TWENTY ONE

Daiva and Destin were alone as they walked to the large stone pit where she and Hassir were going to be mated. The place had been made by Stoneborn generations before, but no one was certain of their intent. Some of the servants of their household had spent part of the afternoon filling it with firewood for the ceremony.

It wasn’t until they were nearly there that she finally turned toward Destin and broke the silence. “I’m not afraid. No matter what happens here, or with the king and queen, or anything after. I’ve seen too much death to fear it.”

Destin was covered from head to toe with a thick cloak of plain, unadorned brown fabric that preferred slaves sometimes wore. The hood came down over his face enough to cover his eyes as they walked. No one gave him a second look. The time would come to announce his survival to the lords of the Isles, but it wasn’t yet.

“It’s not dying that I fear, I don’t think. Not anymore. What I feared when I was gone, when I finally came to myself on that island, was being separated from you, and Taimon and Kaia. Not being here for you when you needed me. Now that I am,” he turned to give her a look and a smile from underneath the hood, “whatever happens, it’s what we’ve fought for together, and that’s worth it.”

Daiva gave her brother a small smile and looked toward the pit, since they were nearly there. “I know you don’t understand this, and I know you might not agree with my choice, but I’m grateful you did not try to stop me.”

“Just because I don’t fully understand your choice doesn’t mean I can’t respect it.” He’d been quiet about his opinion ever since finding out that she had chosen Hassir, of all people. “You know your mind, and I can tell that you know Hassir. I may not understand your choice of him, but I can certainly understand his choice of you. A man like him wants a fierce queen by his side, even if he never calls himself king. You will rule the Reef in precisely the manner it needs to be ruled, and more importantly, to me at least, I believe you’ll be happy there.”

She nodded in agreement. “I did not think of him as a potential mate at first. He said he was evaluating me from the moment he met me. I am glad it worked out this way.” When they got to the edge of the pit, she looked down at the enormous pile of wood waiting for Hassir’s flames. “Do you think mother and father would be proud of us?”

“I think they would approve of us not acting foolishly, or rashly.” He looked across the pit at a few wolves already in attendance, casually milling about the edge of the pit as if they had no idea what was about to happen. He knew all of them, and the sight of them made him smile. “I believe they would be proud of us for not giving up the fight after their death.”

“I can agree with that.” She went to the edge before she looked back at him once more. “Enjoy the show, brother.” Daiva jumped over the edge and down into the pit without another word.

One of the others milling about came up to him after Daiva jumped in, smiling at Destin with eyes that were nearly the same color as his own. “You know, I think it’s rather entertaining that they would pick two Oceanborn to oversee this entire thing. Maybe they want us to put out the fire when they leave.”

Destin was surprised to have someone he didn’t immediately recognize come up to him so abruptly, but he smiled back at her once recognition set in. Where Hassir’s red hair was always kept cut close to his scalp, Asira clearly had no trouble wearing hers longer, even if it was pulled back in tight braids popular among wolves of the Reef. She had the same regal presence and the same sharp features as her brother, made even more striking by the beautiful contrast of her eyes.

The two of them had only conversed only a few times, under less than ideal circumstances, but he remembered her all the same. “Or perhaps we’re the only two wolves in creation who are capable of putting up with the two of them. I find that just a little more likely.”

“You’re probably right.” She turned her attention to her brother as he joined Daiva in the pit. Asira watched as Daiva went up to Hassir, then raised an eyebrow before she looked back at Destin. “They’re possibly the most perfect pair I’ve ever seen. How much of this do we need to watch, exactly? This tradition is more rigidly upheld around these parts than it is at the Reef. You don’t find many wolves at the Reef who care to wait around for a mated pair to be finished with each other.”

“Even we don’t typically wait quite that long.” He had stood witness to several mating rituals before, most notably that of Leander and Marella, but each was different depending on the wolves involved. “Once it’s clear they’re both likely to survive, they are typically left to finish with each other, as you say, on their own terms.”

He looked away from Daiva at the rest of the wolves in attendance, some of whom had just wandered in from their everyday routine once they’d seen the gathering commence and realized what they were about to witness. Some of Asira’s Oceanborn guards kept the rest of the populace from getting anywhere near her or Destin, but the crowd was growing quickly as the sun drew closer to the horizon. “By the end of this, at least one member of the royal family will be in attendance, and then we begin in earnest.”

“I can give you one guess as to who will find out about this first.” She watched the crowd. “This is what Heartborn live for.”

Daiva approached Hassir when he made it to the bottom of the pit, and she looked around until they were face to face. “I would like to go first.” She said without really giving him much room to speak against her request. “That way your fire will burn later into the night.”

He approached her without actually touching her, though it was difficult with her standing so close. She could feel the typical heat in the air around him, the rush of power that accompanied his presence at all times, but none of it moved through her as it so often had in recent days. Restraint was necessary for a mating, but it was a quality they both possessed in the extreme. “As you say.”

She removed her robes and threw them onto the pile of wood. Daiva would not need them again for a long time, and she knew they wouldn’t make it past any blaze that he would ignite anyway. There was something in the gesture, and the look she gave Hassir afterward, that announced to those gathered that the ceremony had begun, without saying a word.

She looked up past her intended at the pit around them. A single raised hand beckoned some of the stone away from the walls slowly, as she thought about what she would build. She plucked the pieces and held them in the air over the two of them as shower of pebbles rained down, but not a single piece touched Hassir. Even with boulders floating over his head, he did not look worried.

Her eyes remained on the pieces as they fell to the ground behind him at her command, shaking the ground underfoot. She walked over to the boulders and molded the stone without touching it, since it wouldn’t drain her energy as quickly if she was doing it by hand. It was harder and more draining to resist the touch, but she worked methodically on her task.

It didn’t take long for Hassir to see what she was making, and she looked back at him over her shoulder with a grin. “Do you think they’ll be insulted that I decided we need a couple of thrones?”

“I’m sure they will be, and they should be.” He seemed pleased with her choice, though, and looked over her work in progress with approval. He remained on top of the huge pile of firewood, just waiting to let it catch as he watched her construction grow. “Our thrones in the Reef are simple things, but it is death for anyone to occupy them besides you and I. I think it is fitting that these be just as overgrown as these Isles themselves.”

“I hope when Melyssa sees them, she realizes they are bigger than her own.” Her laugh was a low, throaty growl, rumbling through the pit in time with her work until she was sweating from the exertion.

After she finished with the intricate thrones, she turned her attention upward. A crowd had gathered all around the pit, so she started to pull out pieces of stone from the walls to create ledges for viewing. The event was meant as a spectacle, after all.

Eventually she had to shift to expend her energy quicker, and the stone took on her pawprints as she passed. She exerted her will on the stone basin they were in without any conscious control over what form that exertion took. She had to be rid of all of it. Almost enough of it to kill her.

After running around in her wolf form for what felt like far too long, it finally caught up with her. Daiva became too tired to move from all the sculpting and pushing herself, so she curled up on the stone next to his yet untouched firewood. She took deep, labored breaths as she ignored the stone beneath her fur calling out to her, begging her to change back into her human so that it could revitalize her.

She clung to her wolf form as she waited until she would be forced back into her human form either to die or to be saved by the wolf who would be her mate. Remaining in her wolf was against every instinct she had, but that was the nature of the mating ceremony. The bonding of it came from emptying themselves completely, in order to be tied to someone else.

Whispers began to run through the onlookers. Tradition dictated that in the moment of crisis, Daiva’s witness should have come forward, to help save her life if her chosen mate decided to abandon her. But Destin held his ground. Daiva trusted Hassir, and so he would do the same, though it killed him to watch his sister’s form writhing on the stone, her dark fur a spot of obvious pain against the pale stone in the dying sunlight.

Hassir took a few steps down along the carefully-piled firewood to draw closer to Daiva, but he didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry. The stone pit around them had been transformed into a massive gallery that was a clear mockery of the royal palace in the capitol nearby, and Daiva had fallen in her wolf directly in front of the beautiful thrones she had sculpted for them both.

When he reached the edge of the firewood, he stepped down lightly, and knelt near her at arm’s length, looking down in her grey eyes as her life drained out of her. She saw only vicious concentration in his red eyes, rather than the sympathy or the compassion she might have seen from anyone else in her family.

Hassir leaned down with one fist pressed against the bare stone of the ground as he looked at her. “You told me once,” he said in a voice so low that only she could hear him, “that you wished to know what it was like to share in my fires. To feel what it’s like to consume a piece of the world, to understand its destruction.” There was reverence in his voice when he spoke about his element that had been almost completely absent from every other communication they shared, and she could see him clench his free fist as he waited for her to truly reach the edge of no return. “Soon you’ll have your wish.”

It was a struggle for her to lift up her head, but she brushed the side of her muzzle against his face before she laid her head back down. She could feel her heart beating heavily in her chest, and it took most of her strength to stop herself from whimpering in pain.

She would not be weak, even if she was dying.

Dying in battle was another thing entirely, the battle, the blood, it was enough to keep someone moving until the bitter end. This, this was different. Every beat of her heart, every breath was painful as she let herself die in the quiet. It was terrible, but she knew it had to be worth it. Hassir had to be worth it. There was no other option.

From the rim of the pit around them, Daiva could feel the thoughts and wishes of those who had attended in their wolf form, their minds reaching out to her to support her, encourage her, push her to the very edge of her own endurance. The stone beneath her was still in motion at the instinctive expenditure of power while she laid on it in her wolf, a slab of the world rising slowly with her on top of it, as if the stone itself was reaching up and begging her to take the power it could offer her.

She wanted to tell him to wait just a little bit longer, to wait until it was almost too late, but she couldn’t move, and she knew she didn’t have to. He would wait. He wanted their bond to be the strongest it could be, and so he would wait. Daiva blinked slowly as she watched him until she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She took a few shuddering breaths, until it truly looked like she nearly took in her very last.

When he reached out to touch her, she could barely feel it through the pain radiating through her at the loss of power from her own element. She couldn’t feel it when he picked her up in both his arms and carried her a few steps away to lay her down on a closely-packed pile of the firewood to remove her from even the last shred of contact with her stone.

All she could feel was the cold around her as he withdrew both his touch and the warmth of his power from the air around her. In her mind, she could hear the screams of outrage from the rest of the wolves around the pit at what he’d done. Many of her own followers panicked that it appeared he actually intended to allow her to die, several of them considered jumping into the pit to intervene.

Unable to sustain her wolf form any longer, Daiva’s body shifted on its own back into her human even though it would do her no good. She was away from her element and unable to reach it even if she wanted to. Her heartbeat was thundering in her ears, louder than the onlookers above. She could hear herself dying to its desperate cadence. No other pain in her life compared, blinding flashes of blurred vision blocking out even a last view of the pit. All she could feel was her own life slipping away, and Hassir’s own power somewhere nearby.

As soon as she shifted, Hassir could see the spasms taking hold of her that would eventually stop her heart if she was left powerless for too long, but still he didn’t move. With every labored heartbeat, he could see Daiva’s body grow weaker and weaker, until even the shuddering began to slow, her life giving up on the possibility of continuing without help.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a few wolves actually leap down into the edges of the pit in an attempt to save Daiva’s life. Hassir knew that even if their help had been required, they would have been too late. She was too far gone for them to reach her in time. But not for him.

He leaned down with one hand bracing himself on the wood beneath her, and looked down into her eyes. Hers had since glazed over with the pain she endured, and he smiled. “My lady.” She could see the flash of his teeth like a spark about to be set to tinder.

Hassir laid a single scorching hand on her chest and fire exploded through her in a tumult of power that was as unrestrained as the very first time she’d seen him fight against the Genovin. The entire pit ignited at once under his command, but the two of them were unburnt in the midst of the flames.

Daiva felt Hassir’s power fill her, consume her, and it felt as though she was on fire from within, flames burrowing through her muscles and scorching her bones. She couldn’t help but gasp as it filled every fiber of her being, and once her heart was beating hard in her chest for an entirely new reason, her vision cleared.

Daiva looked up to see Hassir looking down at her while the entire world around them was aflame. She smiled at him, even though it was weak while her body drank in every bit of power he could share with her. “I…hope Destin didn’t jump in.”

“No.” He reassured her without removing his touch or stemming the flow of power between them. “I considered destroying those rash enough to do so, but I left them unscathed. They will need a way up out of the pit, though, when you can provide that.”

“I’ll let them worry about that for a while.” She took several deep breaths as she shivered underneath his flaming touch before she pulled him down into a kiss in the middle of his bonfire. It would be his turn after she was restored, but she wanted to take advantage of feeling alive again.

Destin breathed a final sigh of relief even as the fire blossomed out of Hassir to engulf the rest of the pit. He crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the fire and tried to catch any glimpse of his sister inside. He was sure Hassir had saved her, but seeing evidence of her alive would vastly improve the day for him. “He has a penchant for drama, your brother.”

Asira shook her head as she watched her brother’s flames climb upward, but she smiled as she felt the familiar heat from the flames against her skin. Oceanborn as she was, she still appreciated the warmth, especially because it kept her close to her brother.

“He chose her for her strength. You and I both know that. He would not settle for anything but the strongest mating bond. The longer you wait, the closer to death, the stronger the bond.” She turned and looked at Destin for a moment. “Love and emotions meddle with deep mating bonds because no one can wait and watch the other person suffer for long enough. They wanted this, and they won’t ruin it by being afraid.”

“I don’t pretend to be an expert on the subject myself, of course, unmated as I am.” He didn’t mind conceding the point to her, especially once he caught sight of his sister and her brother through the flames. Daiva was alive, he could see that much for certain.

Once Asira caught sight as well, she went back to lounging on the ledge that Daiva created. The stone was now heated from underneath, so it felt nice and warm against her back as she relaxed against the smoothed stone. Asira looked up at the sky as they waited for Daiva and Hassir to emerge for the second half of the mating. “Are you worried that your admirer will come looking for you?”

She’d been told, briefly, about Chiara and her apparent obsession with the males in Daiva’s family. There was a story there about Chiara that no one seemed to have all the details about. “I can see how these events could make lovers out there especially interested. These ceremonies are romantic, even if it’s a surly Fireborn and a cold Stoneborn.”

Her question prompted him to look around at all the wolves gathered along the rim, but he didn’t have to look for very long. There was a small group almost directly across the pit from him and Asira which was given a wide berth by the rest of the onlookers, and Destin’s heart sank a little in spite of himself at the sight. “She’s already here.” He said quietly, nodding slightly in the direction of one of the two wolves in attendance who was wearing purple robes, illuminated in dazzling shades by the fire below. “And she’s not alone.”

Damos stood behind his sister with a smile on his face that nothing could diminish, even the thought of how absolutely furious his parents would be when he and Chiara returned home later to confirm what they witnessed. “I wasn’t aware that Hassir or Daiva even possessed emotions.” Damos removed his hand from Chiara’s shoulder and stepped a little closer to the flames so he could see her face, his own mate’s hand clutched in his, though Bethalyn remained behind him. “Are they as entertaining to you as other wolves, sis?”

Chiara couldn’t peel her gaze away from the two wolves below even when her brother looked over at her, and she took slow and steady breaths as her violet eyes took in the mating ceremony. She couldn’t see much through the flames, which was fine with her, but what she could feel was better than most things she felt in her life. Mating ceremonies were the strongest bond that wolves could make, and it had the capability of making her feel more drunk than any wine. “Yes, they are. Most other ceremonies aren’t as meaningful as this one. These two would die for each other, and that is a lot, considering they barely know each other.”

“As I would die for mine.” Damos said with a smile back at Bethalyn, devotion bright in his deep red eyes. Mating ceremonies always stirred up memories for all mated wolves of their own bonds, and Damos was no different. “Though living seems like much more fun, if you ask me.”

Chiara turned and looked back as Damos’ mate snuggled close to him, and she smiled as she looked at her brother once more. “That’s how it should be. Mates should be willing to do whatever it takes to make each other happy. I am pleased that you are pleased, dear brother. As our parents will undoubtedly be thrilled to hear that they can go to war with the Reef. Again.”

“Better the Reef than the Genovin, at least for the time being.” Damos had been looking forward to a fight with the Reef for a very long time, and was excited about the scene in front of them, just because it meant they were closer to that kind of assault. “They have to know this is a provocation we won’t be able to ignore.”

“I don’t think they want us to ignore it. Especially with this kind of show.” Chiara watched as Daiva and Hassir emerged from the flames, since she knew it was only halfway complete. She looked into the fire, her thoughts conjuring images of another Fireborn, one she had trusted and devoted herself to, even though she had not mated with him.

It was easy for her to get lost in the memory for a moment in the sound of the crackling flames, recalling what she had wanted, what she had felt…but the memory was quickly overtaken. It was replaced by the memory, equally sharp and clear in her mind, of her own mother tossing every single one of her newborn pups over the edge of a cliff. A truth she kept to herself, to keep her remaining loved ones safe. “They want to provoke us.” Chiara pushed away the thoughts and memories. They weren’t helpful. Especially with a war brewing. “Especially Hassir.”

“Hassir has been allowed too much freedom for too long. It’s been almost a century since the Reef came under our control. He needs to be reminded of his place. And mother has been wanting to remove him ever since it became apparent that he is no longer as willing to kneel as he was when he was younger.” Damos watched as Hassir disengaged from Daiva with a last kiss, and began climbing to the top of the still-blazing wood pile. “We need reliable control of the Reef and of the Falls in order to be able to move forward when the time comes.”

“Reliable control of the Reef?” Chiara wasn’t exactly sure how her parents expected to accomplish that, especially after the things Devon had told her about the Reef, but she decided not to say anything more about it. If her mother wanted something, her mother would set the world ablaze until she had it. This time, though, Chiara wondered how far her mother would be able to go. “I hope, for your sake, that Malis and Calis have thought this through more than mother has.”

“I’m sure Calis has. I’m just as sure that Malis hasn’t.” He snickered at the thought of their hard-headed Earthborn brother. “Calis has his plots and his plans years ahead of all the rest of us, you know that. Except perhaps Father. If mother succeeds, he and Calis and Ressa will be much of the reason why.”

“I am sure you are correct.” She decided to sit at the edge of the pit and enjoy the rest of the show. “Gods know they can’t depend on me.”

Down in the pit, the fire drew back from the edges of the burning wood, leaving blackened, half-burned pieces behind as it condensed itself around Hassir. Daiva was left at a distance from the fire, seated in the throne she had sculpted for herself on the edges of the pit.

The world turned darker as the fire in the center of the pit dwindled, until it was a single tiny flame held in Hassir’s hand. When everything in the pit seemed to have fallen silent, he raised the flame into the air and it lifted away from his hand, putting distance between himself and his element.

The small sliver of fire turned to a streak of light as it rose, flying in a ferocious circle around the edge of the pit and making most of the wolves present take a cautious step back. It burned a few feet in front of the onlookers, as if racing from face to face to take the measure of those in attendance.

Both of Hassir’s hands were outstretched, weaving the flame in intricate ways that were unclear at first. As the moments passed and the fire intensified, it took on the shape of chains, one large link at a time, stretching around the pit. He stood with Daiva at his back, and slowly turned as the chain completed itself in front of Chiara and her brother with a glare from Hassir.

All eyes in the pit turned to the princess and prince and the standoff between them and Hassir farther below. No one spoke, and the only sound in the area was the whisper of the wind and the roar of the flame itself around the edge of the pit. The flames strengthened themselves as Hassir poured out his power, until the chains burned white hot and most of the onlookers had to draw back from the heat, though no one could look away.

When the light was finally blinding and the robes of a few wolves caught fire, Hassir pointed at Damos directly. The Fireborn prince hadn’t moved away from the edge, but Bethalyn had to step behind him to shield herself from the heat. With a look of defiance between the two Fireborn men, the chains all around the pit shattered in a thousand pieces, the flames flailing around the open air over the pit, freed from their constraints in a frenzy of color and light.

Daiva wanted to pounce on Hassir just for that entire show of dominance, but she remained on her stone throne and watched. She stared up at Chiara and Damos after the flames fell, and gave them a mocking nod from her place.

As Hassir shifted to burn more of his energy, Chiara looked at her brother again, though now she was standing behind him and at a short distance from the pit. Her Heartborn capabilities allowed her to converse telepathically with ease, especially so close to a mating ceremony. The bonds of relationships gave her strength, and this in front of them was a feast of power for a Heartborn. What did you say about controlling the Reef?

Damos clearly wasn’t happy about what they’d just seen, but he shook his head at his sister’s question. Destruction is a form of control. Maybe the least preferable kind, but in the case of the Reef, I believe Mother will make an exception.

Chiara watched as Hassir’s power faded slowly, and she knew that if she wanted to, this moment could be a moment where she could turn the tides. Hassir would be weakened nearly to death, Daiva distracted, and between her and Damos, they could destroy them both.

But the Hassir and Daiva also knew that. It was as if they were daring the royal family to act. Chiara’s eyebrows knitted as she tried to untangle the mystery in front of her. They knew a mating ceremony would draw her attention, that it was a provocation, and they would both be at their weakest. Ripe to be made an example of. Chiara moved to look over the edge again, staring down at Hassir as she spoke to her brother with her thoughts. I wonder what has made him so bold right now?

Good question. Damos answered as he began looking around at the other attendants. Many of them had broken into conversation about what they witnessed, and he could feel the anger and resentment focused on him and Chiara, even without being able to read their minds himself. Even so, he was accustomed to being hated, even if he didn’t feel he had personally done anything to deserve it.

Perhaps because they’re surrounded by all the friends of Daiva’s family. He noted the different faces he saw, wolves of every element who had either sailed with her lost Oceanborn brother or had been known to be friends of her dead parents. The only face he didn’t recognize at first was Asira’s, but he placed her after a moment’s thought, laughing at the fact that the woman had attended with a slave standing at her side as if he were her equal. Friends won’t make the difference. Not once Mother finds out about this.

Daiva watched the edge of the pit until she saw Damos turn away with his mate and his sister, though she wondered if his mate would have even tagged along without his sister. She turned her attention back to the red-furred wolf prowling around in the pit and she smiled at him. “I do not think they liked your show.”

The growl that answered her sounded almost like a cat’s purr, and he glared in the direction of the departing royal children. He lifted his snout and breathed fire toward them, which raised a cheer from many of those present that echoed in Chiara’s wake. It was the last flame he was capable of producing, and the entire pit went dark, growing cold with each passing moment as the heat faded from the stone and ashes left from his demonstration.

Hassir remained on his feet as he paced, his paws leaving the stone behind him tinged orange as he passed, but even those tracks cooled as Daiva watched. As a Fireborn, Hassir was accustomed to being the repository of vast amounts of power, but he weakened quicker than a wolf of a lesser element would have when that energy was gone. Soon the stone no longer reacted to his touch, and Daiva could no longer feel the air turn warm in his presence, but still, he struggled to stay on his feet.

Daiva got up and sat at the edge of the still-smoldering pile of wood, which could at least catch fire again when she completed the bond. She trailed her finger through the ashes as she watched him every bit as closely as he had watched her. When he finally stopped moving, he sat down as if he had always meant to sit, and she smiled at him when she looked into his dark red eyes.

“Stoneborn power is very different.” She knew he couldn’t answer her out loud while in his wolf form, so she continued. “Yours came into my blood as violent as the flames themselves, but my power is more subtle than that. It creeps in at first until it grabs ahold of everything and turns it into strength.”

At that description, he forced himself to take a few steps and cross the distance between them, sitting again as he reached her. Hassir brushed his face against her leg, letting her know he was looking forward to understanding exactly what she was talking about.

He shuddered once in the midst of the touch, though, and barely caught himself before he collapsed on the stone at her feet, shivering both with weakness and with the cold, which was completely alien to his nature. She could hear his teeth chattering even though he had tucked his head in an attempt to make sure no one else in attendance could see him weakened.

Daiva pulled some of the stone from the floor to cover them with a shelf overhead to keep him mostly obscured from view. Hassir deserved his privacy and dignity. She laid down on the stone floor next to him as she watched him shiver and shake. He could feel the stone ripple beneath him like water, her way of reminding him that she was still there. “I’ll wait until the very end. We deserve that.”

He had strength enough to nod, even shivering as he did so. Hassir forced himself to look up into her eyes so she could see he was still there with her. Night had fallen while they were in the midst of the ritual, and within the stone, the world was absolutely dark besides the glint of the remaining light from their eyes.

He reached out one paw toward her as the silence of the stone fell around them, undisturbed by the respectful mass of wolves above, waiting and watching to see if the lord of the Reef survived. Small sparks lifted from his fur as he looked back at her, weak and frail and fleeting. She could see his eyes focus on her face every time there was the smallest scrap of light, as he expended the last of his energy just to keep the image of her locked in his sight.

The last of the sparks died almost before it appeared, and he shifted with a gasp, his entire body shivering against the stone. As panicked as his body became, though, his face was a mask of stoic resilience. His teeth gritted against the agony of the cold to keep them from chattering, but he couldn’t even lift his face from the stone. Hassir’s fingers clawed at it, desperate to extract even the last hint of warmth to sustain him, but there was nothing to be had.

Daiva watched him carefully until even the desperation of instinct began to fade in weakness, his breaths coming as shuddering gasps of starved life. It was the razor’s edge of life and death, an emptiness of self that made it possible for them to belong to each other.

Her hand reached out and touched him. She could not give him the warmth he was seeking except by what her own body could offer, but she could give him strength. Her hand slid up his side slowly as her power trickled into his body, not the raging torrent his own had been in her, but a steadying progression of unbreakable force. The world beneath them began to tremble and crack, but she draped herself over him so that her power would reach every part of him. His shaking stopped completely as he felt the strength of the world’s own bones seep into limbs, Daiva’s life bound up inextricably with his own.

He had spent his entire life around Stoneborn. He thought he understood their strength, the majesty of their abilities, but the sheer force of what Daiva added to his nature was beyond anything he had imagined. Hassir’s arms locked around her with a strength he had never possessed, but he knew Daiva was still stronger by far than he would ever be, and there was no way he would do her harm.

His power was hers. Her power was his. Their power together was greater than it ever could have been for either of them on their own, and he growled in satisfaction as he felt life return perfectly in all his senses.

“You are mine.” He growled against her ear, both in possession and in satisfaction, the heat of his body returning under the slow build of her power.

“And you are mine.” She growled back at him, as she held onto him tightly. The stone beneath them shifted so that it rolled them back toward the pile of mostly-burned wood. She wanted him to be close so that whenever he was strong enough to ignite it, it was there. Her stone came up and snaked behind him, latching around both of their legs pressed together and caressing Hassir’s skin as though he was a new lover.

He had been born with the ability to sense the fire all around him and manipulate it to his will, taking in its power for his own and releasing it as he saw fit. It was an entirely different experience to feel the stone in the same way. It wasn’t his element and never would be, but he knew it, understood it, could feel it in ways that he had never comprehended before, because it belonged to his mate.

He moved to be more comfortable against the bare stone, and kissed her once before he put out one hand and barely touched the half-burnt wood around them. Once the first specks of remaining tinder caught fire from his touch, the flame spread in a flowing spiral around them, until the entire pile was consumed again and they were ringed around by heat, supported by pure stone.

As the newly mated wolves enjoyed the shared power between them, the violence of their joint nature, Asira leaned back on her elbows and sighed. “Well, they both survived.” She smirked at Destin as she started to stand. “Are you ready for what comes next?” As soon as she was standing, she reached out a hand to pull him up.

There was cheering around them as she pulled him to his feet, as everyone celebrated the fact that they had both survived, and Destin nodded once he was standing on his own. “I am.” He took in a deep breath to steady himself, since what came next was a gamble on their part, relying on Melyssa’s own paranoia and insanity to act in favor of their family.

He looked over at Leander across the open pit of fire and nodded once. The Heartborn returned the gesture, and one by one, everyone present began to turn toward him and Asira. Leander’s subtle touch on everyone’s mind drew their attention without exerting any other influence, and most of the wolves present were confused as to what exactly had distracted them about Asira standing with a slave.

Destin reached up and undid the strings that held the cloak around his shoulders, then threw back the hood and allowed the cloak to fall around his feet as he turned to look around the rim of the pit. Beneath the cloak, he was wearing the deep blue robes of an Oceanborn, and he took a few steps closer to the edge as every eye in the gathering widened in disbelief.

His name went through the group in a hushed prayer, and a few among them cried out “Captain” in recognition. Destin’s eyes swept everyone present, letting the revelation of his survival sink in for a moment before he spoke.

“My sister is now the Lady of the Reef, and I am still your captain.” He smiled at some of those in attendance, Dola particularly, as he saw even his Skyborn friend shed a tear. “Notify Her Majesty that she is permitted one night, this night, to prepare herself and her household. In the morning, their reign over us, and over the Reef, is at an end.”

Several wolves went off whooping and hollering, howling and growling, but Dola was still there as most of the crowd dispersed from around him and found her way to Destin. “Decided to come back to us after all, Captain?”

Destin grinned at his old friend and pulled her into a warm embrace. “You didn’t think I would actually stay dead, did you?”

“I’m glad you didn’t.” She hugged him tightly and stepped back to her usual place just a few steps behind him. “Melyssa tried to take the ship, but I kept her under my care for you.”

“Good. Send a few of your Skyborn and however many others you think will be necessary to hold the ship through the day. As soon as word reaches her, she’ll start sending her people to try and take the fleet.” His mind raced through the plans for the day to come, and he knew it wasn’t going to be easy for anyone. “I need you with me for the assault on the capitol. As soon as I find Leander…”

“Right here, Captain.” Leander came up behind them, Marella right beside him as they greeted Destin, clearly ready for whatever came next.

Destin smiled as he embraced them as well, holding onto Leander afterward. “Between now and morning, I need you rallying everyone you know is even considering fighting with us, and rounding up all their children. Take some of the Forestborn with you and shelter them somewhere in the countryside north of Chainhome. I don’t want you or the little ones anywhere near the fighting. Taimon and Kaia can help you.”

Marella looked over at Leander with a smirk, since she knew he enjoyed being around children even if she hadn’t yet convinced him they should have their own. “See? Even the Captain wants to encourage us. In his own way. Right, Captain?” She looked over at Destin again with the same smirk, lighthearted even when the world was on their shoulders. She was friends with his sister for a reason, after all.

Marella’s bright attitude never ceased to make Destin smile, and he nodded. “Once we get where we’re going, I fully expect the two of you to have it overrun with pups in a matter of years.”

“Sounds like fun to me.” Marella’s grin brightened further as she put her hand on Leander’s arm. “Let’s go get started, then. Children are even harder to round up than ants, especially pups.” Marella glanced at Dola. “Do you think Gale will want to come with us or go with you?”

Dola opened her mouth to tell them to tell him to go with them and keep her pups safe, but she knew he would never agree to it. She looked at Marella and then Leander. “Keep a close eye on my pups, will you?”

“Both eyes.” Leander promised, and put a hand on Dola’s shoulder to make sure she felt the promise as completely as the power of a Heartborn could make it. “We’ll see you both on the other side of this. Captain.” Leander turned and nodded slightly to Destin before he ran off, headed toward the nearest homes of their friends.

“Tell the other captains to gather at my estate.” He instructed Dola as he turned back to her. “Daiva and Hassir will be back there shortly. A few hours before dawn, we’ll begin moving into position, but I want everyone close by in case Melyssa decides not to wait for sunrise.”

“I’m sure she will wait.” Dola started to back away so she could get to work. “Melyssa tries to find a way to avoid getting her paws dirty if she doesn’t have to. She’ll try other ways to end this first.”

“Whatever she tries, there are too many of us now for her to avoid us or dismiss us.” The group around the pit was still massed and waiting for Dola’s instructions, and it made Destin smile. Daiva had done incredible work in his absence, in bringing so many people from all over the Isles to the Queen’s Isle one or two at a time, in preparation for what was about to happen. “I hope it’s enough.”

“It will be.” Dola sent a blast of cold air at her captain playfully before she turned her attention to the serious attack ahead of them. “All of us have much to fight for.” Dola ran back toward the pit, leaving her captain more or less alone. Asira was there, but no one paid her much mind, since she was from the Reef.

“My brother and I fight together. I hope you don’t mind having another Oceanborn bumping around on one of your boats.” Asira added as Destin looked at her again.

“Not at all, so long as you stay out of my way.” He smiled over at her, since he liked the woman, against all his preconceptions about wolves from the Reef. “If you have any others with you, then I need you and your people dealing with the Queen’s fleet and her own Oceanborn loyalists. When we leave this place, we are not interested in being followed.”

“Do you think I want her in my waters? I do not think so.” She gave him a nod. “I’ll see you in the water. Captain.”

He took a last long look around the pit and smiled as everyone else began to hurry away to their own preparations. It was a moment he’d been dreaming of every day since his parents had been killed, and he spared a glance at the palace, rising in the distance.

Destin didn’t know if Cadmos was a powerful enough Skyborn to have heard his challenge personally, but he certainly hoped so. It was going to be a long night and an even longer day to come, but Destin knew they were prepared.

There was just one more stop he had to make before the morning came. He turned away from the pit and started off northward, immediately forgetting all fears of Melyssa or the army he knew she had at her disposal. He would face them all and more for Adriana. She was worth the fight.