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Tears slipped down my cheeks faster than Grae could swipe them away, and he gave up trying, pulling me into a fierce hug instead. He buried his lips in my hair, his strong arms pulling me so tightly as if he could pull my pain into his own body.

“Fuck anyone who would ever make you feel less than,” he said. “You deserve to be exactly who you are, unconditionally and without fear.”

I sobbed as I remembered the way Ingrid looked at me in the square, the shock and disgust on her face that I would be so humanlike. It was as if I told her I hated being a Wolf. She looked at me like I’d betrayed her somehow. I felt it in that moment—her allegiance slipping through my fingers. I felt her backing away from me. And it broke me.

I sobbed harder, clinging to Grae’s shoulders as he gently rubbed circles down my back.

“Maybe being who I am comes at too high a price,” I cried again as I stained Grae’s tunic with my tears.

“No.” The word left his mouth before I even stopped talking. “Everything that you are, little fox—everything—is exactly as you are meant to be.”

“But Ingrid—”

“Fuck Ingrid,” Grae snarled. “We will find another way. We’ve been bending over backward for her and the Ice Wolves. Briar has faked her heart away to that idiot Klaus. But more than all that, I’ve been watching you shrink yourself smaller and smaller in her presence. I bit my tongue because I thought it’s what you wanted, but I can’t take it anymore, either. If they can’t handle the brilliance with which you burn, Calla, then let them all catch fire. I’d rather be standing on top of their ashes than miss the brightness of your flame.”

I let out a half laugh, half cry, my posture straightening as Grae’s finger landed under my chin and he tilted my face up to meet his storming midnight eyes. He planted a kiss on my lips, the contact making my whole body sigh. He licked the salty tears from my bottom lip and coaxed my mouth to respond. The tightness in my chest eased as my mouth molded to his.

I knew he at least could handle all I was. All the Golden Court could. All the people I represented. All the people whomatteredwould never ask me to dull my shine or pretend to be something I’m not.

Grae’s lips told me everything I couldn’t find the words to say: there would be another way. We would find a new path. One that didn’t break me in the process.

One that didn’t ask me to forsake merem.

His hands slid up my arms to cup my cheeks, his kisses earnest and eager. The way he cradled my head was like he was focusing me in to only him, my guiding star, the one truth that would pull me back into myself. The tears ebbed as I kissed him deeper, the sorrow morphing into yearning.

A rumble of pleasure reverberated between our mouths as Grae stilled.

“We will fight this. Together,” he murmured against my mouth. “But I swear to all the fucking Gods, little fox, if you try to leave me behind again, I won’t be held responsible for destroying everything that stands between me and you.” His hands trailed down from my cheeks, following the curve of mybody and landing on the swell of my ass. His voice was dark and pleading. “Promise me.” He rocked my hips into his hardening length, and I gasped with the power and possession in his demand.

“I promise,” I said, and then again, my soul speaking directly to his. “I promise.”

I was about to pull him into the bedroom when a knock sounded at the door.

“Grae?” Hector’s sleepy voice was muffled by the door.

“It’s always fucking Hector.” Grae turned and leered at the door as I chuckled. “What do you want?” he barked.

“Queen Ingrid has heard from Nero,” Hector called back, dousing ice on my burgeoning desire. “He’s agreed to a trade for Ora.”

I leaned past Grae, my heart leaping with the excitement before the dread cut it back down again. I stared at the shut door for a long time before asking, “In exchange for what?”

Sadie

We rode out with the dawn on a single dappled tan mare. My hands were once again bound behind my back as Rasil watched us leave. Navin’s arms circled around me, keeping me from sliding off the horse’s neck. I gripped the mare tightly with my thighs, wishing I had my hands free to hold on to her mane. At least my legs had been unchained, and they’d permitted me to wear some flimsy old breeches; otherwise the sores and chafing would’ve been unfathomable, even knowing I’d be able to shift once we’d put some distance between us and the refuge. Still, riding with bound hands was an exercise of misery.

“Just one more dune.” Navin’s warm breath skimmed the shell of my ear. “And then we’ll be able to relax.”

I kept having the urge to look back, but I knew we’d find no sign of the Songkeepers’ sanctuary, only the slightest bend in the air where the glamour started, hidden amongst the waving heat lines.

I wore a bone-white scarf that wrapped around my nose and head, keeping the sunlight from burning my skin—Navin had convinced Rasil that no one wanted a red and peeling betrothed, and even then the asshole had barely relented. Meanwhile, Navin wore a chestnut, wide-brimmed hat that made him look more like a roguish pirate than a musician. I had zero qualms withthat outfit, nor the way he roughly handled me onto the horse in front of Rasil. It felt good not always being the domineering one for once. I’d always been the instigator and commander of all my past trysts. I never thought it could be like this with anyone nor that I’d enjoy it, let alone with a human. And esh, this human, with his long fingers, and plundering tongue, and giant c—

I adjusted my seat and rolled my shoulders.

“Soon,” Navin promised, mistaking my arousal for discomfort.

I cleared my throat but held my tongue. I didn’t want to use it for speaking anyway—

Get it together, Sadie!