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They made me believe that maybe, just maybe, I could accomplish what I’d set out to do. Even if they’d warned me I didn’t stand a chance of surviving all that they’d said would come to pass, I could leave the world a better place without me in it. I could give Imelda and Fallon a chance at finding peace.

Fenrir was silent in my mind, not relaying the information to the question I knew he could hear about my mother. I didn’t know if it was the fact that he didn’t want to answer or something else, but I didn’t dare to pry.

“It is an answer you already know deep down. It will come to you when you’re ready for it,” he said, earning a growl from me that felt particularly canine.

Lupa and Ylfa raced ahead, zooming through the flames without a care in the world. Fenrir moved slightly slower, but he still ran fast enough that I needed to hold on for all that I was worth as the Morrigan flew through the skies overhead. They’d disappear and then reappear when I least expected it, darting low to zoom past us in a flash of raven wings. Their feathers gleamed in the firelight, a distinctive golden sparkle showing in their amber eyes.

We made good time traveling this way, and I hated that I hadn’t thought to try it earlier. It gave my feet a reprieve, even if my ass and thighs tired from the effort of holding myself on my seat as Fenrir moved.

I would need to rest soon, and I didn’t think it would be an issueas some of the flames began to flicker the way they had the night before. It signaled the coming of the night, and I imagined we would need to find a place for me to hide so that the Cwn Annwn could hunt.

I hadn’t eaten, and yet my stomach didn’t harass me with the familiar grumbling of hunger yet. Before coming to Alfheimr, I might have gone longer than this without food and never thought anything of it. But I’d been spoiled with feasts even while being tormented at Mab’s hand, and my body was no longer used to going so long.

“Time moves differently here. To your body, it has only been mere hours. A night, really.”

I will need to eat soon, I thought, thinking of the way I would send emotions down the bond to reach Caldris. This felt similar, a different part of me that was connected to Fenrir. It was more complete, as if there was no part of me that was separate from him.

“Your mate bond will be similar once you complete it.”

But Fenrir and I hadn’t needed to complete anything.

“There is nothing to complete. I come from Khaos, and you are the Princess of it. Our bond justis.”

Just was. I supposed I should have been grateful that the completion of the mate bond required my consent, because even though I didn’t fault Fenrir, this somehow felt like a violation.

Which was stupid, when I wouldn’t have turned him away. I just wanted to have thechoice, in the way it felt like Caldris had done what he could, in his own twisted way, to give me as much choice as possible in something that was inevitable. It had been those I was not bound to in any way who had stripped my choice from me.

He growled, but the sound was low and calm. It didn’t feel like a threat or voicing displeasure at all. It was the closest thing I thought a wolf could come to the way a cat purred, intended to soothe rather than scare. I pressed my body tighter to his back, leaning forward to lay myself along his spine as my arms wrapped around his neck more firmly. He picked up speed the moment I got a good grip, joining his sisters in the fray as they sped through ruins and rock and fire.

We sped through the fading light of the fires, Fenrir promising to find me something to eat that night. There would be an abundance of fire in the morning to cook a quick breakfast, appeasing the needs of my stomach before they could grow too distracting. I’d need my strength for the trials coming soon enough. The Morrigan swooped through the air to signal the time for safety.

“Wait!” I called to Fenrir, pushing up from his upper body frantically as the last light cast a shadow upon a perfectly rounded stone. A male form fought to push it up the only hill in the area, and he was so close to the top I bet more than anything he could practically taste the victory of it. He slipped in the dirt just before cresting the top, the stone rolling back over him and dragging him by the chains wrapped around the stone, pulling him behind it with his arms wrenched at a horrible-looking angle.

He and the stone fell into the valley beneath the hill as we watched, Fenrir slowing to a stop. His paws dug into the dirt, refusing to move any closer but respecting my wish to not move past without offering aid.

I climbed off Fenrir’s back, dropping to the ground less than gracefully and starting my path toward the man as he slowly pushed to his feet. I moved closer even though I knew I needed to find shelter—an irrational tug pulling me forward. I needed to know, needed to see the person before me.

His arms snapped, the bones cracking as they righted themselves under invisible, magical hands. He approached the stone, positioned himself below it, and began to push it up the hill all over again before he dropped to his knees with exhaustion.

He slumped forward, pressing his forehead to the stone as I approached. I knew that bone-tired exhaustion, had felt it every day after harvesting in the gardens and knowing I had a night at the manor still awaiting me. The man turned his head toward me as my boot crunched in the dried, burnt grass surrounding his valley. Everything in this area was dead, unlike the lushness of the area surrounding Phlegyas and his feast. Blond hair barely showed in the darkness, light golden skin on a form taller than any human I’d known before. His warm brown eyes widened with shock as he stared at me, our gazes connecting for a single, brief moment before everything plunged into total darkness.

“Brann?”

THIRTEEN

ESTRELLA

“Estrella!” his voice called back frantically. Something furry pressed into my spine, drawing a panicked squeak from me as I spun to face it.

“Calm,” Fenrir ordered, nudging me in the darkness to guide me onto his back. I couldn’t see anything as the noises of beasts rang through the night, forcing me to follow his direction and climb onto his back. I pressed fully into his fur, making myself flat to get as much protection from any predators that might have been in the area.

“Estrella!” Brann called again, his voice ringing through the darkness. A flutter of wings brushed against my back, fluttering over me as I felt the magic in the air. The Morrigan shifted at my side, wings disappearing in a wave of air and then a very humanlike hand touched the center of my back.

“You must be quiet,” Badb warned, and I felt the moment her sisters surrounded Fenrir. “There is no shelter here.”

I clamped my mouth shut, the distant sound of growling predators emerging from their lairs forcing me into silence. It took everything in me not to call out to my brother, to the man I thought was dead. As much as my feelings about him had become a jumble of love and hatred and confusion, I couldn’t just leave him to be eaten. “That’s my brother.”

“Guardian,” Fenrir corrected.