Get it together, Zara.
Only by pulling on every ounce of my strength was I going to survive this. Now was not the time to go soft.
Somehow, I walked for another six hours, taking as few breaks as possible, until I felt dead inside and out.
I stared up at the sun, making sure for the hundredth time I was going south and then looked out on the horizon.
A sob left my throat when I saw the back side of Death Mountain come into view. It was far off in the distance, but it was there.
We made it.
“Almost there. Hang on, ’Liza,” I told her and pushed forward with a renewed strength.
By my estimate it took another two hours to finally reach the base of the mountain. I’d been walking for over twelve hours, the sun was setting in the sky and I was dead on my feet but somehow I kept going. The broken barren land turned to lush forest abruptly and pretty soon I was having to amble over fallen trees and sharp inclines.
Everything hurt. It burned, it throbbed, it pounded like a heartbeat in my foot but not more than my desire to get us both to safety, to food and rest.
Climbing up the back of that mountain tested my soul to its very limits. I fell twice. Dropped Eliza once. I cried, I screamed, I howled and finally when I came up over the ridge … I’d made it. I was covered in blood and dirt and my foot was black and purple and bent at an odd angle. Eliza looked half-dead, she smelled rotten, and she was center of the sun hot, but I could still hear her heartbeat.
The noises of the people of Death Mountain pulled at my ears and I followed the sound, all but dragging myself through the thick woods and into the open grassy knoll at the base of the castle.
People stared as I limped forward, naked and barely alive, towards the blue champion tent and then all at once there was shouting.
“Champions are back!”
“Get her water!”
“Medical!” one lady screamed as she frantically took in my distressed state and started to rush forward.
I couldn’t hold on any longer; at the sight of safety my strength had fled. The crowd parted and then Axil jogged forward with wide panicked eyes, taking me in from head to toe. I stumbled, swaying on my feet.
The woman who had called for help took Eliza off my shoulders and I tried to stay upright but my legs suddenly felt like they were made of liquid with no substance to keep them standing.
One second I was looking at Axil’s terrified gaze and the next I was falling. His arms crashed around me and then I was enveloped with his scent.
Maker, I missed that smell. I missed the way I felt tucked against his muscular chest.
“She brought in another wolf!” someone commented.
“Why would she do that? She could have left her?” another said as they attended to Eliza and my vision started to blur.
Axil reached out and traced my jaw like he had a hundred times, all while holding my gaze. “Because that’s Zara. She’s loyal.”
He said it like he knew my soul inside and out and to be seen like that, it made a part of me come alive again. A part I thought had died.
And that’s when everything went black and I lost my battle with staying conscious.
SIX
I came to with the sound of arguing voices.
“Eliza says she’s pack with her!” an older male shouted.
“That’s against the rules. Only one wolf per pack may enter the Queen Trials,” another man said.
It sounded like the elder advisors were arguing. My body was still sore and I wanted to hear what they were saying so I continued to lie there quietly with my eyes pinched shut.
“I’m the king,” Axil growled. “And I say it’s not. Both women entered the trials from different packs. We told them to survive the task and they did what they had to in order to do that.”
“But—” one went to argue then stopped, probably getting a glare from Axil.
“They would have an extreme advantage in the next task, my lord,” the more reasonable voice added.
“Then so be it. You want me to marry the strongest member of our kind. Well, I think a woman who isn’t even an alpha, and was able to force a pack bond, is pretty damn strong,” Axil said and my belly warmed.
He was talking about me.
There was the sound of shuffling feet then as they retreated from the room and my eyelids sprang open. I was in an elvin crystal healing chamber bed with stark white sheets draped over my body. I realized then that not everyone had left, and I peered up to find Axil looking down at me.
“How’s—” I started but he waved me off.
“She’s fine. You saved her life.” His words were clipped and short.
Why did he sound upset? I propped myself up onto my elbows. “And you’re mad about that?” I growled. “You haven’t changed a bit. Still the same selfish little boy who only cares about his royal reputation!”
I didn’t care that he was king now, Axil Moon needed to be taken down a notch. He didn’t have a right to be angry at me for saving someone’s life.
At my words, he recoiled as if I’d slapped him. “Is that what you think?”
All the pain I swore I’d gotten over as a young teen came flooding to the surface. “Yes, Axil. Did you black out at our break-up? Your brother informed you that I was a piece of Mud Flat trash and you agreed and walked away. Never even came back the next year. Never sent a letter. Nothing.”
His cheeks burned with shame, redness washing over his neck. “I didn’t agree.” His voice was small and he looked horrified, eyes wide as he began to fidget with his hands.
I laughed, a biting sound. “The silence and sight of your back as you walked away was agreement enough.”
He frowned. “You hate me. I’ve spent all of these years loving you and you hate me?” He sounded surprised.
His words were like an arrow to my heart. I sat up fully now, pleased to feel no pain in my ribs, just the aching in my soul at his words. I was clothed, even if it was in a white healing gown, and so I slipped off the bed and hobbled towards him, testing the weight on my ankle. It was tender but nothing like before. It made me wonder how long I’d been out, but I no longer cared in this moment.
“Loving me?” Instead of feeling joy, I had never been more pissed off in my life. “You think that walking away after those two months at camp—”
“I—”
“DO NOT INTERUPT ME!” I shouted like a crazed maniac, pulling dominant power into my voice and his eyes flew wide. “I’ve waited five years to tell you this, Axil Moon, you will let me speak my truth!”
Axil looked scared of me and deep down that made me feel good. I wanted him to hurt. I shuffled closer to him so that I could look him straight in the eyes as I told him what he did to me. He appeared like he was in pain before I even opened my mouth.
With a shaky breath, I held his gaze. “I’m dead inside because of you, Axil.”
Agony crossed his face and he stumbled backwards into the wall until his back hit it. I pushed forward, stepping closer so that I could reach out and touch his heart with my hand. I laid my palm over the spot on his chest that contained his heart, like I had so many times that summer. Feeling the frantic chaotic beating made me feel good.
“I loved you with every ounce of my soul, the entire weight of it was yours,” I told him. “You made promises, knowing how broken I was from losing my parents so young. You told me that you would be my family,” I reminded him.