Chapter 89
Chapter 89
{Ryanna’s POV}
White linen blanketed the field like a second snowfall.
Some bodies were whole. Others had been gathered together with whatever dignity trembling hands could manage. All of them were still. Quiet. Blood soaked through the cloth in too many places to count.
At some point, the white cloth was an equal part red as it was white.
I didn’t cry.
There were no tears left in me.
Not after the number of cubs I counted amongst the dead. Especially one whose linen the wind blew aside when I passed. The boy’s face was frozen in something that looked too much like confusion to be fear.
I tore my eyes away, covering the cloth again.
His face would forever be burned into my mind… “Or would it?” I wondered.
I could already see myself losing touch with my ability to feel after seeing so much death.
I wondered about the cubs that had to grow up in such environments. The parents who lost their sons and daughters… the children who lost their mothers and fathers. Their siblings. All for a world where they might no longer have to fight anymore.
“What a world.”
Nyra stood beside me, arms folded tightly across her chest. Her jaw worked, clenched, and unclenched, but she hadn’t said a word in over twenty minutes. She hadn’t even looked at me. Just the dead.
“I can take your pack to the Snow Pack,” I said quietly. “It’s not safe here anymore. Not with what’s coming.”
She didn’t move.
“Nyra.” I pressed.
“They died here.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“If we leave, Aurelius wins.”
“He wins the land,” I corrected. “But that’s not the same as the war.”
Her head finally turned. Her eyes were bloodshot and dry. “You want me to run.”
I met her gaze. “No. I want you to fight smarter. You’ve already done more than most. But staying here would be suicide.”
“And what? Let him march in and plant his flag?”
“Let him think he’s won something. All the better.
Nyra blinked. “You want to give it to him?”
“I want him to believe he’s cornered us. That we’re fractured. Scattered. That we're desperate. Then I want him to come for me with everything he’s got, ready to deal the finishing blow.”
Nyra narrowed her eyes. “You’re betting he brings his full army.”
“I’m not betting.” I took a step closer. “I’m inviting.”
That got a snort out of her. “And you’ll be waiting, I suppose. Banquet prepared?”
I smirked. “Casper’s already at Lestat’s territory. My council is back at the Snow Pack. We’re not scattered. We’re circling.”
She tilted her head in realization… “You had this planned.”
“I had the thought. When I sent the others forward... I needed to be sure for this to work, the only way to do that was by planning.”
Nyra looked around. The dead. The burned ground. The lingering scent of wraith ash and charred fur.
“This will cost us more,” she said softly. “It’ll put everything into one gamble.”
I nodded.
She sighed, and for the first time in hours, her shoulders dropped. “Good.”
My brow rose.
“I’m tired of dragging this out. Let him come. Let him bleed.” Her voice cracked slightly.
“You still want to stand with me?”
Nyra’s laugh was quiet, but sharp. “Do you think I let my people die here for anyone else?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed.
“You did call me crazy not long ago.”
“You are crazy.” She pointed at me. “But you’re right. It seems Aurelius plans to win by drawing this out. If we turn this into a real war — strategy and power, not attrition — we win.”
“I need you to speak to my council. My allies. They’ll follow your word.”
“They will,” I said.
“But we’ll need a signal. Something to show them we’re unified.”
“Oh, they’ll get it.”
She raised a brow as if to ask “?”
I nodded. “Already sent the message.
Nyra shook her head with a slow smirk. “This is why I chose your side.”
“And here I thought it was my charm.”
“No, you’re too blunt for charm.”
“I prefer efficient,” I said, then looked past her at the surviving wolves, the ones still standing, still loyal, still looking to us for what came next.
“Let’s bring them home.”
×××
We left under a dead sky.
No howls. No songs. Not even a funeral for the fallen.
This was what war did to those taken by the fight.
It turned loved ones into afterthoughts.
Merely memories to be remembered or forgotten by whoever won. Whoever was left standing at the end of all the bloodshed.
The wind howled for us. The snow trailed behind like mourning silk. And still, we moved. Nyra’s remaining wolves — barely half of what she led into battle — followed her without question.
The path was long and cruel. Wounded limped with pride. The younger ones held paws tighter than ever before. I stayed out front, leading, not because I had to… but because if I turned to look at them, I might crumble.
I had to close my eyes to their suffering so I could keep moving forward… Ironic really.
Nyra kept pace with me, silent for most of the ride.
Until the sun began to dip again.
“You barely talked about the Elders in your strategy,” she said.
I glanced sideways. “They’ve stayed neutral so far.”
“Neutral doesn’t exist in war.”
“Exactly,” I muttered.
She exhaled through her nose. “If Aurelius gets the upper hand, they’ll back him.”
“I know.”
“And if they do—”
“I’ll burn them down, too.”
Nyra didn’t reply at first. Then a slow grin touched the side of her face. “Gods, you mean that.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
She paused, then added, “You think they’ll fall in line if we win this next battle?”
“I can't make any promises,” I said. “But I know for certain that if we lose… which will mean death… they will be too afraid to rise against Aurelius and will have no choice but to aid him.”
We fell into a companionable silence, broken only by the shuffle of paws behind us and the wind brushing snow off brittle branches.
And then it hit me.
A pulse. Not in my chest, but through the marrow of my bones.
I stopped.
Nyra halted beside me, brows furrowed.
“You feel that?” I asked.
She didn’t respond. Her nose lifted slightly. A wrinkle formed over the bridge.
Then she whispered, “Him.”
I nodded.
He was close. Not following us, but he was back where we’d come from. Where the dead still lay and the carrion eaters were already circling.
“Now he makes his move. Sometimes Aurelius can be so predictable…”
His presence felt like an open wound, but I couldn’t let it get to me.
He was taking the land.
As expected.
“He’s there,” Nyra murmured.
“Good,” I said quietly.
Nyra looked over at me. “You’re certain?”
“He thinks it’s over. We will benefit from whatever time he wastes setting up.”
She didn’t argue.
Didn’t smile either.
She simply kept walking.
And so did I.
Until the horizon began to crack with light again.
And the Snow Pack came into view.