Persephone's Wolves, page 64
For stealing me.
The cheering eventually stops, and Commander Oisean walks through the crowd, with Erin at his side. They both incline their head to Cenwyn before moving to stand on either side of the couch.
“We are ready to hear about any issues,” Commander Oisean states.
They all start talking at once, and it’s hard to focus on what anyone is complaining about in the madness. They rant about mundane things like salt being low in stock, sheep missing from farms, and Levi ruining some of their homes. The only thing I notice that is common is their people don’t have a good amount of food coming in.
Blood, that is.
The monster at my back reminds me he is there when he tightens his hand on my waist.
I glance over at Erin as Commander Oisean makes up a bullshit excuse for why he can’t help with food storages and simply states they will make a better deal with the America Court for humans. Erin is watching me, her face expressionless, and I’m not sure what she is thinking about.
“Why don’t we raise an army and attack the America Court?” one of the angels asks, stepping closer than anyone else. “We have a big enough army to stretch to both the America Court and the wolves’ pack. The wolves’ pack is pointless until the shield falls anyway. We should attack the America Court and make the wolves fear us. We will then rule the world with no threat.”
That means the shield is holding. They can’t get in.
“Are you questioning your king’s commands? Do you believe you can do better than he?” Commander Oisean asks.
He shakes his head and bows it low. Swift as a bird, Oisean is across the room, and he lifts his sword.
I look away as I hear the sword cutting through flesh and a body slamming on the floor.
“No one questions the king.”
There is silence across the inner court, and I make myself look as the angel’s body is dragged away, head and all, leaving only a trail of blood.
I know I have to say something, use this silence. “So, this is all your court, everyone that’s in it? I thought you ruled the world.”
“I do rule the world, my darling. I have several courts of divided land, and they are led by angels who won fights I held for the titles,” he explains to me. That makes sense with what I learnt in the Fenrir Court.
“Interesting. I was never allowed to travel much. I can’t even imagine what these other courts look like. Do they worship you there like they do here?”
“Yes. You seem so interested in power already, and we haven’t even coaxed her out of you,” he says, kissing my cheek. I want to wipe it away the second I am out of his view.
“How do you know she’s not coming out on her own?” I respond.
“You’re not her yet,” he replies. “The goddess of death isn’t so sweet.”
I place my hand on his chest. “I can’t wait. I want to know who I am.”
“You will,” he hushes me. “Together, we will rule this world.”
I keep my expression as blank as I possibly can to hide the inner turmoil going on inside of me.
“I want to see these courts. Would you take me?” I ask. “Like a date to get to know each other again before we become mates. I’d really love that.”
Commander Oisean immediately interrupts. “That would not be safe, my king. You’ve just gotten her back from those wolves. Taking her out there means there’s a risk that they could get to her.”
“But aren’t they locked inside the pack lands? That means they can’t get out, and I doubt Cenwyn will leave me in danger,” I say.
“King Cenwyn,” Oisean corrects me. “You are not his mate yet, young goddess.”
“Technically, I’m a wolf,” I taunt.
His eyes flash with anger.
Cenwyn stares at me with his empty gold eyes before looking at Commander Oisean. My heart is racing because everything depends on Cenwyn’s answer, and I need him to say yes. “Isn’t she amazing? She will make a beautiful and strong queen.”
I will, but I won’t be his queen.
“Yes, my king,” Commander Oisean replies.
Cenwyn sighs. “And she does have a point. They will never get near her, and we do need some time alone.”
Commander Oisean looks more pissed with every passing second. “I do not think it’s wise to go traveling around the courts right now, my king. I wouldn’t risk it.”
“It’s a good thing you are not the king, then,” I tease, and Cenwyn laughs with me. I enjoy the look Commander Oisean gives me as he realises that his control over Cenwyn is nothing on his obsession with me.
He let a wolf into his court, and I plan on destroying it all.
I flash a smile at Cenwyn. Fake and pretty. “Can we go then?”
“Yes,” he replies. “I can’t wait to have you alone.”
I won’t be with him long enough for that, I’m certain.
“Me too,” I respond before looking away.
“We’ll go to the Styx Court first,” he states. Oisean immediately starts barking orders for travelling, and Erin walks out, her black dress sliding through the blood-marked floor. I wonder what it was like to be a wolf growing up in a place her kind is hated?
It couldn’t have been easy for her.
Commander Oisean looks down at me as Cenwyn shouts at a human to bring him a drink, and I see nothing but contempt. He’s been plotting a long time, well before any of us were even born. He created us in a way.
And now he’s got to play with the monsters that he created.
Seventy-Eight
I’ve never been as thankful for clothing as I am right in this moment, as cold, sharp wind batters against my body. Cenwyn holds me tight to him, ever so careful of his prize, as we fly through the air towards the sloping coasts and sandy beaches of the Styx Court. I remember Silas’s warning that the Styx Court isn’t controlled by anyone, but perhaps they have their own form of leadership. Silas hasn’t been here in a long time, so who knows what could have changed, and either way, I need to find out if they are truly on Cenwyn’s side.
“The cliffs of the Styx Court are so high and nearly as stuck-up as its viscount.”
We fly for what feels like hours, so it’s as though my entire body is covered in pins and needles, and I’m shaking from head to toe even in the thick fur-lined coat I’m wearing. They let me keep my boots, and unknowingly Morganis, but the long-sleeved cotton shirt and black leggings are from them. It’s much better than the dress, but unfortunately, I watched them pack all the dresses into one of the suitcases carried along with us.
“Ready, my darling?” Cenwyn purrs as I look over the hilly mountaintop from the small rocky hill I’m sitting on top of. I nod, carrying on acting the meek wolf captive until he chokes from my pretence. It’s still cold in this part of the world. Cold and silent as nothing but the wind whistles through the trees, and the snowflakes fall silently upon the white ground. The musky forest scent, damp and earthy, reminds me of my alphas.
I miss them.
I try not to reach for the necklace and demand to know why it hasn’t shown me them yet, but he is watching me.
“The forest’s reflection is beautiful in your eyes,” Cenwyn comments. “You must hate the forests that remind you of our old pack and then Ravensword.”
He is so wrong.
The forest is home for me, a place that is safe and loving, and somewhere to easily hide. The forest is alive, living and breathing, and I want to run through it as my wolf.
“I have many good memories of forests. The good outweighs the bad,” I reply, standing up and brushing off dust from my coat.
“I don’t,” he says flatly.
“Where did you go when you were a kid? Did Zeus call for you?”
He looks away from me for a moment at the sky. “Yes. I was called to follow the storms to where he died, and after that, I was never weak again. Zeus was a king of the gods, and I am now king of the world. It was always my fate to be this, and it was always yours to be my dark queen.”
I highly disagree, but I force myself to smile.
Cenwyn flies right at me, catching me around the waist and propelling us into the clouds. I gasp and clutch him in fear of falling. I don’t trust him at all, but a part of me knows he won’t kill me like this.
Not until he realises what I’m doing, and I’m gone, that is.
Then he might kill me.
It’s a long time before we even pass the deserts of the Fenrir Court, which are nothing but fields of long sand, empty still of life except for a few ruined houses dotted around. I don’t see any of the Levi, and not for the first time, I find myself wondering where the hell they came from. It was never just Cenwyn that destroyed the world; the Levi did a good job too. Twenty angels, swift and deadly, keep close to us in the sky, and other angels hang back, carrying boxes through the air. One male angel carries Erin nearby us, and she looks so peaceful in his arms. I glance between them, the wind whipping against my face. The angel is holding her close to his chest, and her arms are wrapped around his shoulders in a familiar way. I can’t see much of the angel’s features under a black helmet he wears, but I do see the way he holds her tight. The way she looks up at him and rests her hand on his chest.
Erin and this angel are together.
How interesting.
Every cloud we pass, every mountain and field, brings me closer to finally getting out of his arms and escaping back to my alphas. Being away from them feels like my heart is ripped into two, but I feel them connected to me, giving me strength, reminding me that I am not alone.
We dip down between four large hills, covered in ruins of what must have been a town at some point, and start flying over a large river. I look across onto the banks to see a herd of black horses drinking from the river. The largest horse, a stallion, neighs loudly, and the herd starts running down the river after us.
Beautiful.
The river seems to get wider until I scent the sea and manage to look up to see the sheer cliffs on either side of a city on the sandy beach. The cliffs are huge, looking like they almost touch the clouds, and they are pure rock, pieces of it falling into the calm sea. The tide is in, and the beach is filled with people who look up as we pass, heading closer to the city. There are dozens of little islands in the distance, and the sea shines like a blue agate crystal. It’s so clear that I can see the dozens of small stones in the water. In the middle of the city is a long dock, stretching far out into the sea, and hundreds of old-fashioned pirate ships line it.
“Welcome to the Styx Court, my darling,” Cenwyn shouts over the wind. Welcome indeed. The city is gigantic, and it looks like it’s newly built out of wood and anything they could find to make homes and buildings. The city is a multitude of bright colours, thanks to the fabric-made doors and windows that every building seems to have. The angels flying around all seem to like the colours orange and yellow, their dresses and cloaks shining in the sunlight.
I gasp as Cenwyn dives off the cliffside, and I have to look into his chest to block my face from the sheer wind. We land with a loud thud that seems to echo around us as I try to stand up on my own. My legs are shaky as I stand on old and cracked stone covered in a light layer of dirt. I push my hair out of my eyes and pull down my cloak before looking around. There’s a large wooden cabin building that seems to stand on its own in a small space of land, but the rest of the city is towering around us, casting its own shade. It’s cold but better than it was in Cenwyn’s court, and there isn’t much of a breeze to move around the scent of strange spices, smoke, and something sweet I don’t recognise. Several fire torches light up a path to the doors of the cabin. The doors are held open by sphere-shaped stone doorstops.
Someone moves in the shadows of the cabin before walking forward.
When he steps into the light, I tense.
Niall.
My mama’s secret friend, the angel who visited us all of the time and left me alone in the Ravensword Pack, promising to come back.
He didn’t.
He abandoned me to them. Those monsters...and all this time he has been here.
I don’t see Chaitala, the yellow sword that belonged to my mama, and I hope he has it. I want it back, and I want nothing to do with him after that.
I furrow my brow when he looks at me, and his gaze is empty of anything. I can’t tell if he is pretending not to know me or not, but I suspect so. Cenwyn would kill him if he knew who he was.
His expression is completely calm and balanced as he bows low for his king.
“What a grand honour it is to have you here, my king,” he says. His voice hits me like a rock. It’s so familiar and haunting because it reminds me of all the times he would make me laugh as a kid. He was an uncle to me, a second dad, the male role model I needed when my father never came back.
He was looking for him. I wonder if he ever found my father in the end.
“It’s been a long time,” Cenwyn agrees, looking down at me. “This is Mairin, Mai for short, and she is my soon-to-be mate and your soon-to-be queen.”
“It’s an honour,” Niall says, bowing to me. I can’t read anything in his eyes as I keep my expression blank. I can’t speak, I can’t say a word as shock holds me still. I’m worried that my legs are going to give in under me at this rate.
“We came to travel and party. Mai is very interested in learning about the courts,” Cenwyn starts, “as a good queen should be.”
“You’re both very welcome here, my king and soon-to-be queen,” Niall replies.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. What’s your name?”
“Viscount Niall of the Styx Court,” he replies, his voice respectful and like a trained monkey.
Or bird.
“We had slow news of your arrival; therefore, we haven’t got a festival going quite yet, but it will be on tonight. The city is hard at work to celebrate your presence,” Niall tells us.
The other angels with us start landing, and I look over Cenwyn’s shoulder to see Fox and an angel land, the angel immediately dropping Fox on the ground like a bug to be squashed. Erin and her angel land next, followed by others with chests in their hands.
“I love the festivals,” Cenwyn says, clapping his hands. “I do hope there is plenty to eat. I’m famished.”
My stomach rolls and feels empty, knowing he is talking about blood.
“Of course,” Niall replies with a warm smile for Cenwyn alone. I need to tread carefully because he might actually be on Cenwyn’s side. He is one of the viscounts.
Cenwyn keeps a tight grip on my hand as he tugs me up the pathway and into the cabin entrance. It’s warm inside, cosy with red-painted wooden floors and multicolour tapestries hanging on the walls. There are two steel staircases that spiral up before going in different directions on the top floor.
“We can begin with—”
I cut Niall off mid-sentence as I come to a stop. Cenwyn stops with me and turns to look at me.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m just really exhausted. It’s been a really long flight, and I’m not used to flying. I feel like I might be sick, to be honest.”
“Do you have a room ready?” Cenwyn demands.
“Yes, of course,” Niall replies. “I will have a healer brought up as soon as possible as well.”
“That would be nice,” I say.
Alone. Perfect. I need to escape the room and—
Cenwyn looks to Fox. “Fox, you are charged with taking Mai to her room.”
Fox gives me a tight expression as he nods at Cenwyn and moves to my other side.
“It would be an honour to escort her,” Fox agrees. “Wouldn’t want her sick.”
“No, we wouldn’t. Females are fragile beings,” Cenwyn states, and I imagine killing him for that comment until it’s all I can think of. “And not escort. Stay with her. She must not be alone.”
Fox nods. Dammit, I’m going to have to knock him out.
“Please take any of the rooms at the top of the right staircase. Although the one on the far right is preferable, it’s a bigger room and has its own bathroom,” Niall suggests, and I swear his eyes flash with a million emotions for a second.
“I will take that one then, thank you,” I reply and place my hand on my stomach. “I just need a lie down.”
“Go, my darling. I will come up to rest with you soon,” Cenwyn whispers to me before walking away with Niall.
Looks like I have that fresh hell to escape later.
“This way,” Fox commands, and I walk behind him towards the stairs. We head up the staircase, which creaks with every step, and I’m hyper aware of the big problem in front of me.
Fox.
I have to admit; he hurt me a little with his betrayal. I thought he was my friend, but the whole time, he was just a fox waiting in a hen’s nest for the eggs to hatch. He was always after the bigger meal.
He’s a piece of utter shit.
The staircase opens up to a long pathway with a banister on the one side and wood panels on the other. We walk down the pathway to the last door, made with tightly pulled rope and oak.
Fox opens the door and holds it for me to head inside before he closes the door behind him. The room is square-shaped and has a small window with a fabric drop of see-through lace hanging over it. A massive tapestry is hung on the wall behind the bed, and it’s a pretty sunrise over a forest. The bed sheets are yellow and smoothed down, with plump pillows, and there is a tiny bathroom on the right. Fox examines the entire room before sitting down in a small chair in the corner next to a cabinet.
“Time to rest, little wolf,” he says, sounding frustrated. “Babysitting you once again. Gods forbid any of us have better things to do.”
“I’m going to use the bathroom first,” I say tightly and walk away from him.
“Go ahead,” he replies, his voice full of sarcasm. I slam the door of the bathroom shut behind me, and I try not to scream into my hands. The bathroom is a sickly colour of yellow, and there is a row of duck statues above the toilet.
All the ducks are in a row, looking at me with glass eyes, and it’s creepier than the yellow tiles and yellow floor.
