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“Mind your tongue,” Barion said.
“Will she be joining us for a few drinks?” the stranger asked. “Errol’s just opened a bottle of wine from the Duskmoon vineyards.”
“Absolutely not,” Barion said before I could even get a word in edgewise. “Keep your paws to yourself, brute.”
For a moment I thought teeth and claws were about to be bared, but Barion and the stranger instead both exploded into boisterous laughter. They clasped hands again and then Barion turned to me and picked up my trunk with ease.
“I’ll show you to your room, my lady,” he said. “These fools won’t trouble you at all.”
He nodded to the haggard-looking barkeep behind the counter, who sighed and abandoned her post to lead us up the stairs. Barion gave her more than a few coins, which brightened her mood. She unlocked the furthest door in the upstairs hall with a heavy brass key and motioned me inside.
Barion followed me in and set my trunk by the foot of the bed. There was already a hot bath steaming in the room, which I desperately needed after a long day on the dusty road.
“To your liking, my lady?” Barion asked.
“Of course,” I said. “We can have our dinner downstairs, if you’d like.”
“Oh, certainly not,” Barion said. “Those brutes are nothing but trouble. I’ll have dinner sent up to your room, and I’ll be right next door should you need anything.”
I nodded. “If that’s best.”
“We’ll leave just after dawn tomorrow,” Barion said, “to ensure we make it to the capital in time for the welcome dinner.” He glanced around the room like he half-wanted to check it for traps. Then he simply nodded and patted me on the shoulder. “Get some rest, Reyna.”
When the door closed, I wasted no time settling into the small room, stoking the fire in the hearth before I undressed and climbed into the waiting bath.
The heat immediately soothed my aching muscles. I sighed with pleasure and tipped my head back over the edge of the tub. Even at the far end of the hall, and an entire floor above the bar, I could still faintly hear the loud laughter of the men over the music. I had a feeling that Barion had locked my door and gone down to join them himself.
This place was already so different than the fine courts I was used to. I sank a little deeper into the bath, until the hot water crept over my chin. Was this a preview of what my life would be like while I was in the Nightfall court?
I’d never traveled to Efra, and I’d only ever seen Nightfall wolves from a distance in the Daybreak marketplace. But their reputation loomed large in Frasian history, and among the wolves of Daybreak in particular. Nightfall wolves were more wolf than human. They shifted whenever they liked—or whenever their wilder selves demanded it—sometimes spending more time in their wolf form than their human forms at all. They were an animalistic, savage pack, driven by instinct and violence, not diplomacy.
And the Bloody King Elias encouraged that behavior. He represented it. He ruled through violence, through domination. His father had taken the Frasian crown by force—and then Prince Elias had taken that crown by force, too.
The myth loomed large but silent like a shadow around Frasia: The king had killed his own father.
For as much as I knew about diplomacy and etiquette, I had no idea if that knowledge would serve me in Nightfall. The riotous drunken behavior downstairs was likely just a preview of what would happen there. I felt out of place here—it would only be worse in Efra.
It wasn’t forever, though. I had to keep telling myself that—this competition was temporary. It was a way out of Daybreak.
Unless I was chosen.
The thought was barely a whisper in my mind. I almost had to laugh. The other women participating in the King’s Choice would want to win, to earn the role of queen and bring their pack into power. Surely, I was the only one dreading that possibility. It’d be a challenging line to walk: bringing honor and recognition to my pack without gaining the king’s favor. I was not meant to be a queen, least of all queen to a brute like him.
The noise picked up under me: growing laughter and the clatter of something being dropped. I found part of me ached to be down there with them. Even if I didn’t want to participate—I was not a beer drinker, of course, and I had no interest in the bawdy games—I just wanted to witness it all. That was the real appeal of this journey. The chance to see new places, new people. I hated feeling like Barion wanted to keep me sequestered away, but once I was in Efra, I’d be on my own. No Barion to decide what was safe and what wasn’t.
I climbed out of the bath and dressed for bed, just in time to hear the brisk knock of the servant at the door. The meal Barion had sent up was nothing fancy, just stew and bread, but it sated my hunger and some of my nerves, too.
This time tomorrow I’d be in the Nightfall court. I tried to enjoy the peace while I still had it.
I slept fitfully, anxiety about the journey and the unknowns of Nightfall circling my mind until the moon was high in the sky. I felt like I’d barely slept an hour before Barion’s familiar heavy knock woke me. It was still cold and dark outside.
“My lady?” he asked through the door.
I rose and wrapped the quilt around my shoulders, padding across the cold floor. I opened the door a crack. Barion was grinning, his eyes red-rimmed, and I could smell the faint scent of beer on him. I wrinkled my nose disdainfully.
“The coach will be out front in a half hour,” he said. “I’ll be back to carry your trunk.”
The ride from the Peach Inn to Efra was even bumpier and dustier than the ride before. Barion snored in the seat across from me as I gazed out the window. The forest landscape became more barren, with skeletal trees and frost dusting the ground. My breath fogged the window. I curled my coat tighter around my shoulders and shivered against the sudden cold.
