After an all-too-short morning with my friends and family, we continued on the road south.

This path took us past where my friends had battled. The road and hillside were scorched and torn, and the demons’ bodies lay strewn about as they had been left. No scavengers would touch demon corpses, and Tania, Taava, and Nelys searched them for anything that could give us a clue about what lay ahead. Predictably, they found nothing aside from some spare weaponry that none of us had a mind to use, and we were soon on our way again.

While we walked, I marveled that my shoes survived. I was thankful for the shield against the cold ground, even as my claws itched. The fury I’d felt the previous day hadn’t abated. If anything, my wrath had intensified. As I healed, and the fingers of my formerly-missing arm finished regrowing in a way that Seyari’s hand never could, I resolved myself. This wasn’t the first time I’d had my goodwill abused, my naivety exploited.

But, Dhias willing, it’d be the last.

This past morning, I’d had the catharsis I needed and shown my kind side. Now, unlike how I normally carried myself, I did nothing to hide my anger. Similarly, I didn’t bother humanizing my movements anymore. I could tell how I was acting, and the lines of heat waving away from me as I walked were frightening Brynna. I didn’t care.

“Mom?” Joisse slipped her hand around mine.

I turned and looked at my daughter—who now looked more like mine and Seyari’s blood—and I realized how hard my jaw was set.

Exhaling slowly, I tried to relax. “Thanks. I’m not going to apologize for my lack of decorum, though.”

Joisse shook her head. “I don’t want you to.”

I smiled back at her, showing vicious teeth, and she mirrored my look.

“Zarenna?” Seyari asked, avoiding my nickname. “You can go ahead once we get closer. Between myself, Joisse, Kartania, and Nelys, we should be able to take care of ourselves.”

“But—”

“Your fiancée is right,” my sister said seriously. “You’ve righteous wrath burning through you—plain as day. I’ve seen your magic and I know what you can do. Keeping us at arm’s length will serve your talents best.”

“I want to make sure you’re all safe.”

“And ya can do that from nearby!” Taava said jumping into the conversation. “Look, I know me and Brynna don’t have crazy magic strength or demon powers or whatever, but we’ll hold our own. ‘Sides, with you on the warpath, they’ll need ta put their all inta stoppin’ ya if they wanna have a chance.”

Brynna side-eyed the exuberant kazzel even as Taava pulled her into a side-hug with unexpected speed.

I blinked, caught off guard. “But the ambush—”

“Was meant to kill us, and it didn’t,” Nelys said seriously. “If they had more they could have sent, wouldn’t they?”

“Mordwell would,” Seyari confirmed. “He’s not the type to leave things to chance. We only won because we’d picked up factors he didn’t account for. I’d wager he knew we had something based on what happened when we saved Brynna, but he can’t have known all the details.”

After a moment of silence, Brynna cleared her throat. “Those greater demons who were sent—that was most of them that I knew of. There’s resistance, so they probably have to keep some around. The four-armed one is the biggest danger that I’ve seen, and wasn’t that the one Zarenna found?”

“Lorelei?” I asked. “If that’s the case, then… should I fly in to assault them?”

“Perhaps,” Kartania answered, then cocked her head over her shoulder at Brynna, fixing her with an ice-blue stare. “Do you know anything else?”

“I know… I know that the Mordwell guy only got there recently, but that he was gathering forces to go south. He might have already left.”

“South?” Seyari spat. “What’s south?”

“My homeland,” Brynna replied, her eyes and ears casting downward. “But there has to be something else.”

“Lost Era ruins?” Nelys probed.

Brynna blinked. “Wait. There are some ancient ruins—and more further south. But we’ve explored the nearby ones already—we’ve even built a permanent settlement in and around an ancient city. But there are legends of horrors from the southern wastes.”

“Ya mean ta tell me that the guy we’ve been chasin’ across a damn continent for a year—almost two for poor Renna—is gonna be gone when we get ta Astrye. And even worse, he’s gone ta a frozen hell?”

“Yes,” Brynna replied, completely serious.

Taava groaned. “Boss, can ya just fly ahead and burn some bastards? Save us the trouble?”

“Do you think the corrupt inquisition could possibly mount a counter-offensive?” Kartania asked Brynna while I was thinking of an answer.

“…Yes,” Brynna answered slowly. “Mordwell could have made or bound more demons. But he would have to abandon his push south and make a stand here.”

“He’ll be gone then,” Seyari replied confidently. “He knows how hard it’ll be for us to follow him south. And he also has Astrye as a bargaining chip. If we wanted to chase him, we’d have to abandon Astrye to it’s fate, and that would be very bad. Doubly so if we didn’t catch Mordwell.”

“So he’s running?” I rumbled. “What about Finley.”

“Finley is wanted by the Church of Dhias, the Kingdom of Edath, and the Empire of Ordia,” Tania answered. “This entire incident could be blamed on him. Mordwell would then be simply chasing another lead to the south. It’s worse than his normal plans, but this just means we’re finally backing him against a proverbial wall.”

“So Finley is in Astrye still?” I asked, not bothering to hide my excitement.

“I’d wager as much,” Kartania answered.

“Sounds like it!’ Nelys nodded.

“Probably,” Seyari replied at the same time. “When you’re fully healed, go ahead. Follow the road and get to Astrye before us. We can take care of the smaller or scattered forces. You take out the head of the snake. Or whatever Finley is.”

I clenched and unclenched my fists.

“You can do this, Mom,” Joisse said softly, and I realized her hand was still holding mine. “You can rely on us to clean up the rest. We’re strong, and we’ll stay well.”

Sey stepped over to me and wrapped me in a hug despite my heat. “But you have to be ruthless, Zarenna. There won’t be room for mercy.”

I rested my chin on the top of her head and purred. “I will, Sey. Trust me—this time I will.”

“Even Lorelei?” Seyari asked softly.

“Even her,” I nodded. “She wouldn’t want the great uncle who sent her and Markus to die to succeed with his plans.”

“How soon will you be healed?” she asked.

Closing my eyes, I felt for my mana reserves and found them nearly recovered. “Nightfall. I’d say the clouds would make me harder to see, but my wings will burn like a second sun. I’m not leaving until we’re close, though.”

Sey pulled out from under my chin, pulled me down, and pecked a quick kiss on my lips. “Fine. Show them your wrath, love.”

When we pulled away, I gave her my best demonic grin. “I will, love.”

Moments after we resumed walking, I fell back, stepping next to Brynna. She looked at me warily.

“Sorry if I scared you.”

The lupael woman bristled. “No. You are… a demon, and a powerful one. It’s right that you inspire fear.”

“Just fear?” I pouted.

Brynna stared at me for a long while, her ears alert, before she responded. “Loyalty in those who follow you. You don’t use your fear to lead. The others respect you, and I feel that you are a woman of your word.”

“Aw, thanks!”

“Your smile is terrifying and I refuse to believe you are unaware of this.”

I clacked my teeth together. “They’re good teeth, so why not show them off?”

That got a grin out of the terse lupael, and she curled her top lip to show prodigious canines of her own. “Perhaps I will come to find you as agreeable as the others.”

“I won’t force you,” I replied with a shrug.

“You cannot force respect.”

“Exactly.” I walked away feeling like I’d said the right things.

But I couldn’t smile. Not after all the mistakes I’d made and not when everything was so… precarious. And that feeling of anxiety didn’t abate, so by evening, I was itching to go, even though tonight wasn’t the night. The worst of the pass was behind us, however, and the others confirmed there was nothing lurking nearby. Unfortunately, we were still more than a day out.

This meant I had endured another full day of walking before we broke camp for the last time. I’d given my pack to Joisse to carry, and I stood in my enchanted dress and shoes in the cold of the mountains, looking for all the world like I’d stepped out of a play.

“Give ‘em hell,” Seyari told me with a kiss goodbye. She caught me staring at her handless arm. “We’ll find something for my hand that we’re both happy with. Clockwork is better than ever, and I’m quite adept with wind magic.”

I thought of Seyari with a hand of brass bones. “We’ll find something,” I replied.

“You know I don’t want a contract, even with what Joisse has shown is possible, Renna.”

“I know.”

Truth be told, I was getting more and more certain a contract would fix her hand—and maybe her wings, too. But not only did I not want to risk the consequences of it going wrong, Seyari clearly didn’t want a contract. She wanted to bind herself to me through her own volition. Especially after her life as Yothariel, she would never accept any chains that would bind her.

Except one.

“I want to hold the wedding when we’re done with this,” I murmured, holding Seyari in an embrace. “Not Mordwell. If he’s on the run I’m not going to let him keep us from taking our vows. I don’t want him to have that power over us, Sey. Once we save Astrye, I want to get married.”

Seyari stiffened under my touch, but she surprised me by pulling me closer, and then down into a deep, long kiss right in front of my sister, our daughter, and everyone else. A kiss with rather a lot of tongue. When we parted, I flushed darker crimson.

“You’re right, Renna. We won’t let Mordwell keep us from taking our vows—even if they’re really just symbolic. So go. Go save Astrye, kill Mordwell if you can, and return to me if you can’t. We’ll handle the stragglers.”

I nodded.

Seyari giggled. “You’re supposed to let go of me now.”

“I really don’t want to.”

Seyari sighed and let me hold her for just a little while longer. Eventually, she spoke again. “Happy? You know everyone’s watching and waiting.”

“That’s fine.”

Seyari freed her own hand and flicked one of my horns. “You’re stalling. Go.”

Finally, I let her go. Like a hearth on a chill day, my wrath warmed me. Taking a few steps back, I pushed my magic into wings of crimson fire that erupted from my back. The limbs of fire cast the predawn glow of the clearing into a sinister display of blood red light and flickering shadows.

“Don’t die on me. Any of you. I like the world too much to burn it to ash.” With a last parting smile, I jumped up and flapped my wings once, hard, thrusting into the early morning sky. Once I cleared the treetops, I flapped again and turned, aiming for the winding road below as I shot off to the south like an arrow from a bow.

I’m coming Finley and Mordwell, Avarice and Envy.

As I flew, I focused on my wrath. The emotion was familiar and comforting in a way it probably wouldn’t be to a mortal. Or shouldn’t be.

But that was fine. I was the Sovereign of Wrath, not a mortal. And my friends were rooting for me. I was no tool of indiscriminate destruction; I was a weapon. And I was damn certain the use of me was justified here.

Still, I hoped I wouldn’t have to kill Lorelei… again. Not just because she was quite strong, but because things would just be easier if it was only Finley and his cronies.

Hopefully.

***

I managed to focus my thoughts to the present before Astrye came into view. The city of the same name was the only major Edathan settlement in the area, and I wasn’t surprised to see that “major” wasn’t wholly accurate. Smaller than Gedon, the city of Astrye held a population that I doubted was larger than a thousand souls.

Set into an idyllic valley split by a frozen river and lined with small farms, the town and its waterwheels looked peaceful, sleepy almost. Above and behind the city was the castle, once a fort, that gave the region its name: Castle Astrye. Light flickered in some of the upper windows, barely visible in the late morning, and smoke curled skyward from a single one if its chimneys. Old stone walls showed generations of additions and changes, leading to an almost labyrinthine construction, held frozen in winter’s icy grip. Distant as it was, I could see no more details.

The city could be forgiven for looking sleepy, except that few chimneys sent smoke curling skyward, and no windows glittered with candlelight. Something is very wrong.

Surely, I’d already been sighted by something down in the dark trees below. The snow swaddling them melted as I landed with force in a plume of snow and dirt. Still obscured, I took the last chance I had for one more calm breath.

From here on out, I’d need to act the part of the Sovereign of Wrath. But, as fury burned within me, I had the errant thought: Will it really be acting?