Page 25 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“No…” I whispered, going to pull away but he held me still.

“That I needed to prepare for her coming, because she would be beset on all sides by challenges.”

“No, Dane…”

“That she would move like lightning, her weapons an extension of her iron will and I would know her by the taste of her blood.”

I planted my hands on his chest, feeling that pulsing, throbbing sensation that always came when I touched these men, but now it was so much more. Great waves of pleasure, of need beat inside me, a tide that was driven by the moon’s pull, not me.

“Gods be damned, Dane!” I snapped and finally broke free, stumbling back.

“One of us will care for you,” he said, as he followed me, tracking me like the wolf he was. “One of us will protect you. One of us will keep you from spiralling out and away from us, from your very humanity and me?” He tilted his head to one side, looking down at the table then and all that paperwork. “My job is to clear the way for your rule. Mother Aeve told me this that night and I’ve worked as hard as I can every day since to make it happen. You’ll take down my mother, you’ll take the throne, you’ll usurp my father and then you’ll lead us into battle, to fight back the Reavers and any else who seek to drag Strelae down.”

That gold headed raven, she appeared then in my field of vision, cawing her response to his words. Was it a cry of derision or a call to arms? I couldn’t decide. And I wasn’t going to. I stumbled towards the door, ready to go running back to that room, that big bed, where I’d slot myself in between my other mates and try to forget everything Dane said. But when I reached it, his hand slammed down beside my head.

“A wolf protects,” he said, not letting me look away for a second. “And that’s what I’ve been doing. I will always protect you,” then he jerked his head over his shoulder, “even from bullshit like that.”

I had a choice right now, I could feel that. I could stay here and he would show me everything he was working on, and all of those plots within plots that the others spoke of.

Or I could walk away and leave him to it.

My muscles shook with the effort of holding myself still, because everything in me wanted to run, run, run. I took a shuddering breath and then…

14

I stayed. I didn’t want to, my feet dragged as I followed Dane back to his desk, but he sat down and pulled me onto his lap. Once I was settled, he drew over a small map of Strelae and began to explain.

“I know why my forebears chose to retreat to this part of the country,” he said, tracing a line across the Eaglefell mountains. “Apart from the capital being based here, we were fighting a war and giving the enemy our greatest mineral deposits would not have been strategic. At the time, I think they would’ve assumed they’d have sent your people packing well before now and this wouldn’t have been an issue, but Strelae is now a land locked nation. We have the mountains on one side, curving around one border of the country and then we have Grania”—his finger followed the ragged red line that separated our countries—“on the other. We’re sandwiched between the two. In theory, it works well. Most invaders would come by sea or across the Granian borders here at the end of the mountain range.”

“But not the Reavers,” I said, wriggling a little when I saw that sea of wolves in my mind again. “They’re coming across the mountains.”

“They’re coming across the mountains,” he agreed. “In recent memory, that’s seemed like a ridiculous idea. The mountains are high, the air thin, the terrain treacherous. No sane commander would take their force through there. So we’ve done little to protect that area, focussing all our soldiers and the garrisons on the border with Grania.”

“And now we’re jammed between two hostile forces,” I said.

“Just so. But in some ways it’s even harder than the cold war we’re stuck in with the Granians. I know where their soldiers are. I know how many the Granians have, what kinds of weapons they’d bring to any fight and in what number.”

“That seems like a lot of classified information in the hands of a Strelan prince,” I said, peeking over my shoulder at him and he grinned.

“I have my sources.” When his eyes met mine, they twinkled. “Your father’s men need someone to point their bloody lances at, and I’ve provided that.”

But any amusement we might have felt soon disappeared as we considered the map.

“We don’t know where the Reavers are based or where they’ll attack next,” I said, feeling my heart sink. Horrors like Wildeford were hard enough to bear, but being unable to prepare to fight the next attack was far worse.

“We know approximately,” Dane said with a sigh, but as he traced the entire curve of the mountain range, we both seemed to deflate. “Most of the tiny little mountain hamlets are gone now and they’ve started attacking the estates. I’ve tried to alert the lords in question to this fact, but with the way Father’s court works, most don’t care. They need their lands and the wealth from them to ensure their place at court, but once here, the battles really begin.”

He settled back in his chair, taking me with him and I curled in against his chest in response.

“Every day, the noble families of Strelae must wake up and prove that they deserve the accolades and privileges bestowed upon them, or some other aristocratic family will challenge them in a duel. They don't dare go back to their estates, so abstract threats to their power bases don’t compare to the very immediate ones of court. They can’t split their focus, not for a second, which keeps them right where Father needs them.”

“Divide and conquer…” I said.

“Exactly. When their ambitions are turned against each other, they are kept away from him. He rules for as long as he remains unchallenged—”

“So you need to challenge him.” I shifted on his lap, turning to face him. “Dane, can’t you see? If you take him down—”

“Then I’ll be king and you’ll be my consort,” he said, his lips thinning. “It won’t matter what you do and how you do it, you’ll be forced to perch on the arm of my throne, be seen as nothing more than a means to bear my children. My brothers will fade into the background, unimportant. That’s not how we work and it’s not how we will be our strongest.”

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