Hold! The word cracked commandingly, halting the wolfyn in their tracks.
She couldnt help herself. Recognizing Dayns voice, she stopped halfway up and looked back. Her heart shuddered at the sight of him standing over Kenars body, both of them now morphed back to their human forms, one alive, one dead.
Dayn was wearing the same clothing he had been in when he morphedhow did that work?and for a nanosecond he looked like the panel in her book that showed the woodsman standing over the slain wolf, triumphant at having saved the girl.
It was the truth, yet not.
Their eyes met, and even across the distance the contact struck sparks inside her. Oh, Dayn, she whispered, heart hurting.
For gods sake go, Reda. Get out of here. He didnt shout the words, but she heard them clearly in her head, in her heart. And she just as clearly saw the pack orienting on him, bristling as the excitement of the fight cleared and they remembered that he was both their sworn enemy and now their leader.
This was about to get ugly, Reda thought. But even as her bodytraitor as it wassent her two steps back down the trail, a full-throated roar of sound and energy geared up above her, drowning out even her own sobbing breaths.
She didnt need to look to know what that meant: the vortex was fully formed. If she was going to leave, she had to do it now.
And, oh, dear God, she needed to leave.
Tears blurring her eyes, she spun and bolted up the remainder of the path.
She heard Dayn shout her name, but she didnt look back. Couldnt. She could only look ahead of herself.
The narrow stone bridge that formed the archway was higher than it had looked from the ground, the drop scarier, the pathway itself narrowerlittle more than a two-foot-wide span in places and crumbling at its sides. But where only a few days earlier she had balked at the rope bridge, now she strode across the crumbling stone archway without fear.
She wasnt sure if she was too scared to be scared anymore, having been vaccinated by repeated terror, but as she looked down into the dark center of the vortex, her only real thought was, Well, here goes nothing. There was no anticipation as she called the spell to mind and visualized her apartment kitchen, which seemed suddenly small and stale rather than safe. But she couldnt stay in the wolfyn realm and she didnt want to go with Dayn anymore. Not now.
She glanced over, saw the pack gathered around Dayn as if awaiting orders and felt her heart break.
And she jumped into the whirlwind that would take her away.
REDA! DAYN WATCHED her fall, felt the vortex surge deep in his bones and knew she was gone. He felt it in the emptiness inside him, the hollow spaces he hadnt even recognized until the past few days.
Agony hammered through himnot the pain that had come with the change, but from the way she had looked at him when he transformed, and again when he killed Kenar. The world was better with the bastard dead, but he wished there had been another way. There hadnt been, though, which left him with a pissed-off, leaderless pack and no time to waste.
Tearing his eyes from the archway, he refocused on the pack, not liking the way Kenars main lieutenants were closing on him, though there seemed to be some sort of commotion going on at the back, over where Reda had broken through. Maybe he had an ally or two, after all. Too bad one or two allies werent going to do a damn thing when the other forty-something went for his throat.
Pulse thudding sickly in his skull, he spread his hands in a no harm, no foul gesture. Look, I just want to go home. If youll just let me
The wolfyn closest to him shimmered and stretched to his human form to reveal Janus, a thick-necked soldier who followed his alphas orders unquestioning and knew tradition better than he knew his siblings names. You won the challenge, he growled. But we dont intend to be led by a filthy bloodsucker.
I dont want to lead you. I just want
I claim the Right of Challenge.
Damn it, Janus, just listen for a minute. I dont want to fight you.
Too bad. The other male blurred and retook his wolfyn form, baring his teeth in a feral snarl.
Dayn cursed under his breath, all too aware that he only had so much time before the vortex started to die back down. Hell, the thing could collapse at any moment. Taking a deep breath, he called on his other magic, and
Hold, damn you! a womans voice called.
Every eye swung to the source, and a murmur of yips and growls rose up at the sight of Keely in human form, pushing through the crowd with a man at her side. Easily twice her mass, he had silver hair despite appearing to be only a few years older than her. He wore the heavy furs and sigil of the Bite-Tail pack, and sent Dayn a steely look as they joined him in the fight circle that had cleared at Januss challenge.
Who the hell are you? Dayn blurted, but even as he said it, the Bite-Tail connection clicked and he put it together. Roloff?
Aye. The big mans low growl carried enough force to quell the pack instantly. He swept the wolfyn with a look. Keelys father promised her to me, but Kenar broke that bond and outcast me. I claim her by right of the original promise.
And to Dayns utter shock, Keely blushed.
Not a loner, then, Dayn realized. It had been Roloff, coming around during each moon time, making himself visible and seeing if Keely was ready to go against her brother. And finally, this year, getting what he wanted.
Gods, he would never understand wolfyn politics. But at least someone had gotten what he wanted.
Dayn glanced at the vortex. Ah, Reda.
Do any deny me this mate? Roloff demanded.
Dayn met his eyes. He didnt embarrass Keely by shaking his head. But he didnt say anything, either.
Keely and Roloff didnt embrace or kiss, but the look they exchanged said that making her an outcast had been the best thing Kenar had ever done for her.
Now, looking entirely in her element, Keely faced the pack. By right and descent, the leadership of this pack should have come to me, not Kenar. He took control outside of tradition, which means that the challenge was not a true challenge, and this male she indicated Dayn is not your leader. I am. She swept the pack with a piercing look. Do any challenge me on this?
Keely and Roloff didnt embrace or kiss, but the look they exchanged said that making her an outcast had been the best thing Kenar had ever done for her.
Now, looking entirely in her element, Keely faced the pack. By right and descent, the leadership of this pack should have come to me, not Kenar. He took control outside of tradition, which means that the challenge was not a true challenge, and this male she indicated Dayn is not your leader. I am. She swept the pack with a piercing look. Do any challenge me on this?
There was dead silence. Janus even looked a little relieved.
After a minute, she nodded. Good. Then hear me. This man goes with safe passage. None shall touch him. She turned to Dayn, taking his hands and squeezing them in probably the only spontaneously friendly touch between them in two decades. Go home, Prince Dayn of Elden. Go with my friendship, and the hope that this could be the beginning of a new era of peaceful sharing between our realms.
You Wow. Okay. Dayn faltered as he found himself nailed with an ambassadorship before hed even regained his kingdom. Yeah. Thats ambitious.
It was what Candida wanted, why she befriended you. So if you dont do it for me, do it for her.
He swallowed hard. For both of you, then. And for the betterment of our realms, I hope.
Good. Then go. Get the hell out of here. She kissed him on the cheek, shoved his rucksack, crossbow and sword into his hands and waved for the pack to let him through.
Roloff gave him a cuff on the shoulder that held a good measure of and dont come back, and the rest of the pack watched him with unblinking amber eyes that said good riddance. It would take more than Keelys goodwill to convince themand the other packsto give the blood drinkers a chance, but the benefits could be huge. Which was just another reason why he needed to get his ass through that vortex and get this brand-new era started.
Still, an empty hollow opened up inside Dayn as he jogged up the trail to the archway. Not because he was sad to leave the wolfyn realm, or because of the changesand deathsthat had come because of him, or not entirely. No, the ache had curly red hair and blue eyes, and the hollowness came from knowing that the best three days of his life were over.
And the rest of it was about to begin.
His feet weighed him down as he headed out along the narrow causeway, following the line of Redas footprints in the thin layer of grit. He stopped where she had stopped, stood where she had stood and closed his eyes for a second, trying to mindspeak her and failing yet again. Still, though, he sent his message toward the swirling realm magic, hoping against hope that it might reach her, just as a book of fairy tales once had: Be well, sweet Reda. Be brave. Live your life.
Then, without looking down, he stepped off the edge. And plummeted home.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
WITH DAYNS VOICE RINGING in her ears, Reda blinked awake to find herself hanging weightless, surrounded by strange, shifting fog that was white in some places, while in others it sparkled with rainbows, lit from above with shafts of light that seemed random, yet not. She was wearing her bow over her shoulder and clutching three sad-looking arrows.
Hello? she called. Dayn? Her pulse thrummed in her ears. Part of her wanted it to be him, another part not. Maybe someday she would be able to think about him without hearing the sickening crunch of flesh and bone, the shivering howl. Not yet, though. Not by a long shot.
She had thought distance would help, time home alone.
But this definitely wasnt home.
What was going on?
Nerves prickled beneath her skin, not freezing her, but warning her that this wasnt good. She hadnt been conscious for the trip to the wolfyn realm, but based on Dayns description this wasnt the way the vortex was supposed to work. It was supposed to suck her up and spit her out, no detours. This was most definitely a detour.
Stay calm. You can handle this. Making herself breathe evenly, she pictured her apartment kitchen in minute detail, right down to the dishes in the sink and the book on the counter. Then she said her mothers spell. But instead of her kitchen, she got a mans voice.