ASHES AND VOWS

Elaris’s POV

Smoke billowed into the small cottage quickly and darkly, searing my throat with each gasping inhalation.

Flames shot up from the wooden beams overhead, casting a fiery glow on the wall as burning debris fell all around us.

I held one hand over my mouth and the other against my belly, fearing that the smoke would get to my unborn child before we got out of there.

“Now is the time to flee!” shouted the shadowy guard, placing his heavy cloak over my shoulders and pushing me towards the back of the cottage. “Stay close behind me. Do not stop for anything.”

“My proof—”

“Your life is more important!”

A wooden beam cracked overhead.

The guard took hold of my arm and pushed me through the smoke while hot coals fell all around us. Smoke stung at my eyes as my back seared, but I moved on, unable to let my fear paralyze my legs.

My fingers wrapped themselves around the silver coin purse clutched in my palm.

I could feel the cold metal in my palm.

That coin purse contained more than evidence of an attack on me. It contained everything left of Caedmon and his men.

If there was a fire, Caedmon could claim it never happened.

I stuffed it underneath my clothing and pressed it there.

“No matter what happens,” I breathed out, “this makes it through.”

The baby seemed to stir a bit under my hand like he agreed with my resolve.

We forced the back door open and fell into the bone-chilling night as the cottage groaned behind us.

“Run!”

Roof crashed down with a thundering noise.

The flames rose from the windows, consuming the tiny house that I had thought would allow me to escape those who wished to find me.

I glanced behind me for only an instant.

My blanket.

Neryss’s things.

The wooden cradle that she had begun to craft.

It all was consumed by flames.

The shadow guard grabbed my shoulder.

“Do not look behind you, Elaris.”

But I could not prevent the tears from forming.

They had stolen my home again.

This time, they had even attempted to steal my life.

We had barely managed to escape into the forest before three people appeared between the trees.

They were masked, but they clearly knew how to fight.

They were not desperate thieves.

Hunters.

Each held a blade and the largest had a short bow with an arrow already drawn.

"There!" one called out.

The shadow guard stepped in front of me.

"Stay behind me."

One of the mercenaries laughed.

"Kill the guard first. The woman must not reach the next moon."

My stomach plummeted.

These men were not just here to scare me.

They had been given orders for the job.

Orders that had come from someone who knew who I was.

The shadow guard drew his pair of double daggers.

"You've chosen the wrong night to be out hunting."

The first mercenary attacked.

Steel on steel rang through the woods as the guard dodged, drove his dagger into the attacker's shoulder and pushed him back.

Another attacker came from the side.

The guard met him but the third had his bow ready.

"Behind you!" I cried.

The arrow shot forward.

The guard turned too late.

A blade cut the air and deflected the arrow.

For one stunned second, neither of us moved.

There was another fighter in the woods.

Another guard.

But I could not see his face.

"Go! Run!" the shadow guard ordered.

I did not wait for further explanation.

I ventured further into the woods, branches scraping against my sleeves as I stumbled over roots and stones.

My breathing became labored.

All my instincts were screaming at me to run, but my hand stayed planted on my stomach.

"Hang on," I told the baby growing inside of me. "Please just hang on."

Suddenly a muscle in my abdomen tensed.

I wobbled.

For a split second, I felt myself falling.

Then I realized that there was an odd warm sensation beneath my hand.

The pale light that had appeared beneath my skin earlier flickered back into view.

I stared at it in shock.

My wolf came alive.

Not weak.

Not disappearing.

Alive.

And underneath that, something else was stirring—a mysterious Alpha essence responding to the threat.

Heavy footsteps echoed behind me.

I turned, prepared to fight another assailant.

But then I ran into a rock-hard chest.

Strong hands caught me from falling onto the ground.

"Elaris."

That voice.

My heart stopped.

I looked up.

Averic.

Water dripping down his face and his dark clothes shredded from whatever he had gone through in order to get there.

But what scared me the most was his expression.

It wasn't just that he was furious.

It was that he looked like he wanted to tear down the whole forest.

“Where are the guards?” he demanded.

"I-I don't know."

"Who attacked you?"

I hadn’t answered yet when another arrow stuck in the trunk of the tree next to his head.

Averic's eyes shot up into the darkness.

His wolf appeared immediately.

He dragged me behind him.

"Stay there."

"Averic, they burned down the cottage. They were looking for me."

His attention was on me for a fraction of a second.

He put his hand on my face, checking for injuries.

"Are you injured?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.

Then his fingers slid to my stomach and stopped there for a second before he realized what he'd done.

But then his face changed.

He'd sensed it.

The faint beat of life within me.

His eyes went up to mine.

"You're carrying—"

Yet another howl split through the night.

Averic's face hardened even further.

"Later."

He turned to face the people attacking us.

His Alpha presence burst through the trees.

It almost cracked the very air around us.

Leaves fell from the tree branches as his power shot out, causing the incoming mercenaries to fall to their knees.

One dropped his weapon immediately.

Another was having difficulty breathing.

The third one was trying to crawl backward.

Averic moved forward slowly.

“Who sent you?”

No answer came from him.

The face of Averic’s wolf showed up on his face.

“Wrong answer.”

Finally, the mercenary spits out, “We got paid.”

“By whom?”

No answer.

Averic crouched down beside him.

“Caedmon?”

His hesitation was enough for Averic.

Suddenly the mercenary started laughing.

“You’re looking in the wrong direction, Alpha.”

Averic stopped in place.

“What did you say?”

The man reached under his coat.

Averic knocked his wrist, and the small black symbol fell to the ground.

There was no Caedmon crest upon it.

It bore an insignia none of us recognized.

Averic’s eyes darted from the insignia back to the burning cottage.

“They tried to burn you alive,” he said, his amber eyes blazing as his wolf came to life under his skin.

I swallowed.

“Yes.”

He picked up the insignia.

“This is not a Caedmon mark.”

My stomach clenched.

“But the coin pouch—”

“Show me.”

I brought it out from under my clothes.

Averic opened the pouch.

Several silver coins tumbled out into his hand.

His expression hardened seeing Caedmon’s crest stamped on them.

“Someone wanted these found.”

I gaped at him.

“What?”

He lifted one coin in the moonlight.

“The crest is genuine.”

Relief threatened to hit me.

But Averic flipped it over.

His expression turned blank.

“The minting date is off.”

My blood ran cold.

“This year’s crest hasn’t been released yet.”

He met my eyes.

“Someone faked these so Caedmon looks guilty.”

I felt as if the earth disappeared beneath my feet.

“So Caedmon didn’t send these to me?”

“I did not say that.”

Averic clenched the coin in his fist.

“He could still be part of it, but someone wanted you to discover this coin pouch. Someone wanted you to come running to me right away with it.”

"Why?"

His eyes moved toward the forest.

The unknown symbol sat there between us.

But then he saw something else.

A silver thread had become entangled in the rim of the coin pouch.

The same strange silver energy that had surrounded my pregnancy.

Averic’s expression changed.

"Elaris…"

"What?"

He glanced down at my belly.

"The people who attacked you might not have been trying to kill you."

My heart skipped a beat.

"They might have been trying to make your pregnancy reveal itself."

Before I could reply, a growl sounded through the trees behind us.

Not from a rogue.

Not from a former mercenary.

Averic grabbed hold of me and pulled me into his chest.

Someone was watching us.

And whoever that person was, they had just heard all of our conversation.

A voice called out from the darkness.

"You should have allowed the fire to finish the job."

It was familiar to me.

Virelle.