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Chapter 29

I wasn't sure if it was because Terif had made such a big deal about keeping their history and myths a secret, or that Eirik held on so tightly to the belief of their God, but just hearing Adranus's name slip from her lips made the hairs on my arms stand, and caused my eyes to narrow defensively.

I knew little of the wolf-bornes myths and legends while living at the bottom of the Mountain, and I had thought she didn't either, but I'm sure I was wrong about that like everything else.

"What do you know of Adranus?" I was surprised at the threatening tone in voice, and at how my brow narrowed in a scowl, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

"That he is the wolf-borne's god, and he fell looking for you."

I couldn't stop my head from shaking, or from taking a few uneasy steps away from her. Gods, this was too much to take in in what sitting. I was finally getting answers, even if they seemed completely insane. But it was something.

"He doesn't exist. Their story is just a myth."

"It's not, and you know it. I showed you the craters, Emrie. I showed you the coffin you were hidden in. I'm taking you to that very cave. The sooner you accept the truth, the easier it will be."

I didn't bother answering her, and instead turned my face towards the cool wind blowing across the Mountain and started walking down the path again.

"You wanted answers. You can't run away when you realize they weren't what you were expecting." She grumbled behind me, but didn't try to touch me again as she hurried to catch up.

"It's just... it's just so much to try and believe." I sighed loudly and slowed down enough for her to fall easily in step beside me. "My memories seem so real, Mae. And what you're saying just... doesn't."

"I know. I'm sure I wouldn't believe it either if I were you."

I tried to let my mind stay as open as possible, to try and accept the possibility that maybe, just maybe, everything she was saying was true. I needed to see that cave.

"They were trying to use me to find him." I muttered under the dark recesses of my cloak as I watched our feet step over the pristine white of the snow. I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye.

"Yes, but discovering you were mated to the King threw a wrench in their plans. Until they discovered the part of the god's soul residing in him."

My breath caught in my throat at her words, and my eyes snapped over to her as she eased over a fallen branch. "How do you know about that?" My voice was a shocked hiss as it passed my cold lips, but she simply shrugged and pulled her cloak further around her.

"The same way they saw that you were the star. They were good at seeing unearthly beings like that."

The Elders, how... manipulative they were. Perhaps- perhaps it was a good thing Eirik had ended them. If what Mae said were true, then they had caused more harm and turmoil then anyway I had ever known, including North.

But they were not the only ones who thought the god existed, and was still roaming the Mountain. The seer, Liberius, had mentioned something about it also. About using me to draw Adranus out, to take his power.

If the god truly did exist, I feared for him. But the Elders were gone now, North had taken care of them. And I hadn't seen the seer in quite some time. That was one less threat to me, or Adranus.

Well, look at me, talking as if I were actually starting to believe all this.

"What did they do to you, and Lei?" I asked softly a moment later, even though a shiver ran through me at the question.

"I haven't seen Leikos in a while- I'm not sure what happened to him." Her voice had darkened, along with my heart, and I felt that familiar frown pull at my lips. Even if my entire childhood with the siblings hadn't been real, that didn't stop the love I felt for them both.

Unless, that was put into my head as well.

"They didn't beat me or anything, but they loved fear tactics. Like the fear of whether or not they would feed me that day."

"Mae... that's horrible. I'm so sorry."

She shrugged beneath her hood, like it wasn't a big deal before stopping and bending down to the snow. "It's not your fault. I don't blame you for any of this. It's not like you knew what was going on, or could control it." She murmured softly as she drew little swirls along the soft snow.

I sat carefully down on a frozen log beside her and blinked up at the gray sky. They sun was hidden behind a blanket of dark clouds once again. "You should not be so upset with the King over this, Em. I'm quite glad he rid the world of them."

Honestly, I was starting to be as well. I never knew those hardships she spoke of, or remembered them at least. But I could not deny what was right in front of me. She had looked horrible in the town, starved and sunken into her own skin. Who could deny what she claimed?

And the King...

He never actually spoke about it, but I knew Eirik believed in the tales he told me. Believed in that little book he had given me, believed in his god. I found that rather endearing, even if it sometimes seemed far-fetched.

And if he believed in the coffin, in me sleeping for hundreds of years beneath the Mountain- I knew he would have killed whoever he thought was responsible for it. I shouldn't have let that surprised me, like he had said. That much I did know.

But the way he had acted, the way his eyes held such a murderous gleam and his jaw set in sheer anger directed at me, was upsetting. He had been the King I once feared, and no where near the mate I desperately wanted him to be.

I had a right to be upset with him, at least in regard to me. No matter how selfish that sounded. We were quiet for a while after that, both of our minds lost in their own thoughts.

The further down the mountain we traveled, the steeper the paths seemed to become. I wasn't sure how long we had been walking before the snow finally began to thin away, and the sun escaped its dark prison behind the clouds. But it was already only a quarter away from the horizon.

"We should probably find somewhere to camp for the night, before it gets too cold to travel."

We paused just on the edge of a thick tree line, a small clearing just ahead. I frowned and pushed my hood back enough to run my hand through my thick, dark hair.

"Do we have much farther to go?"

"Probably another half day, we have to pass around the village to reach the Cliffs."

My eyes widened at that, and my gaze snapped to hers as my heart jumped in my chest. "The Cliffs? You never said anything about the Cliffs."

There was probably only one actual cliff in that region of the Mountain, but what laid beneath was treacherous. Sharp, rocky, points of death littered the bottom of the cliff, with pools of water far deeper than most could swim. Those who tried to navigate its terrain hardly ever survive.

Even I stayed away from the cliffs when I still lived in the village, and got into all kinds of trouble and mishaps.

"It makes sense though, doesn't it?" She muttered quietly as she started scouring the small clearing for branches dry enough to start a fire. "No one ever goes there. It's the perfect spot to hide something."

"Or someone." I grumbled mostly to myself before bending down to help look for twigs. She didn't say anything else after that, and we fell into a comfortable silence as we set down the small packs we had brought with us.

It wasn't long before she had a small fire going, and the thin snow surrounding us melted away. I passed out a few pieces of bread and cheese that I had managed to ask a servant for before we left. We had enough for two more days at least. Enough to reach the cave and travel back to the Kingdom.

If Eirik hadn't found us by then.

I had no doubt in my mind that Aeyron had come to check on me, and found us gone. He would have definitely told North by now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were already scouring the castle and kingdom for us. How long did we have before they started rampaging down the Mountain?

Dear God, he was going to be furious.

My head angled towards the path we had traveled, towards the kingdom hidden behind a thousand trees and clouds at the top of the Mountain. It was the closest thing I had to home now that the village was apparently just a fake memory. I couldn't go back even if I wanted to. I wouldn't.

That place was not mine.

"What is he like?" Mae spoke up some time later when the sun had officially fallen behind the Mountain and that familiar chill settled into the night air. Hopefully the fire would be enough to warm us through the night.

"Hm?"

"The King. Is he like all the stories they would whisper about him in the village and Lower Kingdom? Is he as ruthless as everyone claims?"

I brought my legs up to my chest at her questions, my cloak wrapping around my small body comfortably as I placed my cheek on top of my knee.

"I... do not honestly know."

The truth of that one statement tore at my heart. I truly didn't know North, not as much as I should have. He kept everything so hidden, so tucked down tight in his chest. He hardly ever let me see what he was thinking, or feeling. Half the time I doubted even he knew.

"I think, around me, he tries very hard to be as carefully gentle as he can. Like he's afraid I will break at the littlest thing." At least, that's what he has told me before. That he tries so hard to hide that monster inside him.

"But sometimes he slips up, and I see the King that the stories are made from."

Images flashed through my mind, images of him forcibly taking over Aeyron's mind, of killing the Elders, of his whole beautiful body covered in blood.

"I do not believe the tales are all true, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few were."

He was so gentle with me most of the time, and often even sweet. I wish he wouldn't try to hide any parts of him. If he was genuinely true with himself around me, I would grow to understand him and his decisions more. But he would not.

"On one hand I find his need to keep himself as gentle as possible in my mind's eye endearing, but on another, it drives me mad."

"Do you love him?"

My head lifted enough for my eyes to dart to her pretty pale face at the question, but her gaze was distant as she watched the fire. I felt my stomach churn uneasily in my chest. It felt so easy talking to her like this, like it did for all those years that she desperately wanted me to believe weren't real.

"I want to, everything in me tells me that I do, but in all actuality, I don't know. Like everything else in my life right now." I muttered that last bit darkly before burying my face back into my knees.

"He loves you, or cares deeply for you at least."

I couldn't help the ecstatic surge that swelled in my chest at her words, but I tried to shush it down as she continued talking. "When I saw him appear behind you in the market the other day, I was surprised at the sheer relief on his face- then terrified when he hard turned those creepy eyes on me."

"His eyes aren't creepy." They're beautiful. But, I didn't bother saying that second part, it was implied.

"Do you think... do you think he will let me stay there? At the castle? I don't have anywhere else to go now." She murmured softly a moment later, worry and slight hope ringing in her voice. My shoulders tensed, and I tried not to let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm not sure, but I will ask him when we return." If he wasn't mad enough to lock me in the dungeon and never let me out again. "But you are an Underling, and he, nor his kind, likes the shifters at the body of the Mountain very much."

I would beg him though, if I had to. Despite our rather shady history, and relationship altogether, she was still the closest friend I had. I would not let anything bad happen to her if I could help it.

"I know, but will you still try?"

"Of course."

The fire crackled between us, its flame dancing just barely above our heads. I leaned closer to its warmth as she threw on another few branches. "We should get some rest." She murmured sometime later as she readjusted her pack on the ground and used it as a pillow, her cloak spilling around her like a large blanket.

"We should reach the Cliffs by mid-day tomorrow, but we need to have enough daylight to navigate its peaks."

A shiver of fear ran down my spine at the mention of the Cliffs, but I nodded my head in agreement and curled up against my own pack. I wanted to do this. I needed to do this. I knew I did.

-&-

The sound of long, dark, purposeful howls filled the cold night air, and drew me from the sleep that had taken hours to fall in to. I blinked in a daze up at the dark sky as Mae jerked awake across from me, her dark eyes wide.

"Is that what I think it is?" There was no hiding the fear in her gaze, or the slight tremor in her voice. It matched my own.

"I don't want to stay and find out."

I rose quickly to my feet and piled snow onto the few glowing ashes that was once our fire. Another howl sounded down the mountain, and the deep, dark, cry of it tore at my heart. I knew, without a doubt, who it belonged to. And I no longer questioned the temperament the King would be in if he caught us.

Deadly furious.

"We have to hurry, or he will find us before the sun has a chance to rise."

There was a panic in my voice I was not familiar with, and for the first time since I met North, I feared for my physical safety. Which was ridiculous. He wouldn't hurt me, I knew he wouldn't. If our mate status wasn't enough, his people's views on how to treat their women would keep me safe.

Why was I wasting time thinking about this?

I slung my pack over my shoulder, just as Mae had with hers, and we took off at a brisk pace down the path once again. We had a full day's head start, but two feet were no match for the speed and power of the wolf-bornes paws. Even Mae in her shifter form would have a hard time out running them, and her cat was too small to carry a fully grown human.

"The snow should hide our scent well enough." I panted as we practically ran down the path. "But he will head to the village first. We're going to have to bypass it to reach the Cliffs."

"Agreed!" She shouted over the wind whipping around us as we raced down the snow-covered path. "I think we should get off the trail, and take the Western route."

I barely had time to nod my head in agreement before she abruptly changed directions and took off between the thick trees and branches of the forest. I followed quickly behind her, but she had the agile-ness and stealth of her shifter. I did not.

I began to lose count of how many branches snagged on my cloak, or cut into my cheeks and hands, but I refused to let those sharp stabs of pain slow me down as I followed after Mae. That time, months before when we first fled from North down the Mountain flashed through my mind, and I couldn't help the laugh that shot from my lips.

History truly does repeat itself.

I wasn't sure how long we were running before my body finally had enough, and I slowed to a staggering, painful stop between a thick clump of trees. I bent over at the waist, my hands on my knees as I drew in deep, ragged breaths.

Mae stopped running a few yards ahead of me when she noticed I was no longer there, and jogged quickly back. I wanted to scowl at the easiness of her breathing, and the lack of sweat on her brow, but I was way too exhausted to do so. What a life, to be a shifter.

"We don't have the time to rest, Emrie. We need to keep going."

"I-I just need a m-moment." I gasped and wiped at the hair sticking to my wet cheek.

She let out a gruff sound at the back of her throat before reaching into her pack and pulling out her water bag. "Here, have a quick drink and then let us go again."

I took the water gratefully and gave it back to her before slowly standing. "I need a while longer before I can run again, but we do need to keep moving." I started walking in the direction we had been running before, with her just a few feet ahead of me.

The sun was finally starting to rise in the sky, and the desperate howls of North, and I'm sure the Generals, had all but disappeared. Only the remnant of the way that they tugged at my heart remained. But that didn't mean the wolves weren't there.

We passed quickly over large boulders, and rivers, over fallen trees and under thick bushes. Hours, upon hours, of hurried walking with little breaks. The sun was probably two hours away from reaching the middle of the sky when we paused just a short league or so away from the Cliffs.

"I'm starving." I muttered after drinking a few short sips from my water bag.

"Eat here while you can. I don't want to stay in the cave too long, that place gives me the creeps."

"This whole thing gives me the creeps." I grumbled around the piece of bread I shoved unceremoniously into my mouth. Her dark eyes gave me a sympathetic glance.

"If it helps you learn your past, it must be worth it."

I nodded before washing the bread down with another sip of water, and rolling up my pack once again. "It is, but I agree. I would like to get this over with as soon as possible."

Not that I was really in a hurry to get back anymore. Eirik knew I was gone, and I dreaded our next meeting. He was going to be furious with me.

-&-

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