Enola looked at the Elder with scorn. "You are wrong, Jola. The goddess gave them to us to give to the humans as an exchange. The goddess knew we would need bargaining pieces, and now we have them."
"That makes little sense! We cannot give the humans our claws. Their mates... We need their mates. Why give the humans that power? That's signing away our victories."
"Their mates will develop a loyalty to their Silver mate, who I assure you willalwaysfeel a loyalty towards her humanity," Enola said, her hackles rising at the nape to display her waning patience.
Jola shook her fist, rattling the metal on her arm. "This isridiculous. Where is the king? Where is Calder?”
Enola didn't say anything, only turning her back on Jola, who looked down in defeat before looking at the Silver with apologetic eyes.
Rem hadn’t even considered that the king was missing.
A chill ran deeper down her spine as she tried to gauge the situation. This was serious. Enola was about to trade the Silvers for what she perceived as protection. That couldn’t be it, could it? And what could Rem to do stop this? Should she stab the queen? She didn't know how to even approach that. She had never blatantly stabbed someone before. She also didn't have a blade.
But she had to dosomething.
Especially since she just got Oliver back, and things were finally going right. She looked around and only found defeat, the same defeat that conquered her on the night when Deacon appeared.
There were at least a hundred, if not more, Scarlet members surrounding them with many more throughout their territory. It was completely useless.
Oliver relied on her to make the next few decisions wisely.
So, like Shia said, Rem would wait for an opening.
Then, she would strike without hesitation.
* * *
An hour passed,and for once, Rem was happy to see Josie so vibrantly against a decision.
They even had to restrain Josie whorefusedto go to the hunters.
Freya had been escorted away, although Nia was told to remain with the group of Silvers as a translator, all taken to three horse-drawn carriages. That wasn’t met with much compliance either, with half of the Silvers requiring the same ropes as Josie.
Rem had convinced them that she wouldn’t act out.I need to be free in order to escape.
Enola did not immediately journey with them, and instead remained behind with Imari and the others to join in a few hours. They did have Jola, though, who was the only Elder Rem trusted.
The Arch Elder was nowhere to be seen.
The wind spun Rem’s hair into a frenzy as they rode in an open wagon. Human drivers sat at the head of each carriage, silver blades at their waist: the first sign they were leaving the world of shifters.
The carriages drove through the cobbled streets of Scarlet, all the homes shuttered and towering over them.
Rem tucked her hair behind her ear once more; no matter how many times she pulled at her hair, it continued to fly everywhere, almost as if a storm were blowing in. The other Silvers were solemn, especially once they saw the bridge in the distance.
While the bridge was still small and far away, only visible as they were at the top of a hill, it still felt like Rem was watching an hourglass, counting each piece of sand as it fell to the bottom. That bridge would lead them out of Scarlet.
She gripped her dress as she couldn’t seem to take her gaze off of the bridge.
She couldn't go. She couldn't be taken.
Not again.
She didn't go through all of this just to become ahound.
"You guys need to lighten up," Mavis said, sitting in the same carriage as Rem. "The shifters were going to lose, anyway."
Rem looked at her through the flying strands of silver hair. "I feel like you have a few screws loose. It doesn’t even makesense. Why make us go through all of this? Why not just have the humans take us in the beginning?"
