instantly at the sight, knowing that even the Gods themselves wanted Calla to protect Olmdere.

There was not a whisper of dissent, not a single murmur of uprising amongst the remaining Rooks. It was strange... and wholly unsatisfying. Humans who one second I’d been driving my blade into were all at once cowering on their knees, begging our forgiveness. It would’ve felt better for some of them to rebel, some of them to rise up, to fight. At least then I’d know they had a backbone. But no, the Rooks all sided with Sawyn out of fear. I thought it would’ve been easier slicing my knife across a few more throats, making some examples with public hangings... which is why I was a soldier and not a ruler. Still, I liked the way people avoided me in the streets, worried that I’d take my vengeance out on them for their traitorous past.

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