Free The Ascension by Kailin Gow Page B

ingenuous attempts of the cubs to catch one another.
    “Gem’s from the world of the Iron Claw clan,” Nina said once the little ones were ful y occupied.
    “Is she?” Sophie asked. The dark-haired werewolf seemed impressed. For her part, Gem found herself shaking her head as she sat down on the edge of the log.
    “I stil can’t believe that people here have heard of my world.”
    “Why not?” Nina asked. “There are lots of the Iron Claw tribe there, you know. They do a lot to keep your world safe.”
    “They do?” Gem could imagine how she had to sound.
    “Of course, girl,” Petra put in from further over.

    “Why do you think your world isn’t overrun with fairy folk? Our kind are their enemies, and we guard those around us wel .”
    Gem had the empirical evidence of that as Petra reached down to scoop up a smal child, probably a little girl, the instant before a couple of playful wolf cubs could land on her. The roughness of the children’s play wasn’t something that Gem would have wanted around human children, but she guessed that things were a little different when that play was geared towards learning to bring down deer later on. It was a didactic method taken from real wolves, and it certainly worked for them.
    “Is it because you hate the fairies that you’re fighting the Winter Queen?” Gem asked. She thought she could discern a slight narrowing of Petra’s eyes at the mention of the fairy ruler.
    “Our argument with her stems from her foolish cupidity . In her greed for more land to cover with her precious ice, she has broken her treaties with our people. In her turpitude , she has decided to build her forces and claim everything around her. We’l have to fight.”

    Beside
    her,
    Gem
    saw
    Nina
    shift
    uncomfortably.
    “It won’t come to that, though, wil it?” the younger werewolf said. Petra snorted.
    “Of course it wil come to that. Do you think we would have gone to the trouble of joining with the Summer Court if there weren’t going to be a fight?” P etra upbraided her in a stern tone, and Gem heard Nina mumble an apology, before asking if she might be excused. As she left, she made a smal motion to Gem, and Gem fol owed. Nina led her back through the lines of tents, wel away from the others.
    “Petra seems like she can be pretty stern when she takes umbrage at something,” Gem ventured. Nina nodded.
    “She can be. I suppose I don’t blame her. We don’t like the Summer Court much more than the winter one, real y. I wanted to talk to you away from her, though, because I wasn’t sure if she would like what I have to say. At least, I think she would cal me stupid and credulous for thinking it.” That caught Gem’s interest.

    “What is it?” she asked.
    “You know you said you were looking for someone from your world? Wel , would he be someone who knows about the ways between the worlds?”
    Gem nodded.
    “He came up with the way that got me here, and that let us get into the world of Anachronia. He is probably one of the few people who real y does understand those ways on our world.”
    “Wel ,” Nina replied, “if he can do al that, then the Winter Queen would want him. She is infamous for wanting to spread her cold further, and what could be better than spreading it across whole worlds?” Just the thought of that made Gem shudder.
    Even so, she knew she couldn’t risk being wrong and wasting time on a wild goose chase. Henry Word had already been missing a week. There was no tel ing when something might happen to him.
    “What if he isn’t there?” Gem asked.
    “He has to be.” The werewolf seemed certain of it. “The Summer Court might have its mendacious moments, but even if they were lying, then surely you would have seen some sign of the then surely you would have seen some sign of the man you seek. No, he has to be hidden somewhere in Winter.”
    The logic of it seemed a little simplistic to Gem, but that didn’t mean it was inaccurate. In any case,