Chapter Ten

There was a wet wind rising when they reached the capital. The journey had seemed to pass more swiftly than when Ryuan had first taken this path, the other way. It was because this time he was not counting the days without Calanthe, but instead the days until Nerav confronted his mother.

If Kaen knew, Ryuan thought, he would reach into the skies with his talent and bring down a sword of lightning upon Nerav, even despite the Law of Century. But the rain only began to fall lightly and steadily, undisturbed by thunder.

Calanthe nearly slipped in some mud. Ryuan wanted to draw her close and wrap an arm around her waist to help support her, but he was helpless to do anything but offer her a shoulder that she silently refused to lean on. She had barely spoken since they had left the ruins of the city. Was she still mourning Tamel?

“Calanthe, are you well?” he asked quietly.

She gave him a wan smile. “As much as I can be. Are all wolf-born as cruel as this one?”

Something must have showed in his face, for she quickly added, “All others, I meant.”

Behind them, Nerav growled, and they fell into silence. Ryuan only knew that the other wolf-born would suffer as soon as he was free. But then would she truly see him as no different as Nerav?

There were few people in the streets, as the capital’s denizens were avoiding the rain. Ryuan led them to a discreet entrance to the palace grounds. The guard raised his spear until his eye fell upon Nerav and caught sight of the signet.

“Lord Ryuan. Prince Kaen should be in his chambers.”

The wolf nodded and padded onward, herding Ryuan and Calanthe forward.

Ryuan turned away from the palace proper. There was a way to his mother’s private garden if they circled around. He didn’t want to risk running into anyone he knew in the halls. He dared not allow Nerav and Kaen to meet.

Once they slipped past the gate and into the garden, though, the wolf halted.

“Go,” Nerav said. “Draw her out. Speak to her. You will learn the truth.”

It went without saying that Calanthe would remain with him.

Ryuan crossed the remaining distance to the door of his mother’s chambers and tapped upon it. “My lady mother…”

After a moment, the door opened. His mother stood there in her mourning gray as always, heedless of the rain. She missed nothing in her first glance, not his state nor the two who had stayed back. She turned to him with her usual composure. “Ryuan, tell me what’s going on.”

He matched her calm through an effort of will. “That is one of the wolf-born. He claims you are a sorceress who created me, and he seeks your death.”

“And the girl?”

He looked at Calanthe in despair, the wolf-born’s body carefully angled where, even if she ran, he would be upon her with a single leap.

“Ah,” she said. “You found her.”

He did not need to be distracted. “Tell me the truth,” he said.

She lifted the veil. Her face was exactly as Ryuan remembered it from his last sight of it when his foster-father died almost a decade ago, her skin still smooth and her eyes still a clear green.

It was not only because she was still mourning, he realized. She hid her face so no one would notice that she did not age.

“I was one of those bound by the Law of Century,” she said. “Afterward, I wandered the world, shaping different lives for myself. I was afraid, sometimes. Happy, others. Then I made the mistake of falling in love with a prince.”

His foster-father. “Who would need an heir,” Ryuan breathed.

“Yes. So I bore him a child. Did you not wonder where Kaen’s gift with the winds came from? It’s buried in the bloodline, sometimes, but in this case it came directly from me. There were no sorcerers among your father’s ancestors.”

“That’s why you wanted Kaen to wed Melea,” he said with sudden realization. He had always wondered why his mother seemed so set on the match, but the shy girl, so fearful of sorcery, had impeccable lineage.

She nodded. “Her family, too, is free of any taint. I hope their children, and theirs, will be safe.”

He gathered it all in. “What of myself?”

“I made you to protect Kaen. The wolf-born were the soldiers in our wars, and I could think of no one better able to keep Kaen safe if someone learned of his heritage and wanted him to pay. I do not blame the people or the wolf-born for their anger, but I wanted Kaen to be free of it, if he never misused any powers he might manifest.”

“And if he did…”

She met his gaze evenly. “Then I made you to kill my own son, if need be. Because from the first time I held him, I knew that I could not. Even if he killed a hundred men.”

“He has killed men,” Ryuan said.

“But not by sorcery. He has ordered them killed by executioner’s blade or your claws. And always according to law. We only followed our own desires during the wars. We did terrible things. I, too.”

He knew, suddenly, that she planned to meet Nerav and accept the fate he dealt her. “You changed,” Ryuan said. “You foreswore sorcery after the wars.”

His mother smiled sadly. “But I didn’t. I made you.”

“I can’t regret it,” he said fiercely.

“I treated you like my own son. The other wolf-born were not so fortunate. They have a right to justice too.”

“You can’t give up your life like that!”

She did not react to his outburst, the same way she hadn’t made much of it the first time he had discovered his wolf shape. She had been through a hundred years of wars that had destroyed men and earth; nothing fazed her. She said only, “I wish I could’ve gotten to know her.”

Calanthe was still held captive by Nerav. It was not a choice anyone should have to make.

His mother saw the agonizing indecision on his face. “You will stay here until I am gone,” she said, and her words had the force of some binding in them, so that Ryuan could not have moved had a gale struck him.

“Mother—” His feet were like stone, caught to the earth, unyielding.

“Don’t tell Kaen what happened to me. It’s better for you to know your full nature, Ryuan. You are wolf-born and you must find your own peace with that. But Kaen is content as he is.”

He closed his eyes and nodded. She was protecting Kaen again, even to the last.

She touched his shackles, and they crumbled away—a useless freedom, while her command bound him. Then she touched his face. “One thing I didn’t expect— I never thought I would love you.”

That wrenched him apart. He opened his eyes, but his last sight of her slim, straight back was blurred with tears.

When she reached them, Nerav touched his nose to Calanthe’s leg, releasing her. His mother touched her arm, said something. Then Calanthe ran to him. He held her tightly against his body and kissed her hair, refusing to look away.

His mother lifted her chin. Nerav tore out her throat.

Ryuan was free so suddenly he staggered. He thrust Calanthe behind him, tore off his clothes, and in mid-leap turned wolf.

They snarled and snapped at each other briefly before withdrawing to defensive crouches. Ryuan felt a dizzying pleasure, knowing here was a worthy challenge, feeling the certainty of death for one of them and thrilling in it. He kept staring at his opponent, fangs bared and tail cocked, and when the other rushed forward, he did as well.

Lunge, snap, withdrawal. But this was no game of dominance. Ryuan wanted blood. On the next exchange he committed his full weight and they wrestled briefly. Ryuan sought purchase on the other’s throat but only managed to catch a bit of fur and something wound about his neck, setting it spinning free. It distracted him for a moment and the other wolf swiped with his paw, gouging his shoulder.

The scent of his own blood filled his nostrils; he needed to drown it with the smell of the other’s. He threw himself onto his opponent, sending them into a roll, and while the world turned over Ryuan’s claws shredded the other’s hide. He felt the ground on his back and knew it meant his end, so he forced the other back and emerged on top, pinning the other down.

The wolf beneath Ryuan struggled. Then he shifted, his shape changing into one even more helpless: frail skin, blunt teeth, no claws, an awkward tangle of limbs. He gasped in pain, then spoke. “It never changes,” he said. “This is what the sorcerers did. They set us upon each other.” His head slumped.

But louder than his words to Ryuan was the pounding of the other’s heart and the splash of blood upon the ground. He moved closer to the soft, pitiful thing that lay before him, savoring the moment before his jaws would close over the remainder of its life.

“Ryu!”

The sound was familiar. He turned, only to see another soft creature there. She held something out to him, round and hard and bright in the light. It held no interest for him. But she herself…

He knew that scent. It thrilled through him, and then the sure grace of her movements became familiar. She was crouched down in front of him on two limbs, and he had once stood like that, he realized suddenly. And the spill of sound from her throat—

His bones twisted—

“—Ryu, Ryu, you have to know this, it’s Kaen’s—”

His howl warped as his throat became human. She threw her arms around him and he pressed her to him, drinking in her human touch. Skin-to-skin, she drew him back the rest of the way from the brink of the wild-mind.

His senses slowly calmed until he felt safe enough to draw the slightest distance from her. Even so he needed some contact, so he entwined his fingers around hers and found her still holding the signet. “Not even Kaen could bring me back,” he said hoarsely, turning it over in his hands. “But you…” The ring dropped to the ground, forgotten as he framed her face with his palms. He said with infinite tenderness, “Beloved.”

Her eyes widened. “I dreamed of this…” Her fingers touched his arms, crept up to keep his hands where they were. “My heart.”

He touched his forehead to hers and breathed in her presence for a long while. Rain streamed down upon them and he didn’t care, even though it hit his bare skin, but there was Nerav to deal with.

The wolf-born was badly injured and unconscious. Ryuan stood over him, and found he couldn’t summon the will to deal the death-blow. Behind him was Calanthe, who had freed him from the wild-mind and its relentless demand to kill. He wanted to be an executioner no longer.

He found the rags that remained of his clothing and bound Nerav’s injuries with cold efficiency. He did not allow Calanthe to help.

“You could take him inside,” she said.

“No. I will not have him under the same roof as my brother. Our kind can heal wounds that men cannot.” He set the wolf-born by the gate. When he recovered, he would know to leave. Ryuan had not lived with other wolf-born, but instinctively he knew that, having won this fight, he needed not fear Nerav. And even if the other wolf-born continued his vendetta against those with sorcery, Ryuan had tasted his blood.

Then he went to tend his mother’s body. She was still young, and lovely. He closed her eyes.

“She said to take care of the garden,” Calanthe said, very soft.

He understood now her love for this place, its growing things an antidote to the destruction she had once caused.

“Ryu? I’m sorry.”

He dropped a kiss on her temple. “I’m glad you’re safe. And it was her choice.” Through his grief, he was fiercely proud of the woman who had made him, raised him, loved him.

He buried her there, where seeds might find root in her grave and grow tall and as lovely as she.

Calanthe took his hand when he was done, not minding the grime. It was a simple pleasure to feel her fingers curled around his own. A reminder that she was there beside him.

“I need to talk to Kaen,” he said.

“You can’t face him right now,” she said gently. “And you should clean up first, or he’ll ask about the mud.”

She was right, of course. He sighed. “You keep me human, and civilized.”

He took her to his rooms and commanded a bath. The first turned murky from dirt and blood as soon as he lowered himself into it, so he took another, trying to soak out the trials of the last several days. Afterward, Calanthe saw to his wounds.

The sight of her, head bent while she tied off a bandage, still moist from her bath, stirred him. It had been too long. He had seen her threatened by a sorcerer and a wolf-born. He desperately needed to know she was with him fully, safe, beloved— He placed a hand on her thigh and slid it upward.

He could smell her reaction, but she moved away. “It’s all right, Ryu.”

“No. I need this.”

She caught his mood. “This, then.” She slid downward, her hair moving over him like a living skein of silk, but that was nothing to her lips closing over the head of his cock, warm and liquid.

That sensation moved down his shaft, up, then farther down. He knotted his fingers in her hair. “Ah, Calanthe, your mouth is hotter than summer…”

She twisted her head back and forth throughout the next few strokes. He freed his hands from her hair and slid them down to the tops of his thighs, fingers half-curled from the strain of trying not to push her head down deeper.

She went of her own accord, all the way to the base. He groaned to feel every inch of him inside her mouth. She drew back up teasingly, met his eyes, then buried him down her throat again in a swift motion. From there she quickened the pace, a constant blur of wet heat sliding against his cock, until he knew nothing else but pleasure, a long arc of it, and then shorter bursts following that finally drained the last of the tension from his body.

Her tongue caressed him a last time, and then she moved up the bed to curl herself around his body. They held each other in simple contentment. It was not only the release she had given him that let him finally relax, but the casual way she draped one leg over his, certain of her place against him.

Finally he said, “I should see Kaen.”

They rose and dressed. Ryuan caught her hand in his as they left his chambers, and she gifted him with a smile as they made their way to the royal quarters.

The guard posted there bent his head, then reached out and rapped sharply on the door. “Lord Ryuan,” he announced.

The door opened. “Ryu, you’re back!” Kaen glanced at Calanthe. “With company. Come in.”

Melea rose at their entrance. “Lord Ryuan.”

Calanthe set her hand over her heart and bent her head. “My lord prince, my lady princess.”

“This is Calanthe,” Ryuan said.

Kaen grinned at her. “I couldn’t be happier to meet you at last. Ryuan was brooding over you for seasons, you know.”

“Really?” she said interestedly.

Ryuan said, “Calanthe, I need to speak with Kaen…”

She knew why. Her face turned serious, but then she managed a smile and turned to Melea.

Ryuan and Kaen stepped away.

“How did things go with the sorcerer?” Kaen asked quietly, and his somber tone was so much like their mother’s that Ryuan’s heart ached.

“He had started building a city to draw those with the old gifts.”

Kaen’s eyes widened but he let Ryuan go on.

“He’s dead now, and the city destroyed. The people are scattered. I don’t think they meant any harm, only wanted a refuge.”

“I trust your judgment,” Kaen said. “Are you all right? That looks like a bandage beneath your tunic.”

“I’m fine. Kaen…I went by our mother’s chambers first. She’s gone. I don’t know where.”

Kaen passed a hand over his eyes. “You searched the garden?”

“Yes.”

“And asked the guard?”

“He saw nothing.”

Ryuan hadn’t thought out an elaborate lie to explain the circumstances, but to his relief, his brother did not seem surprised.

“No one could stop her once she was determined to do something,” Kaen said heavily. “I almost expected her to leave after our father died. I know she traveled much before he convinced her to wed him. It would have happened at some point, I suppose. I wanted her to see her grandchild, though. Melea’s convinced it’s a son.”

“An heir, then.”

“I’m hoping not. Then we’ll have to try again.” Kaen grinned. Then the amusement faded. “I’m actually glad.”

“Glad?” He had to remind himself that Kaen did not know she was dead, only gone from the palace.

“Yes. She seemed to be wasting away here, always dressed in mourning and never coming to court. There must be something else out there that she found worthwhile, after our father.”

“I think so,” Ryuan said, thinking of her sacrifice for Calanthe. His brother’s words rang true, even if he did not know the whole story. “You should look after the garden she loved.”

“Can’t you?” Kaen asked, then, “Not you too, Ryu.”

“I think I need to leave as well. I’ve lost the taste for hunting men.”

“You could stay here, without any duties—”

Ryuan shook his head. “I was never a creature of the court.”

“No.” Kaen sighed. “I never meant to trap you here. I just wanted you close by.”

“I know. It’s been my home, because of you.” When Kaen looked at him, he saw Ryuan as someone who belonged. That had been all he needed for a long time. But when Calanthe looked at him, he knew he belonged to her. My heart.

He sought her gaze as he and Kaen returned, expecting her smile and the warmth it always triggered. He was considerably startled to find Calanthe and Melea laughing together. He had never heard Melea laugh in his presence at all. But when he came to tell Calanthe that they were ready to leave, Melea not only looked him in the eye, but smiled as she said, “You must return often. My lord husband will miss you sorely. And you’ll want to see your nephew, of course.” Her hand dropped to the curve of her stomach.

“Of course,” was all he could say before drawing Calanthe to him. They made their last farewells, and as soon as they were out in the hall he asked her, “What did you say?”

She smiled at him. “She asked why I wasn’t afraid of you. I explained exactly how I bend you to my will.”

“Bend me to your will?” He gave her his most menacing look, to no effect. “And how do you do that?”

“Something along these lines.” She stopped, and when he did the same, held his face and studied it with a tenderness that made him realize all over again how dark her eyes were, and how they held the world. Then she kissed him. Slowly, lingeringly, her mouth seeking and making promises.

It took him a moment to recover. Then he said cautiously, “You didn’t go into more detail than that, did you?”

She couldn’t hide her amusement. “Melea said she’d have to try some of it on Kaen.”

He hadn’t thought he could be embarrassed. But at the same time, the thought of his brother’s wife welcoming him, even with an amused smile, was heartening. He now understood a little why Kaen had wed her. He would have to visit. But he didn’t want to stay here—he didn’t need the glittering trappings of court, nor even the company of the other wolf-born. All he needed was Calanthe.

He set his hands low on her hips, his thumbs stroking close to her center. “Why don’t you try some of it on me now?”

Their kiss this time was not so slow and sweet. Then she pulled away and said teasingly, “If you can catch me!”

He cared not at all who wondered why a woman was laughing as a wolf chased her outside.

The storm was just passing. When he caught her, as a man, he pressed her against a tree and watched the raindrops sparkle in her lashes as she closed her eyes in anticipation. She could not have been more beautiful.

“I love you,” he said, and kissed her.

The last of the rain seemed to wash away all the bitterness of their past. All that lingered was a clear sweetness on his tongue, as though he had sipped some of her essence during their kiss. Whatever taste he left in her mouth made her smile. And his lips seemed to be curving too, of their own accord.

The clouds broke apart and sunlight fell warmly upon them.

It was bright all of a sudden, but he didn’t bother shielding his eyes from the dazzle of the sun because he had no need of sight. Each of his senses strained toward her, and always would, he knew. Bending, he pressed his smile to hers.

Let the season of rains end, he thought. She would still be here.