Page 10 of Traitor Wolf (Bonded by Fate Duet #1)

Chapter Eight

T he Dregs also had a quiet kind of resilience.

We worked hard for what little we had, and we cherished it.

Underground networks of bartering and loyalty thrived here.

We took care of our own. There was grit here.

Fire. A refusal to die quietly, the kind of strength you couldn’t buy with noble blood or magic.

I peered up at the golden glass city of Aerlyn, finding it ironic that it was our nightly view. It was so close I could see the Elite on their balconies trying to pretend we didn’t exist. They put up the fence, but they couldn’t erase us.

When Cassian and I reached the edge of the Dregs, the driver had a hard time pulling the horses through the thin lanes of houses, some of which were muddy, so Cassian asked him to stop and wait.

When we popped out of the carriage, there were already a few onlookers. About three hundred families lived in the Dregs. Over two thousand people in all. And I knew every single one of them.

He peered around the space with wonder, eyes darting everywhere.

“Ever been here?” I asked.

He shook his head.

I didn’t know much about him. “Do you have any other siblings?”

He frowned. “Just Regalis and I have two cousins.”

“That’s nice. I have over twenty cousins.”

He grinned. “I’ll bet family get-togethers are loud.”

I laughed. “They are, and we can never all fit in one house. Usually, we meet outside.”

“I’ll bet.” He chuckled.

I couldn’t believe I was having a normal conversation with an Elite. Not just any Elite, a House of Draven Heir. A handsome heir who also seemed kind and compassionate, and was helping me bring food to my family and community.

We navigated the alleyways together, and then I passed a familiar face.

“Hey Laura, bring an empty plate and fork to my house. We are having a feast! Spread the news,” I told Laura Appleton as she peered at us cautiously, holding a dented tin teacup in her hand .

She grinned then. “Alright, Brynn. Thanks.” She ducked back into her house and shouted the news to her family.

Cassian winced and leaned into me, lowering his voice. “We only have enough to feed about a hundred people, by my guess.”

I nodded. “We know how to ration. The adults will forgo having anything until the children and elderly eat first.”

Tears built in Cassian’s eyes, and his bottom lip shook.

I shifted uncomfortably on the balls of my feet, aware that he’d probably never had to confront hunger in his entire life. Probably didn’t even know how to ration.

He turned away from me, wiping at his eyes, and then pulled the hand wagon from the back of the carriage.

After loading up all the food, plus my two plates, we made our way to my house.

It was a zigzag through the northern corner of my neighborhood, and we had to carry the wagon over a few puddles.

As we passed, people began to step out of their homes, plate and fork in hand. Word traveled fast in the Dregs.

“Hi, Molly!” I called to a little girl who attended school with one of my sisters.

“Hi, Brynn! Why is an Elite here? Did you steal all that food?” She tapped one of the glass dishes with her fork, eyes wide as she stared at the mashed potatoes trapped inside.

I smiled. “This is my friend Cassian, and we didn’t steal anything. It’s his food and he wants to share it.”

“You can call me Cass,” Cassian said beside me, eyes darting everywhere, from the curtains hanging in place of solid doors, to the muddy, shoeless feet of the children, to the fork clutched between Molly’s small, dirty fingers.

He peered behind us, and I followed his gaze.

Hundreds of people were calmly and orderly following each other to the clearing in front of my house.

It’s where we had birthdays and town meetings and everything you could think of.

Just a huge lot full of weeds, and some old chairs to sit on if you were lucky enough to claim one first.

“I hadn’t expected you to share this with everyone… I thought it would be for your family only,” Cassian whispered.

“We share what we can to help others, and we don’t have an icebox, so this would go bad with just my family, even though there are thirteen of us.”

His eyes widened. “Thirteen?”

“Not including cousins and aunts and all that. Yeah.”

“Brynn!” yelled my six-year-old sister, Isla, in a high-pitched shriek, diving in for a hug. I laughed, squeezing her tightly as she peered at all the food with wide eyes.

“Hey, I heard you’re in the trials now! Good for you, Brynn!” Mrs. Dantley said as she passed me.

Oh great . Word was already spreading about that? I guessed it was only a matter of time. Probably better for my safety that my people knew and supported me.

“Thanks,” I told her, as neighbors began to drag out their dining tables and chairs.

“Is someone getting married?” Mrs. Griosh asked. She was ninety-seven and not all there upstairs.

“No, ma’am, just a feast of gratitude,” I said, glancing at Cassian.

He looked like he was on the verge of tears. He looked shocked.

“Hey, I can walk back alone if you want to go?—”

“No. No. But I do think I should go back and get more. I don’t want to turn anyone away.” He chewed on his lip.

That was incredibly sweet. “ Is there more?”

“Not at the party. But my friend owns a bakery. I’ll be back… okay? Start, and I’ll be back.” He jogged away then, leaving me with the wagon of food.

My siblings lined up first, as was custom when you were sharing food with the community. Your family went first. Including my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Forty of us in all. I began to serve them as they lined up one by one. My mom was at the end.

When my favorite aunt, Gracine, came up, she pulled me in for a huge hug. “Your mom told us everything. I’m terrified for you and proud of you all at once.”

I smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “Love you.”

“Love you too, kiddo.”

When it was my mother's turn, I noticed she didn’t have a plate.

“Let all the kids in the community eat first, and if there’s more, I’ll have some,” she said, leaning in to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Got your note. So proud of you. Worried, but proud.”

I smiled at her, slipping a truffle into her hand as she pulled away. “You haven’t experienced life until you’ve eaten this,” I told her.

She laughed. “Well, alright.” She popped it into her mouth, and her eyes sprang wide. “Oh wow,” she said through a full mouth.

I chuckled and then stepped away to let the others help themselves.

There was no shoving, no shouting, or fighting over anything.

Mrs. Kinley stepped up and began serving all of the children first. It was how our community worked.

We all pulled together to help each other.

We all raised the children as if they were our own.

The elderly, too. I yawned, feeling suddenly drained of energy, but pushed through.

My mother was tending to my littlest siblings, and I was walking over to help her, when I noticed movement in the tall grass beside the field.

I snapped my head in that direction just as Kaelric stepped out of the shadows, arms crossed as he glared at me.

That bastard!

Changing direction, I stomped over to him. “Did you follow me here?”

“Would I be much of a guardian if I didn’t?”

“I’m safe with my people,” I growled.

His eyes watched the orderly line of people as they excitedly made small plates of food. Most only took one small hunk of meat and one small side. No one was overindulging, not like I had. They were respectful and trying to make it spread to as many people as possible.

“Maybe,” Kaelric agreed, “but on the road back to the dorm? Maybe not.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Stay here and watch if you want, but don’t come any closer,” I warned, keeping a hand on my weapon.

His eyes flashed yellow. He cracked his neck as if working out some tension. “ No one speaks to me like this back home. ”

“Hah. Then it’s good for you.” He sounded like he came from an Elite family and was raised with a silver spoon.

I gave him my back and headed for my mother and siblings.

He might have a traitor mark, but he seemed to want me to win just as badly as I wanted to.

Even if it was only to take this weapon from me.

Still, I couldn’t trust him with my family.

I barely knew him, and my arm still throbbed with what I did know.

His wolf bit me harder than it needed to for the bonding—I’d never forget that.

I’d seen too many women in the Dregs stay with abusive men because they put food on the table, or gave them security. That wouldn’t be me.

“Brynn,” a soft voice reached me, and I spun in that direction.

“Fiona!”

Her eyes were red-rimmed, her hair a mess, and she held her arms to her chest like she was trying to keep her heart from falling out of it.

I remembered in that moment that Regalis Draven was her lover. And he died and gave me the mark that was meant for her.

Her gaze went to the mark on my chest, and I opened my mouth to speak, but she rushed forward, pulling me into her arms.

“I’m so happy for you. This is what Regalis would have wanted.” She pulled back, tears flowing down her face. Fiona was beautiful, a fierce redhead who knew how to survive. She did whatever it took to feed her large family of cousins and uncles, even if it was illegal. She hated the Elites.

I lowered my voice. “I’m so sorry,” I told her. “Cassian told me everything.”

She nodded. “We married in secret two months ago. He said the only way his family would accept it was if I had magic, if I won the trial.”

They married! It was unheard of. Frowned upon. You couldn’t raise your class through marriage, so the higher class always had to lower themselves. If she didn’t win the trial and he wanted to stay with her, he would have had to be stripped of his title and move here, to the Dregs.

I frowned. “I think someone found out and they killed him over it. I caught him in his last moments. He gave me a message for you, only I didn’t know it was for you at the time.”

She leaned closer to me, hanging on my words.

I wondered now what his message might have meant, especially if they’d been secretly married for two months.

“He said, tell her I love her more than anything, and to name him after her father . I had no idea what he was talking about.”

Fiona’s hand went to her belly, and I gasped .

“You’re pregnant?”

She nodded, tears overflowing. “It could be a girl, but he swore it was a boy.” She was smiling now as if lost in a memory.

I pulled her in for a longer hug this time, joy spreading throughout my limbs for my sweet friend.

“I’m so happy for you. You’ll be a great mom.”

Fiona took no crap from anyone. She was a much better choice for the trial than me.

When we pulled away, she gave me a fierce look.

“Make us all proud, Brynn. Show those pompous bastards that just because we don’t have money or magic doesn’t mean we are weak.

” She growled the last part, and I nodded.

“This was what Reggie died for: to see magic rise up out of the Dregs. Don’t let the love of my life have died in vain. ”

Her words imprinted on me like a tattoo. I had to try not just for my own family, but for Fiona, for Regalis.

I had to win this.

Cheers went up around me, and I spun, confused, when I saw Cassian had returned with three others who looked like servants of his house. They were all lugging canvas bags overflowing with loaves of bread and handing them out to people.

“Creator bless you,” people would tell him as they took the bread from him .

After hugging Fiona goodbye, I ran over to Cassian, grabbed some bread loaves, and helped him hand them out.

“Where did you get all this?” I asked.

“Bakery,” he told me, smiling as he handed out loaf after loaf. It was still warm! And soft. This wasn’t the stale bread that got thrown out after days of sitting in the display case.

“It’s fresh.” I was confused.

Did he steal it?

Cassian nodded. “They shouldn’t have to eat leftovers. I bought out the entire bakery. Tomorrow morning it will be empty.”

Surprise rushed through me at that. He went to the bakery after hours while the baker was likely making items for the morning and bought everything?

“Will you get in trouble?”

What if word spread that he did this, and they investigated?

He peered at me then, holding my gaze. “I don’t care anymore, Brynn. I just don’t care. This is wrong.”

My throat tightened with emotion, and I had to blink back tears. I nodded. Cassian was a good guy, someone I could trust, which was rare in an Elite.

“May the Creator bless you,” I told him, reaching out to place my hand on his .

“No, may the Creator bless you . And may you win the Arcane Trials.”

My stomach did a somersault then, staring into the blue eyes of an Elite who believed in me? It felt surreal.

I glanced across the field, at the tree line, to see a pair of yellow glowing eyes watching me.

I wasn’t sure I was going to win while partnered with a traitor wolf. Though I didn’t have any choice.