The window that looked out toward the gate caught Elma’s eye and she ran to it, peering down. After a moment she saw Lieutenant Ophrely leading a horse away. As always, a basket hung from the saddle. While Elma watched the shadow recede past the gate, Kyprosa’s voice came from behind her.
“Is that Raven’s daughter?”
“Raven is your father.”
Elma usually shuddered at the name Raven, but this time, pity for the child brought the words out of her. Kyprosa rolled her eyes with an expression that said, So what? Even after raising her, Elma still didn’t understand this girl. Like a wolf cub taken in and fed, she showed no gratitude and couldn’t be reasoned with.
“Are you sure it’s Raven’s daughter?”
“So what if she is? It’s already over. She said to give her to the wolves.”
Kyprosa turned sharply and ran toward the stairs. Her footsteps faded and disappeared. With only the moonlight through the narrow window, she ran without hesitation. No matter how familiar the corridor, Elma couldn’t have done the same. Only wild children could.
And wild children could do anything. The next morning, a watchman told Elma that Kyprosa had left the castle alone the night before. When he tried to stop her, she told him to shut up and mind his business.
“She said if I said one more word, she’d throw me in the moat.”
Elma found it hard to believe. Kyprosa wasn’t a polite girl, but she was quiet. Still, the watchman had no reason to lie. Kyprosa, born and raised in Fir Tree Castle, had to know how dangerous the forest was at night. Wolves the size of calves roamed outside, and traps that lured even grown men were scattered throughout. The forest looked so alike in every direction that even seasoned hunters could lose their way if they lost focus for a moment.
Had Kyprosa really followed Ophrely? When Elma went to ask, Ophrely said he had returned immediately after leaving the basket and hadn’t seen anyone else. After hesitating, Elma reported the situation to Rosia, but Rosia took no action.
Snow began to fall.
Kyprosa didn’t return that day. The only one who took action was Jaeim. After his afternoon lessons, he heard what happened and tried to go out with a few soldiers, but Elma stopped him. To her, a boy with only spear training going into the forest, even in daylight, was suicide. That evening, Mad Deni, who had spent the day sleeping off a hangover, returned to the castle and heard the story. When he learned no one had gone after Kyprosa, he cursed everyone in the castle, from Rosia to the boy on fire duty, as damned to hell, then staggered out to the gate. In the distance, he saw a black speck moving in the snow.
Moments later, the watchmen stared in shock as Kyprosa returned with her prize. Her hair and clothes were soaked in blood, but most of it had dried, and she didn’t appear hurt. The blood came from the huge wolf pelt she dragged behind her. Inside the expertly skinned pelt was a sleeping baby. Though some blood had gotten on her, she wasn’t injured either.
A blood-soaked girl carrying a blood-soaked baby, dragging a wolf pelt with its head still attached, she looked like she had returned from hell. Dozens of castle residents came out to stare. Elma, rushing out at the news, looked stunned but stepped in front of Kyprosa, trying to ask what happened. Kyprosa simply said, “Move.”
Lieutenant Ophrely looked oddly relieved to hear the baby had been brought back, but he still escorted Kyprosa to Rosia. Bringing someone Rosia had exiled back into the castle was a serious offense. Facing her grandmother, Kyprosa spoke.
“I hunted a wolf. It had a pup. I’ll raise it.”
Rosia looked at her two granddaughters for a long while. No, they weren’t granddaughters. Orchidna, abandoned in the woods, had died the night before. What Kyprosa brought back was a wolf cub. She had likely dragged the pelt along just to make that point. It was a stretch, but it gave them an excuse to spare the child. Everyone wanted that excuse. Ophrely, Elma, everyone looked to Rosia.
“Fine. That child is yours now. Everyone, treat her as Kyprosa’s beast. If the beast bites anyone, you may kill it on the spot.”
So Orchidna remained in the castle. When Lieutenant Ophrely reported to the captains, he said something unbelievable had happened. Rosia, who hated Kyprosa more than anyone, had overturned her own command. How? Because everyone wanted it. Perhaps Rosia wanted it too. When everyone wants something badly enough, even the flimsiest excuse will do. No one had told Kyprosa that, but somehow, she knew.
People worried how someone as inexperienced as Kyprosa could care for a baby, but she didn’t try to raise her sister alone. In the sewing room, there were women who worked while caring for babies together. When Kyprosa left Orchidna among them, they couldn’t ignore the crying child and shared their milk. That wasn’t the end of it. Soon, she was handing off dirty diapers to the laundry staff, found a cradle in the storeroom and had a carpenter fix it, and asked the cook to prepare porridge. She gave instructions throughout, leaving the servants bewildered. But no one could complain to the lord that her granddaughter had made them do laundry. For all the ways Kyprosa had been treated like a kitchen maid, she was still of the noble line.
Many people wondered how she had killed the wolf, but only Deni got an answer. Or rather, he guessed, and Kyprosa confirmed it. As expected, it was magic. She said she had put it to sleep and then stabbed it.
“You learned that from your father’s books?”
“Yes.”
“Without fear, huh.”
Using magic from a book, believing it would work, and stabbing a wolf with a knife. It was reckless. But it saved her sister, so no one could blame her.
“Just luck. I had no other choice.”
“And now you’re feeling proud. Planning to be a mage?”
“Looking at you, it doesn’t seem like a promising career.”
Deni chuckled.
“You’re right. No future in it. Don’t even try.”
“But who taught my father magic? Don’t tell me it was you?”
“Do I look like I’d take on such a dim-witted student? If you’re going to repeat the crap he pulled, give it up now. You want to learn magic? You go to the world’s capital. Poking around in this backwater gets you nowhere. That’s why Raven lost his mind.”
Kyprosa stayed silent. Deni was right. She would go to the capital one day. With the snowbird, together. But when would that day come?
“You’ve been there, Deni?”
“The capital? Sure have.”
“What did you learn?”
Deni snickered.
“Mouse-catching magic. It’s a bit harder than wolf-hunting.”
“Why?”
“You think it’s easier to hit a mouse from a hundred paces or a wolf?”
Kyprosa squinted at him.
“By that logic, catching a sparrow is harder than catching a snowbird.”
“Exactly. That’s why until you can catch a snowbird, don’t try sparrow magic. Raven didn’t understand that. Don’t forget it.”
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