Another first.
“You’re probably wondering about the death gifts,” she said softly.
He glanced at her in surprise, hesitant but interested. “I am, but don’t let my curiosity distract you from proper reverence for the occasion.”
“Lil wouldn’t mind. We’re offering her favorite things in life. We believe that by burning them, she can have them with her in the afterworld.”
“Then she’ll be wearing that dress you sent and reading that book that Ferith gave her at the All-Mother’s side.”
“You learn fast,” Thalia said.
That wasn’t something that Raff had heard a lot, before. Here in Eldritch lands, it seemed like Thalia said it every other day. If she kept it up, he might start believing it. Come that, he had always learned better from interaction than books or classroom teachings.
Frowning, he muttered, “I don’t have anything to give her.”
“Here.” She pressed a square of cloth into his hands—white linen embroidered with blue flowers. “She made this for me when I was small and crying for my mother. I’d like for her to have it back.”
After the myriad struggles of this life, Raff hoped like hell that there would be no tears in the afterworld, but he took the handkerchief in the spirit in which it was intended. He joined the queue of those waiting to drop their offering in the fire and found the orderly array interesting as well. The blaze was big enough that twenty people could’ve chucked things in, but that would also probably be disrespectful, if you imagined Lileth on the other side, collecting her tribute. In life, you wouldn’t want folks chucking stuff when it was supposed to be a special occasion.
He moved up in the line and heard Ferith whispering, “May you be well with our dear Mother. You pass from our sight, but you do not travel alone. Our love goes with you and will carry you to our beloved dead. Pass from love into love.”
Simple and heart-wrenching.
Raff repeated, “Pass from love into love,” as he dropped the handkerchief into the crackling flames.
After he returned to stand with Thalia, he kept watch on the fire. His eyes watered from the excruciating smell of burning flesh, and the rest of his wolves did no better. The Eldritch tolerated it, but they lacked the enhanced senses that came with being Animari.
Thalia touched his arm lightly. “If you want to go in, you don’t have to stay until…” Her voice broke, and she tried again. “Until it’s finished. That’s my role.”
He heard what she didn’t say. Until Lileth’s gone. As he hesitated, Bibi made a noise in her throat. It wouldn’t do Thalia any good if his people got sick in the middle of the service. Making a quick decision, he beckoned to the wolf guards.
“We’ve paid our respects. Let’s withdraw.”
The smell was more bearable inside the fortress, thanks to sturdy stone walls. Raff herded the group to the room the wolf women were sharing, formerly allotted to Magda. Can’t believe she hasn’t called, not even once. Faithless cat. While his romantic pursuit had been singularly unsuccessful, he’d thought that they’d become friends, at least.
Bibi made a hot, strong tea to wash away the smell of death that they all had in their nose and throats. They settled with cups in the sitting area, and Raff let them drink a bit in silence. Nobody seemed to know exactly what to say; he’d already heard and overruled their objection to this marriage, and now an Eldritch elder was dead. Given half a chance, Bibi would talk more about the dark portents she’d seen in her dreams.
“They’ll be at it all day,” Janek said. “Maybe into the night as well. It’s fearsome slow, burning a body down to ash in such a way.”
“I could help them fell some trees. They’ll need plenty of wood,” Tavros offered.
The young wolf always had far too much energy, but it seemed harmless enough, so Raff said, “Speak to Ferith once we’re done here. I wouldn’t know if they need aid.”
“Grunt work is all he’s good for,” Skylett teased.
“At least he’s good for something,” Bibi said. “Exactly what you have you contributed since we’ve been here?”
The seer valued her privacy and sharing a room must be making her cranky. Raff cut off the conflict before it could escalate. “Let’s not debate who’s most useful. Instead, I’d rather find out what you’ve learned.”
“About what?” Tavros asked.
He stifled a sigh. It had seemed like a good idea to bring someone guileless, but the young wolf might be too green to realize if he heard something important. Fortunately, he also had Janek, Bibi, and Skylett to serve as his eyes and ears.
“The murder, you dolt.” Janek rapped his knuckles lightly on Tavros’s head.
Raff went on as if people hadn’t interrupted. “That or anything related to House Gilbraith. I haven’t mentioned it to Thalia, but she must have a traitor inside these walls.”
Bibi nodded. “Someone with kitchen access. My dreams aren’t clear, but you’re right, Raff. It’s someone close to her, closer than she knows.”
Closer than she knows? What does that even mean?
“Is there anything you can do to make your visions more specific?” That earned him a poisonous look from the seer.
“I don’t have a magic mirror,” she snapped. “Nor can I pull answers from the ether.”
“Well, it narrows the list of suspects,” Skylett said thoughtfully.
The old wolf rose and clapped Raff on the shoulder, then headed to fetch the teapot for a refill. “Hell of a thing, packmaster—and on your wedding day, no less.”
She’ll always remember Lileth’s death on our anniversary. Since they weren’t a normal couple, maybe that didn’t matter, but it gnawed at him along with Bibi’s fearsome whispers and the hints of a dark fate that they couldn’t avoid. Yet it pissed him off to think that in such a modern age, people
