Briar.
She wore a dusty rose dress, covered in delicate lace that billowed around her willowy frame. She probably had Vellia conjure it for her this morning. Her red hair was braided back at the temples with wispy white flowers circling her head like a crown. She flashed the soldiers a broad smile, drawing attention with ease—born to be in the center of any circle.
Spotting Grae over her shoulder, she sauntered over. Her hair swished in rhythm with her hips. She dropped into a bow and murmured, “Your Highness.”
“Your Highness,” Grae said in return, inclining his head to her.
I blanched, realizing I hadn’t addressed him by his title. Maybe I would’ve remembered to bow if I hadn’t run smack into him.
“I trust the journey from Highwick was not too harrowing?” Briar already spoke with the grace of a queen holding court.
“Not at all.” Grae played along with her courtly act. “It’s an easy day’s journey, and the countryside is lovely.”
Briar demurred, lifting her lashes to look up at him. She barely had to incline her neck, the top of her head reaching his eyes. She would look perfect standing beside him. My lips thinned as I hid my frown. It was such a waste. Briar knew she would never love him—had said as much to me in secret moments. But love had nothing to do with royal marriages. Love was for humans. If Briar had been born a boy, she could’ve avoided all this peacocking and laid claim to Olmdere herself. Sometimes I wished I could’ve been born a boy for all the ease and permission it would’ve granted me. Sometimes I wished I didn’t have to play a role in order to be valued. But this was how Wolf bloodlines stayed strong and how the four kingdoms maintained their peace. Ruling a pack meant sacrifice, and we all had a part to play.
They held each other’s gazes for a moment longer before Briar said, “I can show you all to your rooms. You’ll probably want to wash up before dinner.”
A strand of black hair fell around Grae’s face as he nodded, and I had the terrible urge to brush it behind his ear. I balled my hands into fists until my fingernails cut into my palms.
“Thank you.” Yet he didn’t look at her; instead Grae’s eyes found mine, and he gave me a half-smile.
Briar led them up the winding steps to the upper balcony. I watched them disappear around the corner, only to realize Vellia was still standing beside me. Her eyes crinkled with knowing mischief.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What?”
“Nothing.” Vellia shrugged, drumming her fingers on her cheek. “This day has been a long time coming for us all.” The clink of the knights’ armor rang down the hall. Vellia looked me up and down. “What do you want to wear for dinner? A periwinkle blue to match your sister’s rose?”
Wear? What did she mean? Then I frowned at my crumpled brown dress, touching the fresh tear from the thicket. It was perfect for the village, plain and unremarkable. I huffed, as if what I wore now mattered. I could traipse through Allesdale in a ballgown and, if Briar were by my side, no one would notice me.
“I’d rather dress like the knights,” I said. “A tunic and leathers, nothing too fancy—”
“Nothing too fancy?” Vellia tutted, rolling her eyes. “You are dining with the crown prince of Damrienn tonight.”
“And I am a royal of Olmdere.”
“Then act like it,” she snapped.
“I’m not meant to be noticed.” I scowled. “The guards don’t even know who I am.”
We would keep the secret of my parentage until the King of Damrienn decided otherwise. In his letters, he had promised once Briar married Grae he’d reveal the truth . . . until then, I was to remain a secret. Their wedding fulfilled a contract forged before our birth, and the future of Olmdere hinged upon it. Our position was too precarious to argue, and this could put that all in jeopardy.
That’s what I was telling myself, at least.
“It’s Briar who must dress like a queen,” I said.
Vellia tugged on the lobe of my ear. “As you noted, you are a Marriel, too, Calla.”
“But I’m fine with being a shadow.” I’d decided long ago to make the most of my obscurity. If I couldn’t be a queen, then I’d be a warrior. We needed both roles to regain our homeland, and it suited me more anyway. “It will be much easier to sneak up on Sawyn that way. I will be there when they avenge my parents . . . and I won’t be wearing a fancy dress.”
It was something I had learned from my endless hours of training. I would never win from brute strength, but from cunning and surprise. I gripped the knife in my pocket, imagining dragging it across the sorceress’s throat. It was my own ancestors who’d rid the world of monsters and sorcerers—the promise we made to the humans who placed crowns upon Wolves’ heads. I would carry on that legacy, defeating dark magic once more.