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Harth had cursed it, but there had been no way to make her way down to Elreth and Gar without revealing her position behind the waterfall. She’d considered hiding, but the truth was, they’d find her scent if they were determined. And besides… if she was going to help bring peace between their people… she had to be able to talk to them alone, right?

So, with only slightly shaking knees she’d accepted what she couldn’t change and made her way down the trail, calling to them that Tarkyn was traveling back and would be with them soon.

But as she got to the bottom of the trail that wound along the rocky wall of the basin, and pressed through the little trees and boulders at the base of it, Gar and Elreth stood on the shore of the lagoon, waiting, neither of them smiling.

All of Harth’s instincts were alerted, screaming alarm. She was careful not to challenge as she approached, but watched them both as warily as they watched her.

When she made it to the dirt where they stood, she stopped just a few feet away, looking back and forth between them.

Elreth stood, hands on her hips, her face stern but not angry.

Gar just looked tired. And a little curious. But the male was so massive, he was intimidating just by his mere presence. And Harth’s wolf could sense the barely restrained predator that lurked inside his huge frame.

She didn’t want to meet that creature.

.....

“Thank you for not hiding from us,” Elreth started with a quick nod. “Now, where is Tarkyn?”

Harth raised an eyebrow. “My mate was traveling, we were testing the bond. He’s an hour or two away, but coming back as quickly as he can.”

“He left you alone for that long?” Gar asked, surprised.

Harth raised both eyebrows. “I am not defenseless,” she said, ignoring the niggling voice in the back of her mind that reminded her how it had felt when she’d been left without Tarkyn in the link. “We also weren’t expecting… visitors.”

Gar gave an amused little huff, but Elreth paled.

Harth frowned at her. “What is it? What’s going on?”

Gar looked at his sister, clearly waiting for her to respond.

Harth waited impatiently, resisting the urge to fold her arms defensively. She was trying desperately to appear far more confident than she felt facing these two alone. While Tarkyn had insisted over and over again that their hearts were good—and she’d seen Gar give some solid advice to his clearly emotional sister—seeing them here, alone, without the buffer of Tarkyn’s strength and status… well, this was the true test.

Harth didn’t shrink from it. But she wasn’t stupid enough to assume she was safe, either.

Elreth held her gaze, her bright blue eyes wary, but not aggressive. She didn’t look at her brother for strength, which Harth found revealing.

“The wolf—Zev—has escaped,” she said carefully. “Along with his mate and son.”

Harth nodded. “I thought so.”

Elreth’s eyes narrowed. “Did you—”

“He spoke to me through the link. I don’t know where he is, only that he wants me to follow him back to the Chimera.”

“What did he say?” Elreth asked sharply.

Harth bristled, suddenly fighting a war not to set this Queen down for everything she held responsibility for—and at the same time, quavering before a will so much stronger than her own. Holding Elreth’s full attention was… intimidating. But Harth knew this woman had been a huge part of creating these problems they all faced. Harth wasn’t wrong to face her!

“He said that I had three days to get to my people,” she said, which was true, though not all of the truth. A part of her wanted Elreth to know that Zev was vengeful and fomenting war—but the bigger part of her didn’t want to light any fires if this might all still be soothed rather than fueled.

But while she was still arguing with herself about the best way forward, Elreth did look up at Gar, who shifted his weight and gave his sister a speaking look that Harth couldn’t interpret.

But clearly Elreth could because, to Harth’s surprise, the Queen deflated like a pricked balloon. She nodded at her brother, then turned back to Harth looking… humble?

That couldn’t be right.

“I, um, apologize for my sharp tone, Harth,” the Queen said quietly. Then cleared her throat again. “I have a lot to apologize for, actually.”

Harth blinked. “I… you do?”

Elreth nodded again, then took a deep breath. “It’s unfortunate that Zev found his way out today. I had planned to invite Sasha to the peace treaty table first, then bring him in to the talks if he agreed. I had hoped… planned to free him myself today.”

Harth raised a skeptical eyebrow, but she couldn’t deny that Elreth’s expression and posture—even her scent—spoke of frustration and regret.

Was it possible she was telling the truth? Had they come that close to a resolution on this?

Would it have worked?

“If that’s true, it’s unfortunate,” Harth said quietly.

Gar shot her a dry look for her skepticism, but he didn’t speak.

Elreth just nodded again. “Very unfortunate,” she said. “And my fault for the delay. I own that,” she admitted, though she didn’t keep Harth’s gaze when she said it.

A flash of frustrated rage scoured through Harth in that moment. This was the day this woman finally found clarity? Finally saw the error of her ways now? Now that Zev was free and on the rampage? Now that their peoples had no choice but to face each other?

Injustice and irony and pure fury clenched Harth’s hands to fists and set her jaw. But before she could unleash, and probably say something they all regretted, Gar eyed his sister, and with an expression that stood halfway between an eye roll and outright worry, he shifted his weight again so his shoulder edged between them, and he took Harth’s gaze with a weary, warning light in his own.