Page 30 of Gold & Shadow

We left my sisters two hours later, Izzy chewing on her bottom lip as she saw us off.

We had formulated the plan as Izzy and Lena fed us, making sure Sera and Mora both understood their jobs and the risks. Sera, as usual, was enthusiastic while Mora was reserved, but both agreed to help us.

Neither seemed too thrilled about the idea of ridingon a bear.

“I’ll be fine,” I told Izzy, careful to keep a hand on Orson as he sniffed the snow. “All of us will.”

“You’d better be,” she warned, wrapping me in a tight hug. “Or I’ll have to poison your boyfriend.”

I rolled my eyes, climbing onto Orson’s back first to keep him aware while Mora and Sera climbed up behind me. We were dressed in the black tunics and trousers we favored for our more morally questionable jobs, all of us having sheathed our preferred lightweight daggers in various hidden spots on our body.

We were ready.

I spooled shadows around us, binding the three of us together and looping the shadow around my bear to keep us steady on his back.

Mora grabbed my waist, and I hunched over, my fingers twining in the fur of Orson’s neck as I spoke in his ear. “Let’s go, Kjære.”

He grunted as if he had already forgotten himself in the short time I had been out of his line of sight, and I prayed my voice would be enough to keep him together.

Orson took off, racing into the trees before I had time to warn my sisters to hold tight. The snow crunched under his paws as he ran, my shouted reminders redirecting him whenever he slowed or growled in confusion or changed directions. He might be aware enough with just me, but he couldn’t stay like this.

We needed his amulet.

A hoot told me that Owl had decided to come too, and I rolled my eyes at the strange bird.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Kjære,” Orson grunted as we neared Fairwinds, the dark forest thinning as lights glowed in the distance. “But your sisters are terrifying.”

I laughed, hugging his neck a little tighter. “It’s a miracle you survived.”

“They love you,” he added, his voice almost lost to the forest.

“They do,” I agreed,

Sera complained loudly about her rear cramping, and I was about ready to strangle her when we finally made it to the outskirts of the city.

Both sisters slid off Orson’s back first as I kept him calm. I dismounted when I was sure my sisters were far enough away that he couldn’t get to them without going through me first.

“Come back to me, Kjære,” I said, stroking his face as I looked around for the owl. He must have flapped off somewhere, possibly deciding we were not that interesting after all.

Orson growled, then shuddered, his eyes going warm and familiar again. “Sorry,” he rumbled. I enjoyed you riding me, Kjære.”

I laughed and kissed the top of his furry head. “I’m sure it’s only because of the sweet nothings I shouted in your ear.”

Orson’s responding growl was oddly sensual, and heat curled through my body.

“Ugh, get a room!” Sera drawled, crossing her arms and looking vaguely disgusted. “At least wait until he’s not a bear anymore.”

Sera and Mora were only two years younger than me, but it felt like more since I had helped raise them. There was a strange divide between us all, Izzy and Lena and me on one side as the providers after our parents disappeared, and the four younger siblings on the other.

I gave Sera a wry look. “I’ll leave you here if you’re not polite,” I threatened, trying to sound authoritative. “Orson and I can manage this alone if we have to.”

“Then why would you have come to collect us, dearest sister?” Sera cajoled, grinning widely and cheekily. “You need us.”

“Stop needling her,” Mora said gently, rolling her eyes. She was the only one of my younger sisters who was more like Lena, and consequently our mother, than Izzy and my father. “I swear, you just can’t stop yourself from talking.”

The two began a heated argument that I desperately tried to tune out, and I said a silent prayer of thanks that Izzy had convinced Calli not to join us. She had insisted she be allowed “in on the fun,” but had relented when Orson had told her there wouldn’t be room on his back and she’d have to be dragged along behind.

Orson was watching them with a wistful look in his eyes, and my heart broke for him that he hadn’t grown up with any siblings. At how horribly they had been taken from him.