Page 42 of The Iron Flower

“Go,” she says, forcing a rare smile. “I’m so happy for you.”

Andras nods, then departs with the Lupines.

My eyes meet Tierney’s. I can see everything she’s feeling in her troubled expression—how this friend she’s rapidly grown so close to will likely be absorbed into a Lupine world she is completely shut out of, because Tierney has no desire to be anything other than what she is.

Asrai Water Fae.

“I can’t talk about this,” she says sharply, grimacing in response to a question I haven’t voiced. “Unless you want me to inadvertently summon a very fierce storm.” Her eyes flick toward the ceiling. “Right here. In the middle of this blasted Yule-fest.”

Before I can even attempt to say anything, Tierney turns on her heel and stalks out of the hall.

* * *

That evening, after spending a few hours with Uncle Edwin at his Verpax City lodging house, I set out to find Andras, eager to know what happened after he went off with the Lupines.

I push through the dark woods, a lantern in hand, picking my way over the icy ground toward Naga’s cave. The hostility from the trees is a chafing vibration at the edge of my mind, but I’m getting better at shutting them out.

The leaping flames of a bonfire up ahead come into view, and Andras’s voice filters back through the woods.

“So, you’re following me now, Mother?”

Mother?

Before I can ponder this further, Yvan appears, striding quietly toward me, cast in the forest’s darkness. I slow to a stop and take in Yvan’s cautionary look, his finger raised to his lips. His hand comes to my arm as he gestures at the fire with a tilt of his head.

Careful to tread quietly, I move slightly closer to the clearing until I can just make out Andras and his mother, Professor Volya, through the dark branches.

I’m filled with surprise at the dramatic change in Andras’s appearance. All of his Amaz rune pendants and metallic jewelry are gone, as well as his usual rune-marked scarlet tunic, replaced by simple Keltic attire. The only part of him that’s unaltered are the black rune-tattoos on his face.

Professor Volya is looking at her son with an expression of complete confusion as he sits by the fire, his hands tightly clasped on his knees, his head bowed. “Why are you dressed like that?” she demands worriedly. “Why did you leave everything...even your Goddess pendant...at our home?”

Andras is quiet for a long moment. “I met my son today, Mother,” he finally says.

“Your son?”

“With Sorcha Xanthippe.”

Professor Volya’s face fills with both censure and alarm. “The Amaz girl who flouted every rule of the fertility rites? The one you formed that unnatural attachment to?”

For a moment, Andras is speechless, as if stunned by her dismissal. “Did you hear anything I just told you? I have ason.”

Fierce remorse washes over his mother’s face. “And so my sins multiply themselves.” She looks around, as if searching for something in the woods. “Where is he? This son of yours?”

Andras glares at her, his jaw set tight. “The Lupines have taken him in. He’s one of them now. And I’m going to join them.”

She freezes, seeming stunned.

“For two years,” Andras tells her with forced calm, “they have raised my son as one of their own. And now they’ve invited me to become one of them, as well. I could be a father to my son. And someday, I could have a mate and a family.”

His mother flinches, as if struck. “Youhavea family,” she insists, her voice breaking.

“I know I do,” Andras says quietly. “I love you, Mother. And I know what you’ve sacrificed for me. But it’s not enough, living like this. Join the Lupines with me. They have already told me that, unlike your people, they would welcome you, as well.”

Fire flashes in her eyes. “No.Never.”

“Why?” Andras demands, suddenly incensed. “What do you really know of them?”

“I know enough!” she snarls. “Their ways are evil.” She makes a sweeping gesture with her arm, as if she’s slicing the air in front of her with a broadsword. “They slavishly follow their male alpha—”

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