The Queen and her Wolf

Chapter Twenty-Three

The night was warm as we continued to travel southwest, away from the relative safety of the castle. Sebastian took point at the head of our party, astride his own antequus. Darius and Riktus rode either side of Corvus, and the twins, Ash and Keenan, brought up the rear. None of their antequus were as large as Corvus but the mare Sebastian rode would have been a close second. Most antequus were of a monochrome nature ranging from black as night to purest white and all manner of greys and silvers in-between, yet the lead mare was of a reddish hue. Almost like she was made in a different forge to the rest. Her horns grew up and forward, too, which was unusual. I think that's why Sebastian liked her so much. She was unique.

He'd always been like that. Never doing what others expected. Always choosing his own path based on something inside himself, rather than the one laid out for him by someone else. At least, he had been like that. Since his time away in the human realm, I wondered if that still held true. After all, he'd gone there to have adventures, not seeming to care much about this small continent until...

Swallowing the lump forming in my throat I tried to turn my thoughts in a different direction. Any direction but the dark road I was heading toward. Corvus stumbled on a loose rock and with a small yelp, Alana's hand flew to my hip, quickly retracting it as the heavy antequus righted himself. The jolt that went through me made me glad I'd closed the link between us earlier.

The way she'd spoken before had reminded me why I'd chosen her in the first place. It was that fire. That spirit. That strength I knew lay inside her. Pride had indeed swelled within me. Pride and a very similar jolt at her commanding tone. No one commanded me now that I was Queen.

But Alana had.

She'd made her expectations very clear. She was my protector outside the walls we'd left behind. My guardian.

If I tell you to run, you run. Do you understand?

That thrill had shuddered through my entire body, settling somewhere between my legs. Unable to close my legs astride Corvus, I'd closed the bond instead, hoping to still save my dignity. In the hours we'd been riding there hadn't been a single second that I wasn't keenly aware of her presence at my back. The warmth of her. The scent of her. So close and yet...

"What's that, over there?" Alana queried.

I followed the line of her outstretched arm, pointing at a deceptively small circular building to the northwest. Its presence seemed so out of place atop the high cliffs, a silent spectre in the calm night.

"That's the arena," I answered, a pit forming in my stomach.

"What do you use it for?"

"Not a lot these days," Sebastian answered, flicking his gaze back toward me, understanding in his garnet eyes. I could have hugged him. "Sporting events mostly."

"Some ceremonies." Darius piped up and I whipped my gaze in his direction, thoroughly silencing the whelp.

"Ceremonies?" Alana asked no one in particular.

Darius intently studied a smudge on his saddle, licking his thumb and scrubbing at it. He'd be getting an extra week tacked on to his patrol duties, I'd make sure of it.

"Traditions from long ago," Sebastian offered, rescuing me again. "It's nothing we can't discuss later when we make camp."

Traitor.

He'd saved me for now only to condemn me at a later time. The pointed stare he gave me spoke volumes and that pit in my stomach only grew.

"I never roamed this far North, so I guess that's why I've never seen it."