Misty
It’s morning. Early morning–still too early for the sun to breach the mountains and send light spilling over the village of Silverhide.
I roll over on the couch, wrapped in a thick blanket, and stare at the dying embers in the stone fireplace across the room.
I haven’t slept. Pain echoes through my body, settling deep in my bones. It’s not a sharp, bright pain. It’s the kind that aches and throbs–a dull thrum of noise that makes it impossible to focus, let alone close my eyes and rest.
I feel empty. Empty, and alone.
‘Why did you do this to me?’ I ask through the sliver of bond I still share with Cole… I hope. I hung on so tight when he rejected me, refusing to let him do it.
But his voice is no longer in my head.
My eyes are dry and rimmed red as I watch the embers flicker like stars against a sea of darkness. I have no tears left to cry. I used them up. They’re gone.
Ryan and Aviva’s bedroom door opens nearby, a shadowed figure ducking as Ryan steps out of his room and pauses in the doorframe. His eyes scan my nest of blankets before settling on my face. He closes the door as quietly as possible when he notices I’m awake.
“Morning,” he says under his breath.
My lips part, but no sound comes out. I feel boneless–unable to sit up. Too weak and depressed to even move.
He walks over to the couch and sits down with a groan near my feet, fisting a pair of thick socks that he wordlessly pulls on. He’s dressed for… a journey. It’s an Endovian outfit with all those weird loops and leather strings that can stretch to fit his wolf form, keeping him fully dressed when he shifts back to his usual form.
My stomach turns. He’s going to the border right now, isn’t he? His eyes–just a shade darker than mine–flick to meet mine as he straightens, huffing out a breath. “Sleep okay?”
“I don’t think I slept.”
“Yeah… me neither.” He glances at his bedroom door with eyes full of regret. “Want to talk?”
“No–I don’t. Not right now.”
He rises from the couch, patting me hard on the thigh, before walking toward the worktable in their kitchen. I rise enough to peek at him, watching him tuck knives and long blades into a weapon belt and secure it around his waist. Ryan looks… not necessarily exhausted, but his eyes are glazed and heavy as he packs his things.
“Sydney’s forces crossed the river in the Roguelands last night, a few hours after you arrived,” he says into the silence. “The border in the Roguelands is secure now–under the control of warriors from Crescent Falls and the Roguelands. They’re moving their armies over in preparation to invade. I’m heading to Navvan to do the same on our edge of the map.” He murmurs the last words as he shrugs into a thick wool jacket, stuffing a pair of gloves in his pocket.
“Have you heard…” I trail off, my throat closing around the words. A dry, strangled sob works through my chest, painfully trying to crawl up my throat, but I force it down. Cole’s face dances through my mind. The memory of his twisted, pained expression as he’d rejected me will forever haunt my dreams.
Ryan sighs, shaking his head. “Ryatt and Evander are in Oasia.”
“What?” I sit straight up. “Uncle Ryatt–he went back?”
Ryan scans my face, his eyes going dark. “They brought Evander’s Ghost army with them to do some reconnaissance while the rest of our forces move into the desert.” He slides his thumb along the edge of one of his blades, lost in thought, then asks, “What happened, Misty?”
“I don’t know where to begin,” I admit, tugging my knees to my chest. “Ryan, I don’t know what to even say.”
“Then I’ll help,” he says under his breath, turning to face me. “Who’s in charge in Tarsian?”
“Not Cole.”
“So there was a coup?”
I nod, my lower lip trembling.
Before I can explain, he says, “This… Richard guy Dad keeps talking about… he retaliated against Cole for killing King Jaxon?”
“No,” I rush out, sliding to my feet. “No, that’s wrong. That’s wrong, that’s not what happened.”
“I need to know,” he says firmly. “I get you’re not ready to talk about this, but we’re sending thousands of warriors into Tarsian today, with more flooding in tomorrow, and the next day. Who is our enemy?”
“Richard. The Umbra Mortis. Cole didn’t–King Jaxon was cursed by Richard. Richard has magic, Ryan. He has the Book of Whispers, and he used it to curse Cole’s dad, and the Arcane Umbra society, and Cole’s entire court… his pack…”
Ryan stares in disbelief. “This Richard person has the Book of Whispers?”
I hold his gaze, knowing exactly what’s going through his head right now. His mate almost died this past summer because of that damn book, and now I have to confirm it.
“Richard used the book in the Deadlands, in Navvan. It was a test. Thinking back on it, now that I’ve seen what he can do with those powers… he was able to curse that guy from Navvan.”
“Hardan.”
“Yeah,” I murmur, picking at my nails. “And through Hardan, controlled the Rogues. I don’t know how he did it, exactly, but Cole told me it was a test. A test of Richard’s powers. And it wasn’t a failure even though… your people prevailed. Cole told me Richard has an army. I don’t know how many warriors he has, but if he spread this curse throughout Tarsian, it could be tens of thousands of people.”
Ryan’s seeing red. I watch the way he grips his blade before sliding it into a holster.
“What side is Cole on?”
“Ours. He’s just trying to protect his people from this monster. He… was trying to protect me, and everything he’s done… everything he had to do… was to try to protect me from Richard. He never wanted to use me as a breeder, but we had to. Ryan, I–”
The bedroom door opens abruptly. Aviva steps out looking a little green as she braces herself on the doorframe, hanging her head. Ryan stiffens, then says softly under his breath–so softly I almost miss it, “Fuck.”
Aviva looks up, blinking into the dimly lit room and scans her mate’s outfit and weapons. “Ryan?”
“Aviva, you should go back to bed. Sarah’s going to be here any minute.”
I look between the mates, trying to read their expressions. Aviva looks like she’s slowly putting pieces of a puzzle together while Ryan looks guilty as fuck.
“Why is Sarah coming here?” Aviva glances at me. “Oh, to take Misty to Moonrise.”
“And… you.” Ryan meets his mate’s large, coppery-brown eyes.
“What the fuck did you just say?” She shakes her head, laughing. “Goddess, this morning sickness… I hallucinated–”
“You’re not going with me to the border, Aviva–”
“Yeah, I’m not,” she confirms, giving him a confused look. “I’m going to Oasia with Evander.”
Oh, shit. I take a slow step backward toward the couch as Ryan hangs his head.
Last night had been madness for everyone but me. I’d slipped into numbness, barely listening to the hurried conversation between Aviva and her sister, Mercy. Aviva left at one point, coming back to the house with Ryan, but I’d been pretending to be asleep on the couch. I couldn’t hear their muffled conversation behind their bedroom door, but if the first battles on the border began last night, I assumed Aviva, our family’s best warrior… much to Evander’s annoyance at having been toppled from his podium… would be going to war, as well.
She wants to. This is what she’s good at. What she was made for. Why the Goddess gave her that big-ass golden bow.
But now I’m realizing what I missed from the conversation, especially when Ryan says, “Evander and the Ghosts are already in Oasia.”
“What?” Aviva gasps. “I–I overslept. They left without me–”
“No,” he breathes, meeting her eyes. “Aviva, you’re not going. You’re not going to battle. You’re going to Moonrise with the rest of the women in our family–your sisters, all of them, will be going, too. Freya and Dahlia–”
“Ryan!” she shouts, her eyes wide with confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re sick, baby,” he says softly, painfully. “I can’t let you come. I can’t lose you–and our baby.”
Aviva looks like she’s about ready to rip my brother into pieces, and honestly, rightfully so. But… Aviva’s pregnant. I saw that in a vision–her being so sick she couldn’t eat, and Ryan so beside himself about how to help her–all while the family seemed to be counting on her to be the one rescuing me with Evander’s help.
“You’re leaving me behind,” she whispers, hurt lacing each word. “No–”
“It’s not up to me anymore,” he asserts. “My dad–and Ryatt–know about that pregnancy now.”
“You promised we wouldn’t tell anyone until–”
“Until we were ready, I know. But I’m your mate. I’m your husband, and it’s my duty to protect you. Both of you, so you’re leaving. You’re going somewhere safe until this is over.”
Aviva looks shattered as she glances at me, shaking her head. “I’m going with you, Ryan.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
Aviva pants, curling her hands into fists, just as Sarah walks through the door, bundled against the cold.
Ryan steps toward Aviva, but she turns from him.
Sarah goes a little pink when she senses the thick tension in the room and skirts past them to me, throwing her arms around me in a very tight embrace.
But over her shoulder, I watch as Ryan pulls Aviva against his chest, against her will. He murmurs something into her hair that’s obviously meant for just them, and she goes slack, burying her face in his chest.
Tears finally sting my eyes again. Maybe I do have some left.
Sarah pulls out of the hug, clasping my face between her hands. “Goddess, I missed you. I knew you’d be okay.” Her eyes betray her words, though. She takes in my thinness, my gaunt, exhausted features. “Everyone’s in Moonrise. Your mom, too. She’s very excited to see you. Hannah and Beta Cassian are staying in Crescent Falls, running things in her absence.”
I hear the door to the deck click shut. We turn to see who left–finding Aviva standing in her pajamas, her hair loose and wild, tears glistening in her eyes before she wipes them away and turns toward their bedroom.
“We’ll give her a moment to pack, I think.”
I’m not sure what to say to her. I’m not sure what to say to anyone. The only person I have words for is Cole, and he’s so very far away. Is he still in Oasia, I wonder? Did he make it out, or is Evander going to find his lifeless body in the castle he hated, in the court where he felt no ties, yet fought so hard to protect?
I think of Lavender and Orion, wondering if they made it out. Lavender, especially. Goddess, I’m going to miss her.
But then I remember Annabel, and Cole’s mother…. Do they keep in contact with Cole, somehow? Do they know how bad things are in Tarsian?
Are they protected?
Aviva drags a duffle bag toward Sarah, refusing to meet our eyes.
Sarah’s mouth pinches in a straight line as Aviva steps to her side.
“Are we ready?” Sarah asks.
I look down at my borrowed pajamas. I dig deep, wondering if now that I’m able to shift, I’ll have access to those strange teleportation powers some of us inherited… so I can jump to Cole, instead.
But I feel nothing but that empty pain of his loss–of our shattered mate bond.
Aviva says weakly, “Get me out of here before I change my mind.”
Sarah squeezes her shoulder and extends a hand to me, saying, “Next stop, Moonrise. I made Isla promise to save some breakfast for us.”
I grip her hand, and close my eyes.
‘Stay alive,’ I beg Cole, praying these are the words that stick, that travel down that single thread I’m hanging onto.