P.S. Bring Ashared.
This was the news brought in the morning by one of the hunters responsible for supplying the city with fresh meat and the reason why the guards saw fit to break Lannahi’s order and let Souhi in to wake her up.
“Nuadd initially questioned the hunter who received the note. Both are waiting downstairs.” Souhi glanced down at the mess of clothes that Lannahi had thrown on the floor yesterday along with her hairpins and belt of knives. “Shall I have them return in an hour so you can take a bath?”
Lannahi looked down at the letter she held in her hand, feeling fatigue and apathy give way to anger.
Amaruk.
Ashared.
Bloody wolves.
“Yes,” she replied to Souhi’s question. “Tell them as well as Lizaar, Ashared, and Baddur to meet me in the council room.”
The story from the hunter, a woman named Akiak, was precisely what Lannahi expected. The hunters had been chasing a herd of deer. Focused on the chase, they hadn’t noticed that they’d crossed over into shapeshifter territory. Before they realized their mistake, they were surrounded by Amaruk’s wolves. The five hunters had been captured. Akiak had been released to deliver the message to the palace.
“It looks as if he was waiting for such an opportunity,” Nuadd said when Lannahi read Amaruk’s letter aloud.
“I gather that he hasn’t taken hostages before?” When she received a negative answer, she shifted her gaze to Ashared. A part of her was moved by the emotions she saw in his eyes, but she didn’t let it get a word in edgewise. “Why does he want you present?”
“You’ve met him. You saw that he didn’t need a special reason to bother people.”
The note of irritation in his voice betrayed his true feelings. Amaruk was the last thing Ashared wanted to talk about at the moment.
“How didyoumeet him?” she asked, unfazed.
“I was ambushed by the wolves from his pack who wanted him to fight me. We were both teenagers, wanting to prove ourselves. He had no choice but to fight me as he couldn’t afford to be a coward or lose to a mixed blood. We fought. It ended in a draw, which he can’t forgive me for to this day.”
Convincing herself that she was doing it out of duty and not curiosity, she asked, “Was that the last time you saw him?”
“No.” Ashared didn’t seem eager to explain further, but seeing the look on her face, he realized that his answer was suspicious so he added, “Wolves, which can travel several dozen rainbows a day, can’t avoid each other forever, living so close.”
“And what happened during these encounters? Did you find common ground?”
“Are you suggesting that I had something to do with this attack?” he asked partly in disbelief, partly in resentment.
Lannahi held his gaze. “I don’t know. Did you?”
“No.”
“Good. If you want, you may accompany me on my visit to the shapeshifter settlement but don’t feel obligated. I’ll tell Amaruk that you don’t owe Goldfrost anything and that if he wants a fight with you, he’ll have to search you out himself.”
Ashared clenched his jaw. Did he sense that she was one step away from banishing him from the city?
“We leave in an hour,” she said to Lizaar so that there would be no doubt that she too would participate in the expedition. When the landshaper paled, she turned to the General who was watching her closely. “Baddur, if we don’t return by evening, consider it an attack on Goldfrost. Can I count on you to save the hostages?”
A new kind of tension filled the chamber. Baddur hadn’t made any oath to her, and the only thing the soldiers had promised her was not to harm her. Lannahi couldn’t be sure that they would come to the rescue if they were needed, but she hoped that if she took Lizaar with her, she would force them to do so if not out of loyalty to the former monarch then at least out of fear of Mahrur.
“You can count on that,” Baddur said.
Lannahi didn’t like the generality of this statement, but it was better than nothing. She inclined her head and then politely asked everyone except Lizaar to leave the room. Everyone except Ashared obeyed.
She ignored him and turned to the woman. “When we are in the shapeshifters’ settlement, you are not allowed to speak without permission. Break this order and you will be wearing a collar for the next year.”
Lizaar sent her an angry look but said nothing.
“Good,” Lannahi praised her. “Go prepare.”
