PEARL'S POV
I don't dream about the orchard's chains every night anymore. However, when they do appear, they are not always sharp, resembling frozen bone.
But in between those nightmares, there's warmth. There's broth that tastes like marrow and salt. There's the softness of fur pelts pulled up under my chin by gentle hands that don't slap me awake when I whimper, and there's Ghost, the wolf whose breath curls against my ankle at dawn, like a promise that no one here has spoken aloud.
Like snow melting through stone fissures, the days pass by. I lose track after the first couple because the fire never goes out, and outside the shutters, it's always the same quiet scene of snow and pine.
On the third dawn, I try to get up. My knees buckle before my feet even reach the surface of the rush mat. Ironhold women, dressed in thick wool dyed the color of storm clouds, catch me before I fall to the ground; they don't chastise me for being weak or drag me back to the cot by the hair. These women are not like Pandara's maids with sour milk breath and Kaela's ring around their necks.
Instead, they support me between them, murmuring soft words I'm still not sure I understand. One of them brushes my hair back; it's clean now, the orchard oil and stable dust washed away, leaving just the pale strands I used to know. I don't flinch at her touch, not this time.
On the fourth day, they brought the silver-fur doctor back; he's older than any Pandara guard I've ever seen, and his eyes are like wet flint, glinting cold but not cruel. His fingers press against my ribs, and his breath hums softly as I gasp at the sensitive areas where Aleric's boot left a mark.
"Good," he tells the women. "No rot in her bones. Fever's gone." He doesn't speak to me, but when he leaves, he bows, a stiff tilt of the head that no Pandara guard would ever waste on a stray like me.
When they change the linen on my wrists, they do it by the fire, letting the warmth chase away the ache. The scabs are becoming softer every day, and I can see the raw red lines turning pink when the bandages are removed. I'll have scars, thin like thorn scratches, but they'll be mine, not Kaela's.
I rest.
I eat.
I listen.
Ghost never leaves the corner, eyes half-closed, tail flicking when the maids come too close to my bed. Once, as I wake in the quiet dusk, I catch a glimpse of Mendel's shadow standing by the hearth. He says nothing; he just watches while the old physician checks my pulse, pinches my chin, and listens for the rattle of sickness in my breath.
When the physician steps back, Mendel nods once; whether it's approval or a warning, I can't tell. His eyes meet mine, and in them, I see something sharp, something weighing, measuring, and keeping secrets locked away.
On the fifth day, the maids bring warm water scented with crushed pine and something sweet, lavender, maybe, though I've only ever noticed it in scraps of orchard perfume that Bisca wore to cover up the smell of our cellar. They pour it into a basin by the hearth and help me lower my feet into it. I flinch at first; the heat blooms like a blush up my calves, but I don't pull away. They wash the orchard dirt from under my nails and comb the tangles from my hair until it falls smooth around my shoulders.
They speak softly in the Vartun tongue, words I don't yet know how to pronounce, but I swallow them anyway, tasting the shape of this new place that isn't Kaela's orchard.
On the sixth day, they bring clothes, not rags, not a guard's cloak snatched away in the moonlight, but real fabric. Wool dyed the deep blue of Ironhold's banners, stitched with silver threads that catch the firelight when I move. When they slip the shift over my shoulders, it brushes my skin like a promise.
"Pretty," one maid murmurs, smoothing the fabric at my collarbone. She catches herself glancing at the wolf in the corner and then at the door, as if she fears being overheard.
I'm not sure what she sees, the girl from the orchard, with wrists still raw, ribs still counting every bruise like beads on a prayer chain, or something more.
On the seventh day, I received the summons.
It's not shouted, not barked, nor delivered with a slap from a ringed hand like Kaela's messengers used to do.
A boy, no older than me, his hair cropped close to his scalp, a silver-fur pin at his throat, kneels by my bedside at dawn.
"My lord Mendel calls for you, lady," he says, bowing his head so I only see the crown of his hair.
"Lady?" The word feels like a stone in my mouth, too big, too smooth, too far from the orchard's cage.
The boy stands before I can respond. Ghost rises with him, the wolf brushing against the boy's hip, as if giving permission. Together, they wait while the maids dress me.
Today, the shift is swapped for something nicer, still Ironhold blue, but lined in soft fur at the collar, with tiny white stitches curling like frost along the sleeves. A sash of darker wool wraps around my waist, pulling the fabric close to skin that hasn't known warmth like this since before I learned to lie to Kaela.
When the maids step back, one lifts a bronze mirror. I don't want it; I want to look away, to pretend this reflection is someone else's story, but the boy is waiting, so I look.
I see the orchard girl first, pale hair loose around a face still bearing the ghost of Kaela's slap.
But beneath that, I notice someone new, cheeks no longer hollow, skin flushed warm from broth and fire. The cloth hugs my ribs and hips, shapes I'd forgotten I owned, buried under layers of stable muck and cold straw.
The maid sets the mirror aside before I can flinch.
"Come," the boy says, and I do.
The hallway is narrow, lined with rough-hewn pine beams that let the resin and winter wind seep through the gaps. My bare feet sink into the rush mats; they're softer than orchard straw and warm underfoot. The boy keeps his pace steady, a step ahead, while the wolf pads behind us like a second shadow.
Doors pass on either side, thick, iron-banded, each marked with a symbol I still can't read. Behind some people, I catch glimpses: the hush of voices too low to overhear, the crack of logs in hearths, and the scent of smoke mixed with herbs I don't yet know.
At the end of the hall, the boy stops. A door larger than the rest, black oak, banded in iron so thick I wonder if it has ever known warmth. Two guards stand on either side, thick cloaks pinned with the same silver-fur crest that gleams at the boy's throat.
He doesn't knock. Instead, he lowers his head, murmuring a word I can't catch.
The door swings open on iron hinges that don't squeak. The warmth that spills out hits me first, heat from a hearth so large it could swallow my old orchard cell whole.
The scent then returns, sharper and tinged with something metallic that prickles my tongue.
Ghost nudges my calf, gently, like a reminder.
The boy steps aside.
The guards say nothing.
I step through.
Mendel stands behind a heavy table cluttered with maps, old parchment, a blade half-drawn from its sheath, and a bowl of steaming broth that no one seems to be eating.
His eyes lift first; they find my face and don't look away. They slowly trace down, marking the new cloth, the brushed hair, and the raw pink on my wrists half-hidden by the fur-lined sleeves.
I brace myself for mockery, for a smirk like Bisca's when she tied the orchard ribbons too tightly. But Mendel's mouth doesn't twist. His gaze stays focused on my throat, the place where Kaela's ribbon cut deepest, then slides back to my eyes.
He says, "You clean up nicely," in a voice so low that the sound of the hearth popping drowns out what he says. "Ironhold's colors suit you."
I don't say anything. I stand still, hands folded before me, so he doesn't see how they tremble.
Mendel doesn't wave me closer. Instead, he steps around the table, boots thudding softly on thick fur rugs. The wolf follows, circling me once, its breath steaming against my calves. I stand straighter so I don't flinch when its muzzle brushes my wrist.
When Mendel stands before me, he tilts his head, wolfish, like the orchard hounds used to do before they lunged.
"Seven days," he says. "You've been under my roof for seven days, Pearl. Ate my food. Wore my clothes. Bled on my furs."
I nod, not in shame, but because the truth tastes like frost on my tongue. "Yes."
Mendel's hand lifts, not fast enough to strike, not slow enough to soothe. He catches a strand of my hair between his thumb and forefinger, pale strands against the rough leather of his glove. He twists it gently once, then lets it slip free.
"You're stronger now," he observes. "Strong enough to stand. Strong enough to speak."
I swallow. The wolf's breath curls around my ankle, warm, waiting.
"Tell me," Mendel says. His eyes catch the firelight, glinting sharp as a drawn blade. "Tell me why you ran, Pearl."
So I do.
I speak.
My voice cracks a couple of times before it finds the right shape. I tell him about the orchard walls, stone damp with old moss and older blood. I tell him about Bisca's braid and the poisoned whisper of hope. I talk about Kaela's soft, jeweled hands that could cut a girl's spine. I mention Aleric's name last, the arrow's hum still trapped behind my ribs like a second heartbeat.
Mendel doesn't interrupt. He doesn't move when my breath catches on the word mating. He doesn't flinch when I say blood, bracket, and shackles in the same ragged sentence.
When the last word tumbles from my lips, the wolf sighs. The fire crackles a spark against the hearthstone. For an extended period, Mendel remains motionless.
Then, with a sigh that's almost a growl, he steps closer—too close—and tilts my chin up with two fingers rough as bark.
"You've come a long way," he murmurs. "Far enough that your Pandara ghosts can't crawl through my walls. Good."
I want to ask, why do you care for me? Why me? But my tongue stays caged behind my teeth.
Mendel drops his hand and turns back to the table, drumming his fingers once on the edge of the map. Then he looks over his shoulder, his eyes colder than the stone under my knees the night I crawled for the river.
"For now," he says, voice pitched low to match the flame's hush, "you stay here. You eat my food. You wear my furs. And you learn."
"Learn?"
The word feels raw on my tongue.
"Vartun's ways," Mendel replies.
He gestures widely, encompassing the timber walls, the hearth, and the snow beyond the shuttered window.
"Ironhold's ways. You'll train with my household, learn our tongue, our hunts, and our prayers. You'll learn how to stand before a king and not flinch."
I want to ask why. I nearly do, but the word "why" curls like smoke behind my teeth.
But his gaze pins me down, sharp and icy. I swallow the question.
"Obey," he commands.
The last note in a chord that demands no leniency.
"Do this, and you'll live comfortably. Fail, and the orchard won't find enough of you to drag back."
Behind him, the wolf thumps its tail once on the rug, echoing a promise I can't yet name.
Mendel lifts a map, folding it once, twice. When he turns back to me, the boy from the hall slips through the door, the wolf stepping aside.
"Take her," Mendel says.
His voice remains steady, but the boy bows his head as if a shout has cracked the air.
"Begin her training. Tonight."
The boy nods. His eyes dart to me, wide and uncertain, but not cruel.
Ghost gives my hip a gentle prod that says, "Move."
So, I'm moving. I step back through the iron-banded door, down the hall where the torches flicker in the draft.
Don't turn around. Not yet.
I don't see Mendel's eyes following the pale line of my throat, the way his thumb brushes the edge of the map, or the wolf's ears flicking when the door thuds shut.
Mendel whispers to the flame behind that door, in the silence of the Ironhold hearth, in a voice as quiet as the breath of snow:
"Rest well, stray. You will be prepared when the King howls for his mate.