Someone True

*Blanca*

Kieran is gone–swallowed up by a tree! I can hardly believe what I’m seeing. The tree simply opened, and now, he’s disappeared. It takes me a moment to comprehend, and I have to wonder if perhaps all trees are capable of this, and my sheltered life has left me thinking otherwise, but then I realize that’s not possible.

I gaze into the darkness where Kieran has gone and see a ladder. Instinct tells me to jump in after him, but it’s so deep, I can’t see anything down there. Instead, I take a moment to shift and get dressed. Then, I quickly climb down the ladder, hearing a creak as the tree closes itself above me.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take too long to reach the bottom of the ladder, which means Kieran didn’t fall that far, maybe ten feet. Still, I expect to see him lying on the ground unconscious. Instead, I wheel around to see him standing in his wolf form in front of several people who have sticks in their hands and are taunting him.

I want to look around at this place. It seems we’ve discovered some sort of underground city. I’d asked the raven to take me to where the people are, and he’d done just that, though I’d thought he was resting when he perched on the tree above us. Now, I realize, this was where he intended for us to go. But it’s clear we are in danger. The young men with the sticks are taunting Kieran, stepping forward to poke him, and shouting at him.

“Why the fuck are you here, asshole?” one of them shouts. “You’re not from Escuro.”

“Let’s pour wolfsbane down his mouth!” another says.

“And light him on fire!” calls a third.

“Stop!” I say, stepping up next to them. “He’s not from Escuro, but I am, and he’s here to help me find all of you.”

The tallest man, who really isn’t much more than a boy, turns his attention to me. I’m guessing he’s a few years younger than me. “You’re not from here,” he insists. “Just because you have dark hair, that doesn’t mean you’re from Escuro.”

“That’s right. You’re probably some sort of fucking spies.” The first man who spoke is a bit shorter, with leaner muscles. All of them are thin and wiry, which makes me think they probably haven’t had an abundance of food, something I can relate to.

Behind them, other people appear out of dark spaces and tunnels. The soft light of what must be hundreds of lanterns hanging from poles and sitting on the ground illuminates the space the best it can, but being underground makes it difficult, and I’m unable to see much beyond the crowd that’s gathering. I’m guessing we are the first guests they’ve had, maybe ever.

“I am from Escuro,” I tell them. “I was raised in Dun’s Crossing, but this is my homeland.”

The man who hasn’t spoken yet, whose hair is darkest of all, shakes his head. “You’re going to have to find a way to prove that or else we’re going to kill both of you and send your heads back to that asshole King Gavin on a fuckin platter.”

“How can I prove it?” I ask them, my mind going blank. “I was sent here by one of the prisoners in King Gavin’s dungeon. He said I should find my people. He told me how kind and loving all of you are.”

“He must not have visited since the war,” the first one says, and they all laugh.

Beside me, Kieran growls. I wish I could mind-link with him to tell him to stop.

“That’s it!” I say aloud, and they all turn and look at me, foreheads furrowed. Using the mind-link, I ask, ‘Can you hear me?’

Not only do the three men in front of me jump backward, gasps and shouts come from all over the space. I see some of the people behind them step back as well.

“We can hear you.” The voice belongs to a woman who is probably old enough to be my mother. She steps forward, her dark eyes glistening in the light. “All right, boys. That’s enough. Bruno, Donavan, Harry, go back to your assigned tasks.”

“But Luna Delaney–”

“Go!” She uses the authority command, something only Alphas and Lunas have, and they immediately head off to do whatever it was they’d been doing before Kieran fell on them–or beside them.

Luna Delaney approaches us carefully, her face as ashen as possible considering she has a dark complexion like me. Her eyes are also dark, as is her hair, which is tied up on the top of her head. I see the crinkles around her eyes that say she’s had a hard life, and I am again reminded of myself. A few other people stand in the shadows watching, but I no longer feel threatened as she stops before us. “You say you are from Dun’s Crossing?” she asks, her tone soft, almost like she’s holding something back.

“That’s right,” I tell her. “My name is Blanca, and this is….” I hesitate. Perhaps it isn’t wise to disclose that I have the Crown Prince with me. What if everyone in Escuro isn’t as polite as Mr. Blake thought they were? After all, we’ve already been accosted once, and we just arrived. “This is my mate.”

“Well, Blanca, it’s nice to meet you,” the Luna says with an air of hospitality that makes me think perhaps she was also Luna before the war. Maybe she is accustomed to welcoming people into her home, into her kingdom, in a former life.

“Thank you,” I tell her. Kieran nips at the backpack, and I take it off. He grabs it with his snout and steps into the shadows. I assume he’s shifting and getting dressed. “It’s been a long journey, and we had no idea what to expect.”

“If you’ve come all the way from Dun’s Crossing, that is a long journey. How did you manage to find our hiding place?”

“A bird showed me the way,” I explain. “I was able to use my powers to find him and ask him to help us.”

Again, I see a reaction in her obsidian eyes. “You can talk to the animals?”

I notice Kieran walking up beside me, but he has a slight limp. I am concerned and turn toward him, but he shakes his head and waves his hand slightly as if to say it’s nothing, that I shouldn’t draw attention to it. I’m having difficulty remembering that we are in enemy territory here. Well, at least he is, since this woman is so kind.

“I can speak to them,” I tell her. “It’s something I’ve only discovered recently. Right after the Haze.”

She nods. “Ah, I see. So another Haze has come and gone, and that’s when you discovered your mate…?”

She is waiting for him to say his name. “Kier-” he begins.

“Keery,” I supply. “This is Keery… Light…man…guy.”

Her eyebrows nearly touch her dark hair, and Kieran turns toward me with an equally questioning expression, but he doesn’t correct me.

“All right then,” she says. The Luna clears her voice and extends her hand. “Lovely to meet you… Keery Lightmanguy.”

“You as well, Luna.” I see him shaking his head slightly out of the corner of my eye.

“And what is your surname, Blanca?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her. “I’m hoping to find out that information while I’m here.”

She nods in understanding. “Yes, I hope you can as well. When you lived in Dun’s Crossing, were you told you had a certain surname that you now realize can’t be correct?”

“That’s right,” I tell her, a bit startled at how quickly she is figuring everything out.

“And what name was that?” She gives me a kind, encouraging smile.

“Solberg,” I tell her without thinking.

Everyone behind her suddenly becomes quiet. The chatter that had continued in the background as we spoke ends, and I realize everyone is staring at me.

“Solberg?” she echoes, only a tinge of kindness remaining in her tone.

Everyone, including the Luna, spits on the ground.

I swallow hard, glad I didn’t tell them the truth about who Kieran is. Obviously, they are not happy with the Solberg family, and who could blame them?

“Yes, but I know that I was taken from here when I was a baby,” I say quickly before everyone turns on us again. “Mr. Blake wouldn’t tell me everything, but he did say–”

Suddenly, the Luna’s face turns pale white, and her eyes nearly double in size. “Who?” she asks me, a hand pressed to her chest.

“Mr… Blake,” I whisper, hoping his name doesn’t make them even more upset.

The Luna stumbles backward a few steps, and another woman rushes forward to catch her before she falls. “Oh, Goddess,” she says. “He’s alive.”