I felt nauseated. Furious.
How could I have blithely lived my life while they were imprisoned in darkness?
“You’re leaving me now,” Grandmother said. “Going to the capital despite my best efforts. I wanted you to know, so—”
A creak from the hall silenced me. I looked over my shoulder and saw a flash of silver. Vixor Rae.
My heart quelled.
He was already here to take me.
My grandmother gripped my hands tightly, and her eyes begged me to be silent as the Sworn entered the room. He was wearing his armor and mask again. His boots clanked and his cloak fluttered as he strode into
I stood to face him. I lifted my chin, unwilling to show him any fear. I squeezed my grandmother’s hand.
“I came to collect you earlier, and you weren’t here,” Vixor said.
“I had people to say goodbye to,” I said, somehow the words coming out fearlessly.
“Are you going to try to run?”
A strangled laugh made it halfway out of my mouth before I clamped my lips shut. I was still shell-shocked by the information my grandmother had just imparted to me.
No, I wasn’t going to run. I’d just been given the most important information of my life. My mother and Kassian were still alive.
They were in the capital.
And at that moment, life rushed into my numbed heart. I forgot the pain in my back as purpose swelled inside me.
I was going to find them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE SILVER WOLF stood in the doorway of the house, a silent and menacing presence as my grandmother and I assembled my luggage.
There would be new things for me in the capital, Vixor told us. New clothing, anything I needed. But I wanted to take things that would remind me of home, even if they wouldn’t let me wear them.
My hands trembled as I worked. My thoughts kept circling back to my grandmother’s revelation, and every time I thought of it—my mother and Kassian alive—my stomach turned over, and a wave of dizzy joy overtook me, and I had the sudden urge to sit down hard. Since Vixor Rae was watching, however, I acted as if I were thinking only of whether I wanted to bring a hand-held mirror.
In the end, I packed scarcely anything at all. One suitcase worth of things—a few underclothes, my favorite pair of soft brown pants, some dresses. A brush that had belonged to my mother.
I was still wearing the things I’d been given at the prison, so Grandmother found me one of my dresses that she’d sewn to match the foliage of the forest, as well as a thick pair of her hand-knitted socks and my best pair of shoes. I dressed behind a curtain she hung across the kitchen, my skin prickling into gooseflesh in the chilly air of the house.
Grandmother slipped a few more things into my suitcase and closed it. She handed it to me without speaking, and as I took it, I felt the weight of my mission fall onto my shoulders like heavy armor.
I would find them.
“Let us go,” Vixor Rae, who had been silent until now, said. That velvet-soft voice made me shiver. “The coach is here.”
Usually, Chosen girls were taken to the capital in trains of armored wagons. I wasn’t sure if the armor was to protect the girls from the outside world or to keep them imprisoned inside. But I would be traveling alongside Vixor Rae, who I could only imagine journeyed in luxury. Thus, I supposed I was lucky. I got a coach instead of a prison.
Grandmother walked me to the door. She gave me one last hug. She looked at Vixor Rae, daring to glare at him, and he straightened with a clink of his armor. Something radiated between them, a whiff of animosity, and I was afraid the Silver Wolf might strike her down with one of his silver fists.
But he only turned and stepped outside into the cold sunshine.
I followed.
The sunshine dazzled my eyes as I stepped outside of my grandmother’s cottage. And there, in the road waiting, was the coach.
It was made of iron, and it rose two levels high, a hulking beast, an iron castle on wheels. A black metal staircase curved around one side, leading to a balcony that ran the length of the second story of the coach. Arched windows lined the top level, and the glass glittered in the sun. Behemoth-sized black horses—six of them—stood harnessed to this monstrous means of conveyance.
I stared, breathless, as the coachman descended from his box and opened the door for us. I looked at Vixor Rae.
“After you,” he said, his voice a dark purr.
I lifted my suitcase and climbed the steps into the dim interior of the coach.
Vixor Rae followed.
Inside was a narrow hall lined with electric lamps burning brightly in their sconces. The walls were wallpapered in green and gold, and drapes hung over the windows that looked outside. The air was heavy with the smell of expensive fabrics and a perfume like crushed rose petals. A floor of polished oak creaked beneath my shoes.
“To your left,” Vixor commanded. He was behind me, so close I could almost feel the cold press of his armor against my back.
I opened a door and stepped into a dining room, with mirrors glittering on the walls and a chandelier of crystal hanging from the ceiling. A table stood in the center, covered in pressed white linen and set with silver plates, goblets, and silverware. I eyed the knives, wondering if I could manage to steal one and hide it in my suitcase.
I had no idea what to expect in the capital, but I wasn’t keen to go defenseless to my doom. I would locate my mother and Kassian, and then we would escape together. I wouldn’t be forcibly paired to a werewolf to bear his children. I wouldn’t. I’d die first.
Another door was set in the wall at the opposite side of the room. Vixor opened it, revealing a narrow hall, with one more door opening off it and a spiraling metal staircase leading upward.
The Silver Wolf pointed at the staircase. “Your room is above. I trust you do not require a personal tour.”
“No,” I said, and climbed the staircase without another word. I was aching to be alone so I could think about the things I’d learned from my grandmother.
He let me go.
When I reached the top of the spiral, yet another door stood before me, this one narrow and rounded at the top. I opened it and discovered a round room, like a tower, with a circular skylight in the ceiling above. Sunlight poured down and puddled gold on a bed. Drawers were set in the walls, and a single dressing table with an oval mirror sat against one curved wall.
I sank down on the bed and drew a shuddering breath. Outside, I heard the beat of hooves from approaching horses, and my heart straggled up with hope that Neil might have changed his mind—but no, I heard the voices of the other Sworn, the ones called Isabel and Dominick. They’d joined the convey for the capital.
Voices murmured, but I couldn’t make out the words. My mind roamed circles around the revelation my grandmother had revealed to me as I waited for us to depart. I needed a plan.
It was hard to come up with anything useful without knowing exactly what was going to happen to me once we reached the capital. I didn’t know much about the lives of the Chosen after they were taken. No one in the village knew much beyond rumor, anyway, and I’d studiously avoided asking too many questions.
The carriage jolted, and I grabbed the side of the bed to steady myself. My heart skipped. My stomach plummeted.
Was this it? Was I really leaving my home?
The walls creaked around me, the floor lurched, and with a groan, the carriage rumbled forward.