A River of Golden Bones (The Golden Court, #1)(56)

I stared out the window, chill seeping from the pane. Below, the village of Hengreave was buried in snow. Mounds of grimy brown ice lined the streets, the steep rooftops dusted in white. How deep was the town submerged? I couldn’t see the cobbles or the bottom steps that led down from the raised houses.

“You should ride up front with Ora,” Sadie said, swinging her feet from the top bunk.

Grae had bought out the entire room, so we didn’t have to share with travelers. Two bunks, a seating area, and a giant clothes rack around a hearth to dry snow-sodden clothes. I was grateful that he hadn’t tried to get a suite for just the two of us. I didn’t think I could handle another night alone with him.

“I’ve got to keep an eye on you,” Hector replied, tilting his head and staring up at his sister. His shortly cropped hair was growing long enough to stick up at odd angles now and he brushed down his stubbly hair.

“I don’t need you to keep an eye on me,” Sadie retorted.

“I’ve seen the way that human looks at you.” Hector glanced at Grae. “Right?”

Grae laughed and continued unpacking his bag. “I’m staying out of this.”

“He doesn’t look at me like anything, and his name is Navin, not that human,” Sadie growled.

“It wouldn’t work out, Sadie.” Hector stretched out on his bed, placing his hands behind his head. “He’s not one of us.”

“I know—”

“Enough,” I snapped, my breath fogging the glass. “She gets it, Hector. Back off.”

“Not all halflings have cheerful stories like Lord Hengreave,” Hector muttered. “If the Silver Wolf pack hasn’t disowned us already, this would definitely do it.”

“Wait—” I whirled. “Lord Hengreave is a halfling?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I can’t imagine gossip was a part of her lesson plans,” Grae noted, laying his jacket over the wooden slats of the clothes rack.

“It’s one of those things that everyone knows, but no one talks about,” Sadie said, combing her fingers through her hair. “Lord Hengreave is the illegitimate son of the late Taigosi king and half-brother of the current queen.”

“What?” My eyes widened. “I didn’t think it was possible to conceive a half-wolf.”

“It’s possible,” Hector muttered, tucking his hands under his head. “But rare.”

“The Taigosi king gave his son a lordship out here, away from the city and the Ice Wolf pack.” Sadie shook her head. “The late Queen was none too pleased.”

Vellia had taught us all about the different royal families, but I’d never heard this part of the Taigosi history before.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Grae said, switching the subject. “We’re hiking up the crater today.”

“Do we have to?” Sadie groaned.

“No one will be up there.” Grae kept his back to us, laying his gear across the top bunk. He’d brought a slew of weapons with him and an extensive kit of elixirs and remedies. No wonder his bag dropped like a stone whenever he set it down. “We need to shift.”

“We don’t need to shift.” Sadie raked her fingers through her bangs, pointing her foot at me. “She does.”

“I’m fine,” I said with little conviction. I’d slept the rest of the day and through the night in the wagon and still didn’t feel fully revived. Sleep seemed like the only thing I could do, and it wasn’t enough. “I’m healing.”

“At the pace of a human.” Hector looked me over. “That wound on your chin hasn’t even fully scabbed over yet.” He pretended to gag and I scowled at him. “How the humans handle it, I have no idea.”

“I’ll survive,” I muttered, narrowing my eyes at him. I unlaced the leather strapping holding my pack closed and pulled out the tincture Ora gave me.

“And if we suddenly get attacked by Rooks again?” Hector asked. “Is that salve going to help us fight a mob? Think like a soldier, Calla.”

Grae nodded. “Exactly.”

I groaned as I sat beside my bag and rested my head against the peeling wallpaper. “I have been thinking.”

Sadie unsheathed her knife from her belt and twisted it in her hands. “That’s not ominous at all.”

“If you two turn back now—”

“No,” the siblings said in unison.

“I’ve already tried, little fox,” Grae said, selecting a dagger to add to his belt. “They may squabble endlessly, but on this they agree.”

“You could blame us,” I pleaded. “Say that we made you and you had no other choice.”

“King Nero would still skin us alive,” Hector said. “We disobeyed him. And to disobey him is to turn our backs on the pack.”

I ground my teeth until my jaw muscles ached. “That’s a stupid rule.”

“It’s one your ancestors benefited greatly from,” Hector reminded, crossing his legs and staring at the slates above him. “The Wolves became Gods to the humans, and the Kings became Gods to the Wolves.”

“Even without Grae,” Sadie cut in, “we’d still have come. Maez is like our sister. She’s our family. And if Princess Briar is still alive, that means Maez is still alive, too, and I won’t let her rot away in a dungeon, even if it means being killed for saving her.”