Page 16 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

I nodded as I saw the girls in a fresh light. I’d felt overwhelmed by the crowd here, but I could now imagine how alienating it must be for them too.

“Perhaps we should all sit down at lunch, once everyone has found a room to their liking, and talk through what you actually need in the short term,” I replied. “The goal is to get you back to your land, your homes, and to help you rebuild. But until then? How can we help you heal? What do you need to do that?”

“A wise plan,” Annis said, then pulled away, bustling back to her charges with all the pluck of a mother hen. “Come, my loves. There’s a room in here that I think will be just perfect for us.”

A queen, Axe had called me, but I couldn’t have felt less like one. I was floundering like mad and I had to wonder how the hell this would’ve worked if Annis hadn’t extended a hand to me, because as soon as she opened a door and claimed a space, others went and did the same. Though as the hallways cleared and people found a place to call home temporarily, I wondered.

All the sources of authority I’d been exposed to in Grania were dictatorial and high handed. You did as my father or the church said, or faced dire consequences. So what was the alternative? Was it this? Finding people with strengths you didn’t have, ensuring they had a voice, and then throwing your support behind it.

I was about to find out.

I waited for everyone to find a room, assisting some who struggled to find something that fitted their circumstances and then it was done. I stood in an empty corridor, only the muffled sounds of the people coming from behind closed doors for company until Annis emerged.

“Let’s find those princes of yours,” she said, taking my arm and tucking it in hers. Suddenly I was beginning to wonder if I was going to become another of her lost lambs. “Something needs to be done. You know it and I know it, so let’s make sure it’s done right.”

9

“This isn’t a simple problem, so there are no simple answers,” Dane said once Annis and several other refugees joined us at the table we were sitting at. Everyone had come to the massive dining hall for the midday meal, but some were focussed on things other than food.

“That may be,” Annis replied primly, “but I’ve always found a difficult situation is one best tackled with small steps, rather than just left to fester.”

“No one’s suggesting that,” Dane said, but he stopped when my hand slid to his thigh and gave it a squeeze. He looked down at me, his eyes scanning my face, looking for reasons why, but then he nodded. “But let’s get a better understanding of the issue at hand. Tell us what you can and then point us to anyone else you think can add to the conversation.”

Nothing they told us was new. We’d heard tales of rapes, murders, wanton destruction. We’d seen it with our own two eyes, but it was different hearing people tell their stories. Either in halting, short bursts of words, or in flat monotones, just getting it all out. Each tale was like a boil, being lanced over and over and the diseased pus leaked over all of us. But in all of that, a pattern emerged.

“They’re getting closer,” Weyland said, going pale, his eyes burning bright.

“They’re nibbling away at Strelae like a squirrel would an apple,” Axe rumbled, his brows pulling down hard. “Father doesn’t want to send the troops, thinking the Reavers aren’t a threat? He’ll have them down on all our heads in weeks, if these reports are correct.”

“And where will these lords and ladies be then?” a man called Ned said. His grin was slow and savage. “Happy enough for us poor bastards to go under the knife, but when the wolf is at their door?”

I blinked then, able to hear the rustle of a raven’s feathers in my ears.

“We need to mobilise,” Weyland said. “We need to take control of the army ourselves. Bugger Father, I’ll challenge him myself!”

“A challenge without the court’s support is a sure recipe for anarchy,” Dane said through gritted teeth. “You think I don’t want that?” His eyes jerked to Gael, to the scars across his face and the man himself stiffened as everyone else followed suit. “I’ve been dreaming of the day we face him in a challenge.” All the cool bled away from Dane’s voice and something else emerged. Something true. “Living under their rule. Living with their bullshit—”

“Well, well,” Annis said with a slow nod. “It looks like we do understand each other after all.” She turned to the other people at the table, who all nodded in their agreement. “So you have seen first hand their stupidity and you’ve had to live with it for longer. Holing up in this place is only going to be a temporary measure. Someone must do something about saving Strelae, before there’s nothing left to save.”

“Darcy becomes queen,” Dane growled, his claws digging into the tabletop. “Since the last true queen went across the border into Grania, queens come and go without changing the power dynamic of court.” He glanced at me. “When he sees you, sees what you really are, he’ll all but shove Mother off the edge of a cliff to get to you.”

My eyes fluttered as I was forced to accept a reality I’d somehow overlooked. I’d thought I was taking out a threat, but the king…

“You want me to…” I grabbed my mug and downed a great mouthful of tea, the liquid burning its way down. “But you’ll... You’ll challenge your father and Dane will become king.”

“We’ll never leave you to Father’s tender mercies,” Dane promised me, but it was the wrong kind of promise. He didn’t agree with my statement, didn’t seek to reassure me. “You are our mate.”

“But…” I barely breathed the word.

“But challenges to the king come in two forms. When he’s willing to step down, a competition between all the eligible packs takes place. This is usually during a time of peace, because it's a long and protracted process and the king and his pack must work hard to keep order until a successor is declared,” he replied, those blue eyes boring into mine.

“Or?”

“Or revolution. Bloody, violent revolution,” he said. “Because a full frontal assault destroys confidence in the existing king, in the acceptance that he has the right to rule over us all. The court is already a cesspool of unfettered ambition, where fighting for your place is more important than your lands, your source of wealth, your people…”

Dane paused then, taking the time to meet each one of the refugees’ eyes. The moment of silence stretched on as he bore witness to that injustice.

“But if we challenge Father now, it gives every single one of those venal bastards the excuse they’ve been looking for to try and grab power for themselves. We don’t need division right now, we need unity.”

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