Page 2

Chapter 2

Thevin

I took another long pull from the bottle of wine I’d snuck off with, wholeheartedly prepared to be drunk by the time Sae got to our grove of maple trees.

I don’t want to forget it , she’d said to me, and I’d stopped her.

I’d all but said the exact words I had felt every day for the past year, and she had stopped me then. I wanted her, but more than that, I wanted her to be real. I’d never let her compromise or settle for me like she was attempting to. She’d told me she didn’t want to risk our friendship. She had worried that someday I’d leave her, arguing I’d be able to live without her smile.

But that was never going to be an option for me.

The next pull on the bottle was longer, and I gulped continuously.

I’d been drunk twice before. Both times my parents had discovered me outside a tavern in the Spire , heaving my guts out. I’d only wanted to wash away what I’d seen in those days. The horrors of war were a heavy burden on my nineteen-year-old shoulders.

On anyone’s shoulders.

The rain continued its pelting through the trees, but our fort held strong. We had built it together two summers ago as our stronghold against the summer storms that frequented Felgren Forest .

Well , I had built it, and she had directed me. I had gathered the logs and laid them at an angle. I had tied them together with willow branches, filling the gaps between with mud and moss so it remained warm and dry. She’d chosen the charred maple tree as the site for our little sanctuary. It grew over a rocky outcropping that led to a small stream.

We hadn’t yet visited our fort since I had arrived in Felgren , so I sorted through the things she’d left to show me. Each summer when I visited with my parents, she’d have new things to share—stones she’d found, leaves she’d collected that she thought were particularly interesting. I picked up a bundle of dried daisies bound in yellow ribbon. I remembered giving them to her on the last day of summer when I’d had to leave again. It had been the hardest leave yet because I had accepted the reason I’d so badly wanted to stay.

It had taken a few nights that year for me to sort out my feelings. At the end of every summer, I felt the urge to stay in Felgren , but I’d always thought it was the forest I was missing. Then I began to imagine my future after the war, and Saelyn was always at my side. I dreamt of taking her to the cities of Arcaynen that were still intact. I imagined what it would be like to watch her experience life outside of the forest for the first time. I wanted to show her everything, but I also wanted to follow wherever she wanted to lead like a moth to the most enchanting flame.

She’d said we’d just stay friends.

Friends stayed in each other’s lives, so just friends we would be.

I heard the sound of her lumen before I saw him. A massive beast, he was easily the largest of the wolf pack with thick, black fur, a snout longer than my arm, and silver eyes.

She all but tumbled off him as I rose to greet her, patting the mossy roof. “ You’ll be happy to hear our fort has?—”

Sae fell into me, her black cloak soaked, her face pressed into my chest like she wanted under my skin. I felt her body shaking as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and I sobered immediately.

“ What is it?” I squeezed her back, winding my hand across her head, holding her cheek to my chest. She continued to shake, sobs leaving her throat. “ Are you hurt? Tell me that at least.”

She shook her head, and I checked that off my list of worries for the moment. “ Come inside. I have some wine left and your favorite meat pies. I even snatched you a square of strawberry cake.”

I led her inside our forest dwelling and Boros followed, settling himself on one side of the enclosure. I helped her down onto the tattered blanket, unrolling the entrance flap and lighting another lantern.

She remained quiet, staring off into nothing as I unclasped her cloak and placed a warm, clean blanket around her shoulders.

I liked taking care of her. I missed taking care of her when I had to leave. But this silence was frighting and instead of offering her food and drink, I sat in front of her, lifting her chin that was pointed at her boots. “ Talk to me, Sae .”

Her red-rimmed eyes had turned to brilliant lighting blue. Her cheeks and nose were splotched with tracks of dried tears.

I reached out to her hands. “ Was it your mother? What did she say to you?”

“ She said…” she gulped and I felt the shiver that ran through her body. “ She said my father is alive. She said we leave tomorrow for the Spire and that we are going to save him.”

I narrowed my eyes to mere slits, cocking my head. “ Baron Revich died seventeen years ago. Everyone knows that.”

She scoffed, lowering her head again. “ Apparently , that’s not true. My mother has lied all these years. Hardly anyone knows.” Her head snapped back up to me. “ Your parents don’t even know.”

“ It doesn’t make sense,” I pressed. “ Why lie? Why wouldn’t she go after him?”

“ I don’t know yet. Maybe I should have stayed to listen, but I didn’t want to hear any more.” She glared at the flicker of the lantern. “ She kept this from me my entire life. Pah - Pah did, too. I feel so betrayed by them both. And my father? Is he hurt? Is he fighting?”

I knew he wasn’t. Unless there was more to the story, Baron Revich was known as a martyr, not a man fighting in this war. “ Did Baron Karus say where he is?”

“ With someone called the Blightress .”

My blood went cold, and I sobered further.

Sae watched my reaction, not missing a beat. “ Who is she, Thevin ?”

I took her hands from her lap and squeezed them. “ She’s the cause of all of this. She’s the one who started this war.”