Anwen
"Are you sure of this?" King Andri rumbles.
I hold the massive Alpha's dark stare. "Someone working with Floyd on the whole plan told us everything. I'm sure you understand why I can't tell you who."
"You think you cannot trust me." He studies me.
I hold my straight-backed posture. The king of Snowcrest doesn't scare me-in a fight, I could outlast him easily-but he radiates power just like Father used to. Part of me wishes I took Kieran up on his offer to have this meeting with me. But if he gets involved, it's a formal accusation. A prince telling a king one of their envoys is a piece-of-shit murderer creates a little less of an international incident.
"Good." King Andri's mouth twitches in what might be a smile, under his massive beard.
I exhale slowly and try not to show my relief on my face. "Great. Then can we count on your support?"
"I cannot go against Floyd Winters publicly. His family is old, if no longer powerful." King Andri nods slowly. "Everything else is yours. Snowcrest does not form alliances this way."
Questions about Father jump to my tongue. I swallow them down. If this all works out, hopefully Kieran will be able to make an actual alliance with Snowcrest, and I can ask later.
King Andri and I exchange formal goodbyes, and I dart out of the side chamber I asked him to meet me in.
One wild card down. That just leaves missing Floyd, missing Dorian, and Nessa.
'What's she doing now?' I ask Baz through mind-link.
'Still walking with Estrella to the meeting,' he replies. 'You do know I can actually do shit, right?'
I blow out a breath. 'There's no shit to do.'
Estrella believes every word Nessa's saying. And it's not like I have any proof she's up to something. Her information about Dorian panned out, even if we didn't catch him. She tells me more than I want to know every time I ask her a question.
But I can't shake this hairs-on-the-back-of-my-neck feeling that we can't trust her. Why did she come clean now? The story about Estrella and Joli is sweet, but it's not enough.
I smooth a hand over my hair and turn toward the war room Kieran set up in a hidden chamber I pointed him to. I'm letting Father's paranoia control me. He always said there was no such thing as a good deed. The point of this war room, of meeting in there at all, is to make that part of me shut up. We're finally going to settle on a plan solid enough that Dowager Suniva could be a traitor and it still won't fall apart.
We have to. The wedding is tomorrow. And fuck all this, I'm not missing it.
I check my surroundings. Completely alone. I depress three stones in a seemingly random wall in order, and it slides to the side. Warm, musty air spills into the corridor. I duck inside.
The war room is impressive for how little time we had to set it up. A huge table sits in the middle of the room, covered in maps that detail every square inch of land between here and Floyd's ancestral home and surrounded by mostly full chairs. Flickering fairy-lanterns light the space. The scraps of evidence we have lay on the back table, marked and labeled with everything we know. A blueprint of the temple where Estrella and I are going to get married covers most of the back wall.
Kieran stands as I step in and shut the door behind me. "King Andri?"
"On board." Since Floyd disappeared, we haven't wasted breath on anything other than what we absolutely have to say. "Enough."
Baz leans back in his chair, trying to balance a quill on his nose. Tess watches him with taut interest. Taut everything. I don't think a muscle in her body has relaxed since we came limping home without Dorian.
"What does 'enough' mean?" Dowager Suniva asks.
I circle the room and take my seat beside Estrella. She grabs my hand underneath the table.
"He can't denounce Floyd, but we've got him behind the scenes."
Nessa nods. "That makes sense. King Andri's grandfather loved my grandmother, and she's the only one living at home."
The door opens again, and Castor walks in with King Isai's burly Beta, Cristofer. They fill the final two seats.
"Right." Kieran sits. "Everyone's here, so let's get started. Anwen, give a quick rundown of what we know."
Baz drops all four feet of his chair onto the floor. Everyone snaps to attention.
"Floyd disappeared from the castle before we got back from fighting Dorian." I draw a line along the map, tracing secret passageways that aren't marked but I know by heart. "Since he got Birsha in and out without anyone noticing, we can assume he and Dorian took a similar route, but we didn't find any proof."
Baz nods. "I could smell he'd been down there at some point, but no clue when. It was too wet."
Dowager Suniva furrows her brow and looks at Estrella, who nods. My chest warms.
"And we know his plan. The night before the wedding, he plans to isolate Estrella and make it look like we did it."
She squeezes my hand tightly.
"Nessa?" Kieran says.
She brightens.
Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time trusting her. She lights up every time he looks her way.
"I know Floyd pretty well, but you're the expert. Do you think he left because he's giving up?"
She laughs then covers her mouth. "No. Father's... I've never seen him give up on anything. He's probably just changing the plan, now that he's lost the element of surprise."
That, too. She's weirdly calm for having turned her back on her father.
Kieran said I was projecting when I told him my worries.
"Can we not just track both of them down and end this?" Castor demands. "I know how to track. So do many of your men."
"That is too risky, my dear." Dowager Suniva puts her hand on his. "If you take yourself and so many soldiers away, those that remain will be left vulnerable."
Estrella smiles wryly. "This is why you always lose at kras. The better's gambit is called that because it's risky, not because it is always the right choice."
He rolls his eyes.
"Floyd's smart, but he never checks his work," I say before the siblings can start bickering. "We should use that against him."
Estrella nods. "He will assume we are proceeding mostly as planned without ensuring that's actually true. What would be the normal procedure for a situation like this?"
I exchange a glance with Kieran. Father would turn the whole might of the army to destroying anyone who dared do something like this in his palace.
"The most up-to-date procedures dictate that we place additional guards on your rooms until the threat is either passed or eliminated," he says carefully.
"A lockdown?" Tess's eyebrows shoot up. "We won't simply wait to be killed."
"No, we won't." Castor palms his sword. "We will be armed, ready."
Estrella's younger brother has all the patience the Goddess gave a hummingbird, but fuck if his plans don't start to sound pretty good after a while. I imagine all of us sitting in a single room, at the ready. Estrella and I tearing into the men who did this to her, to us, until there's nothing left.
"No, we will be elsewhere," Estrella says.
Everyone turns to her.
"The simplest plan is the best, for the speed we have to work at. We have one day until the wedding." She stands, pointing to a dense cluster of trees just north of the palace. "Everyone in danger will stay here. It's out of the way, and nothing Floyd would think of. And while those people are being kept safe, King Kieran and King Andri can ensure the temple is safe for the wedding."
I swallow. "And who is everyone?"
"My father and I," Tess says.
"Me." Nessa stares at the tabletop.
"Mother and Castor," Estrella adds.
Dowager Suniva sighs. "I hate to say this, but if we take away all of Floyd's most preferred targets, will he not just choose another? Say, a bride on the eve of her wedding?"
"Kill Luna Estrella, cut off Anwen's access to becoming Alpha." Kieran nods slowly.
Icy fear squeezes my ribcage. "That'd be a great way to make you look like the bad guy."
Estrella scoffs. "I'm not running."
"Like hell you aren't." My voice whips out, sharp with worry. "It's the only smart move."
"Am I running?" Castor asks.
Estrella grits her teeth. "Your life has been threatened."
"I love you." I sit, staring into her eyes. "Shut up."
She glares back at me for a long moment. "I love you too."
***
Wind whips through my fur, and I wish I could enjoy it.
A bag of camping supplies bounces against my back. The whole group of us heads to the gnarled part of the forest Estrella indicated on the map. Kieran insisted on sending a guard of half a dozen soldiers with us, and I insisted on leading it. In addition to the Sundrop Gem contingent and Nessa, we have almost fifteen people.
This isn't exactly how I pictured the night before my wedding.
At least I get to watch Estrella's warm, brown fur shine in the setting sun. She's beautiful in every form.
Aldritch, the gray wolf leading the group, stops. 'We're here, Your Highness.'
I nudge Estrella, and she slows. The rest of the Sundrop contingent does immediately after.
Nessa stops last with no mind-link warning for her. The closest member of Snowcrest is back at the castle.
We hope.
I shift, pull on some shorts, and scan for any sign of other people. There's no smoke rising over the trees, no torn, abandoned clothes. I don't even see the ring of stones rogues tend to leave in their wake.
The soldiers transform, shrug off their own packs, and begin setting up camp. I'm about to join them when the air shimmers, and Estrella's scent intensifies. She just shifted.
Fuck, knowing my soon-to-be wife is naked behind me makes my mouth water.
"I'm not looking," I mutter. "Your family's here."
"And you can't contain yourself?" I can hear the smile in her voice.
"Around you? Never."
She laughs quietly. I hear her get dressed before she calls, "I have a map to the nearest river. Anwen and I are going to go find it and ensure we have fresh water."
"Please be safe," Dowager Suniva replies.
"Of course, Mother."
Estrella takes my hand and tugs, spinning me around. She's wearing a sliver of clothing, and the sunset looks better on her than any dress. Forget my mouth watering, my cock hardens just looking at her.
"It's the night before our wedding," she murmurs. "Do you really want to spend it with my family?"
I stumble after her, deeper into the trees.