Wings (A Black City Novel) (18 page)

“You okay, dogbreath?” Luci says to him.

He attempts a grin. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just taking it slow, so you girls can keep up.”

Lucinda rolls her eyes.

“So how did you two meet?” I ask them.

“I got trapped in one of Kieran’s deer snares,” Lucinda mumbles.

Theora throws an amused look at me. Heat rises up my neck.

I turn to Lucinda. “So where has your clan set up camp?” I’d like to know where I’ll be taking Annora later. I’m hoping it’s not too much of a hike.

She casts a suspicious look at Theora, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Kieran.

“It’s okay, frogface, you can trust her,” he says. “She won’t tell anyone. Will you?” He aims that last part at Theora. She shakes her head.

Lucinda glances back at me. “In the caves, about a mile outside of Amber Hills.”

“You’re living in a cave?” I say, surprised.

She shrugs. “It’s dry, it’s safe and it’s secluded from the sun.” She peers up at the misty sunlight and winces slightly. “It’s perfect, really. It’s where Uncle Icarus lived before, well, you know . . . ,” she says, referring to the Misery.

“Where have you been living for the past eighteen years?” I ask.

“All over the place,” Lucinda says. “We rarely stay in a town longer than a few months. Uncle Icarus causes too much trouble.”

The trees suddenly thin out and we reach a vertical rock face, about a hundred feet high. On top of the plateau is the Lupine village. A steep set of stone steps are carved into the side of the rock leading up to it.

“So, did you really kill that boy’s sister?” Theora asks as we climb the steps.

“No,” I say quietly. “But I was feeding on her.”

“Oh,” she says, then louder. “Oh! So you’re—”

“A twin-blood Darkling,” I mumble.

I expect her to gasp, to scream, but instead she just says, “I’m a hybrid too. Half Lupine, half human.” The corner of her rosy-pink lips turns up in a smile, and my heart yanks.

“And the Lupines are okay with you being a hybrid?” I ask. It’s not something that would be tolerated in my town.

She nods. “Sure. They’ve taken really good care of me since my parents died.”

“What happened to them?”

“Icarus murdered them during the Misery,” she says, glancing at Lucinda. The Darkling girl pretends not to have heard that, but her cheeks redden. I don’t know how she can stomach being around me and Lucinda, when a Darkling killed her parents. She’s a more forgiving person than I am. “Kieran’s cousin, Ulrika, and her father have practically adopted me. She’s my best friend,” Theora explains. My left hand grips around my rifle. “I spend more time at her house than my own.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I say sincerely.

She shrugs a little, frowning. “So what happened with that boy’s sister?”

“My grandfather caught me feeding on her and . . .” I briefly shut my eyes, remembering the sound of Catherine’s neck snapping. “He couldn’t risk her telling anyone. Ulrika saw the whole thing.” I figure it’s best to tell her the truth before Ulrika does.

“You weren’t hunting for deer in the forest, were you, Edmund?”

I glance down. “The Guild sent us to kill Alaric, as payback for last night.”

She stops. “If you hurt any of my people, I’ll rip your throat out. Got it?”

I nod, passing her my rifle as a show of trust. “I’m not going to harm anyone.”

She studies me for a long moment, then nods, and continues on up the steps, but she keeps the gun safely by her side. We’re all out of breath by the time we reach the village. The rocky mountainside has been carved into tiered levels and is connected by a maze of steps and steep pathways. On every level are tall, blocky stone buildings, crammed tightly together.

Lupines race about the village, helping to carry the injured inside their homes, or fix broken windows and fallen doors that must have been damaged in the earthquake. We’re in a town plaza, about the same size as the one in Amber Hills, which is surrounded by merchant stalls.

The roof of one of the stalls has caved in. Standing beside it is a middle-aged Lupine with a white-and-black mane, just like Kieran’s—the Lupine pack leader, Alaric Bane, and his daughter, Ulrika. She’s wearing the same outfit as last night—leather pants and a tight top—and there’s a bandage around her arm, where she was shot by one of the townsfolk in Amber Hills. Her cropped hair is matted around her boyish face, and there are dark shadows under her eyes. I doubt she’s been to sleep yet.

“We should evacuate the village,” the man with the spotted mane says.

“It was just an earthquake, Penn,” Alaric says. “We’ve had them before. There’s no reason to believe we’re in any danger of an eruption.”

Ulrika glances over her shoulder, sensing us.

“Uncle Penn, they’re back!” she cries out.

Penn follows her gaze. The look of relief that enters his face quickly fades when he sees Kieran. He rushes over to us along with Alaric and Ulrika.

“What the fragg are they doing here, Theo!” Ulrika says, gesturing toward me and Lucinda. “Did you forget they’re our
enemies
?”

“Luci’s my friend,” Kieran grunts.

“Don’t you realize how much danger you’ve put us in, bringing her here?” Ulrika continues. “What if the other Darklings come looking for her?”

“They won’t,” Lucinda says. “Not until nightfall, anyway. Annora and I often stay out all day.”

“Lucinda will go back to Icarus tonight, after we’ve rescued her sister,” Theora explains.

“Is this girl who you’ve been sneaking out to see, son?” Penn says.

Kieran grips his side. “Argh, Dad, can we talk about this later? I’m sort of bleeding here.” His knees buckle and his father grabs him.

“Take him to my house, Penn. It’s closer,” Alaric says. “Put him in Naomi’s room.”

Ulrika flinches at the sound of her sister’s name but doesn’t protest as her uncle carries Kieran into a nearby house with a yellow door. As soon as they’re gone, Alaric turns to me.

“You’ve got some nerve coming here, boy!” he growls.

“I invited him,” Theora explains. “We were being chased by hunters. I couldn’t leave Edmund and Lucinda in the woods. It wasn’t safe.”

Alaric looks questioningly at me. “What’s going on?”

“The Guild sent a hunting party to kill you, as payback for last night.” I tell them everything, starting with what happened to Naomi during Mrs. Hope’s funeral, right through to now, leaving nothing out. Alaric’s eyes widen as he learns I’m part Darkling, while Ulrika scowls. “They took Lucinda’s sister, and they’re going to kill my grandfather.”

Alaric pinches the bridge of his nose. “This whole thing has turned into such a mess. I should
never
have trusted Hector to sort this out. He lied to the Guild about our deal, and now my little girl is . . .” He winces. “But I thought he cared about his people.”

“He does,” I say. “My grandfather’s devoted his whole life to the people of Amber Hills . . .”

Alaric furrows his heavy brow at me. “I wasn’t talking about them.”

“Who did you mean, then?” I say, confused.

He spreads his arms wide, like he’s gesturing toward the whole village. I blink, perplexed, and then it slowly sinks in what he means as I stare at the man’s silver eyes—
silver,
just like my mom’s, like my grandfather’s, like
mine.
I stagger back as the truth hits me. I’m part Lupine.

EDMUND

“
HOW CAN MY GRANDFATHER
be a Lupine? He doesn’t look anything like you,” I say. Except, I realize he does. He has the same steel-gray eyes as Alaric and he’s tall too.

“Hector’s a hybrid,” Alaric explains. “His father was human.”

I furrow my brow. So if my grandfather’s a hybrid, like Theora, that means I’m a . . .
what?
They don’t even have a word for someone like me: half Darkling, with a generous pinch of human and a dash of Lupine. Blend ingredients together to make Edmund Rose.

“I thought you knew,” Alaric says.

“No,” I mutter. “Grandfather’s never spoken about my great-grandparents, so I had no idea one of them was a Lupine.” All I know is that he was orphaned as a baby and raised by an uncle in Carrow Falls, who died of yellowpox when my grandfather was just fifteen. He moved to Amber Hills and worked as an apprentice for one of the original members of the Guild, got married when he was nineteen, then took the preacher’s job after his young bride died while giving birth to my mom. And that’s everything I know. Why didn’t he tell me what he was? My blood simmers, stung by his betrayal, but it also explains why he’s been so accepting of me all these years. We’re the same.
Freaks.

“So who was my great-grandmother?” I ask.

Alaric ushers us toward the stone building that his brother, Penn, and Kieran just went into. Ulrika pushes past me, bumping my shoulder—I can’t tell if it’s on purpose or not; I might be part of the pack now, but that doesn’t mean she trusts me—and enters the house before me. Theora gives me a reassuring smile as we follow her.

The hallway is cramped and dark and cluttered with furniture. Alaric slings his jacket over the coatrack by the door before leading us to the living room at the end of the corridor. We pass a reception room along the way. The door is open, and I stop midstride. Lying on the table is Naomi’s body, shrouded in a muslin cloth and surrounded by pine wreaths. Ulrika shuts the door, grief burning in her silver eyes.

“We can’t cremate her until tomorrow’s full moon,” Theora says. “It’s Lupine tradition.”

“I’m really sorry,” I mutter, my words falling flat.

Theora frowns. “It’s not your fault.”

No, it’s my grandfather’s fault for agreeing to let the Lupines take our people to give to Icarus to feed on. I still don’t understand why he felt the need to be so underhanded about this whole situation and hide the Darklings’ return from everyone, including me. If he’d just been honest, maybe Catherine and Naomi would still be alive.

We head into the living room. The floors are all made of stone, so there’s a cold, damp chill in the air. Old photographs and paintings of Lupines cram every inch of wall space.

“Who are all these people?” I ask.

“Our pack,” Alaric says, lifting a pile of books from a chair and indicating for me to sit down. Lucinda plops down in the seat before I have a chance to take it. Instead, I find a place to sit on a striped purple sofa next to Theora. Ulrika takes a seat in the leather chair beside the fireplace and puts her feet up on the coffee table. She pulls a dagger out of her belt and digs it into the armrest, her angry eyes fixed on Lucinda.

Alaric plucks a circle-shaped picture frame from the wall, and passes the photograph to me. The picture is clearly old, with faded sepia tones and mildew beginning to bloom on the decaying paper. A beautiful young Lupine smiles back at me, dressed in a very uncomfortable-looking dress with big ruffled sleeves and a high collar. Her mane has been neatly braided.

“That’s Prudence Black. Your great-grandmother,” he says. “She was our pack leader, until she died. The position should have gone down to her son, Hector, but he was just a baby at the time and the bloodline ended with him. So he was sent to Carrow Falls to live with his human uncle, and the job of pack leader went to the next family in line.
My
family. We invited Hector to stay with us after we learned his uncle had died, but he refused. He’d moved to Amber Hills by this stage and was happy there.”

“What about my great-grandfather? Who was he?” I ask.

Alaric shrugs. “Just some farmer from Carrow Falls. He died of tuberculosis a few months before Hector was born.”

I look up. “My grandfather’s the rightful pack leader?”

Alaric’s mouth tightens. “Yes. But he refused the position when he came of age.”

I glance down at the photograph of my great-grandmother. Why did Grandfather choose to stay in Amber Hills, under the Guild’s oppressive regime, instead of returning to his family, here? Then it hits me. He’d met my grandmother. He stayed for love. I wonder if his wife knew what he was. Probably; I can’t imagine he could keep it a secret from her. I pass the photograph back to Alaric, and he places it on the wall.

I notice a newer photograph on the mantel above the fireplace. It’s of Naomi. She’s got her arms slung around Ulrika and Theora. They’re all grinning up at the camera. Alaric follows my gaze, and grief crosses his features when he sees the photos.

“Why did Icarus have to come back,” he says, his voice broken. “My beautiful girl would still be with us if he’d just stayed away.”

“Why don’t we ask Kieran’s ‘friend’?” Ulrika says, sliding a look at Lucinda.

She sinks back in her seat. “He came back for his son. A boy from Amber—oh!” Lucinda looks at me. “It’s you.”

My heart freezes. Icarus is my father. So that’s why Grandfather has been desperate to keep Icarus’s return a secret from the Guild? He was terrified they’d find out I’m part Darkling and kill me. I cradle my head in my hands. It’s a lot to take in. I’m the reason Icarus has returned and the reason Naomi and all the others are dead.

“Why has he come back for you now?” Alaric says. “It’s been eighteen years.”

I look at Lucinda, hoping for some answers. “It’s custom for the firstborn son of the clan leader to take a blood oath when he turns eighteen, basically promising that he’ll lead the clan when his father dies. It’s a stuffy old tradition, but Icarus really believes in it. And you’re his only son.”

“I turned eighteen last month,” I mutter.

“He’s been trying to see you for weeks,” Lucinda adds. “He sent a message to your grandfather when we first arrived, asking to meet with you, but your grandfather refused.”

“He said ‘it was time,’ that’s all,” Lucinda says.

Ulrika leans forward. “If Icarus is so desperate to see Edmund, why didn’t he just go to Amber Hills and talk to him directly, mmm?”

“Uh, because the Guild would try and
kill us
?” Lucinda replies. “Uncle Icarus didn’t come back here to start a fight with them, if it could be avoided—our people suffered at their hands during the Misery as much as they did ours. Plus, he wanted his son to come back to him willingly; it’s part of the ritual—his son must ‘return to the fold of his own free will and accept his burden as leader,’ or something,” she continues. “He just wanted to talk to Edmund and then we’d be on our way. But his patience is wearing thin; he’s
really
mad at Edmund’s grandfather.”

“And while Icarus was waiting around to talk to Edmund, he was snatching
our
people to feed on, so the Guild wouldn’t suspect he was back?” Ulrika throws her hands up. “Nice, real fragging nice.”

I glance at Alaric. My grandfather
had
tried to rectify the situation, by allowing the Lupines to take a few sick and elderly people from Amber Hills to offer to Icarus instead. As long as the Guild believed the Lupines were behind the kidnappings, there was no reason for them to know the Darklings were back and question why Icarus was here. My grandfather did all of this to protect me. He probably hoped Icarus would get the hint and leave, but the situation spiraled out of his control.

“You have to believe me; I had no idea about any of this,” I say to the group.

“It wasn’t your fault, Edmund,” Theora says, lightly placing her hand over mine.

Ulrika notices the gesture and narrows her eyes.

Theora turns to Alaric. “What are we going to do about Lucinda’s sister and Hector? We only have until noon tomorrow to rescue them.”

Alaric sighs. “I’m not so certain we should be getting involved—”

Lucinda flashes a panicked look at Theora. “But you promised! If Annora dies, Uncle Icarus will feel forced to retaliate, that’s just how he is.”

“It’ll be the Misery all over again,” Theora says.

“I’ll take Annora to Icarus myself and end this,” I say to Alaric. “No more people have to die. All I ask is that you let my grandfather stay with you; he’ll have nowhere else to go.”

Alaric thinks about this for a moment, then nods. “I need to run that past the League first.” I’m assuming the League is the Lupine’s equivalent of our Guild. “I’ll go talk to them now. We’ll leave at nightfall.” With that Alaric sweeps out of the room.

As soon as he’s gone, Ulrika yanks her dagger out of her armrest and tucks it back into her belt. She stands up. “I’m going to check up on Kieran.”

Lucinda follows her without asking for permission, leaving me and Theora alone in the dark, cluttered room. A grandfather clock ticks loudly in the corner of the room. I’m suddenly aware how closely we’re sitting together on the sofa; there are just a few purple stripes between us. Theora shifts and her knee touches mine. I swallow, unable to focus on anything but that one inch of skin where our legs are pressed together. I lift my eyes and hold her gaze. Blood rushes into her cheeks and she looks away, but a faint smile flitters over her lips. There’s an awkward pause as neither of us knows what to say.

“Let’s go for a walk,” she finally says, standing up.

Outside, the Lupines are still busy cleaning up the mess made by the earthquake, so they don’t pay us any attention as we stroll through the village. We pass a house covered entirely in wisteria and Theora brushes her hand over the violet flowers, releasing their sharp honey scent. An old woman with a long gray mane is standing on the front porch, picking up fragments of broken potted plants. Scattered around her feet are hundreds of orchid petals.

“Oh no,” Theora says, her lips turning down. “Those were Hettie’s pride and joy. She must be devastated.”

She hurries up the porch steps while I wait at the bottom, uncertain whether I should join her or not. I watch as Theora quietly offers words of comfort to the old woman. Looking at her now, it strikes me how much she reminds me of Catherine. They both have kind hearts. Theora didn’t have to bring me back here; she could have easily left me in the woods, with nowhere to go. But instead she’s helping me and Lucinda, despite what we are. The old lady dabs her eyes and smiles at Theora. They briefly hug, and then Theora joins me again. We continue our walk through the village.

“Where are we going?” I ask as we approach the outskirts.

Theora grins. “Are you afraid of heights?”

“No,” I say, getting a bad feeling.

She gestures for me to follow her up a flight of stone steps that are carved into the mountainside. We climb the steps for several minutes, walking side by side, despite there not really being enough space for the two of us. Occasionally the backs of our hands brush against each other and my stomach swirls, like I’m going to be sick, but not in a bad way. I desperately want to lace my fingers through hers, but that’s insane! I don’t even know this girl, yet every part of me is aching to touch her.

I’m out of breath by the time we reach the top of the steps, but Theora’s hardly broken a sweat. We’re on a rocky outcrop several hundred feet above the Lupine village. Up here, the air is much thinner and I feel dizzy, although that might just be because I’m standing close to Theora. The sky overhead is cloudy and gray, and there’s a weird eggy smell in the air like there was at the waterfall where we’d set up camp earlier. It’s a little disconcerting, especially after the earthquake, but nobody seems that worried about it, other than me. Maybe it’s normal; I don’t know. Until today, I’d never ventured outside the walls of Amber Hills, so perhaps the air up here always smells like this? It’s crazy to think how much has happened since then: I’ve met Theora, gotten a heartbeat and now I’m a wanted man.

“This is what I wanted to show you,” Theora says, gesturing toward a circular building on the edge of the precipice. The building has no walls; it’s just a domed roof held up by several marble columns. “This is our temple.”

“Oh,” I say, still trying to catch my breath from the hike. “Pretty.”

Theora laughs slightly as we enter the temple. From here, we can see right across the Forest of Shadows. In the far distance, I can see the Boundary Wall surrounding Amber Hills.

“You can see where I live from here.” I point toward the spire of my grandfather’s church, which pokes above the wall. Grief suddenly rips through me as I realize that I can never go back there. I’m homeless. Instinctively, I clasp the circle pendant around my neck. It always gives me comfort when I’m feeling lost or frightened.

“What is that?” Theora asks, pointing to my pendant.

“It’s the symbol of my faith,” I say. “Everyone in Amber Hills follows the Purity.”

“The Purity?”

“We believe that the Darklings are demons sent from hell to corrupt our souls.” I attempt a smile, but it quickly fades on my lips.