Red and the Restorer

Run.

It was the only thing Gerwalta could think to do, the only chance she and Andreas had to stay alive. No matter how far away they travel from the Black Forrest, however, it will never be enough. Especially when the sanctuary they believe they’ve found holds its own hidden dangers.

Andreas knew there would be consequences when he decided to make a wolfsretter his mate, but he could never have imagined the lengths he’d have to go to protect his family. When both he and Gerwalta lose an aspect of their powers, can they still stand against forces determined to tear them apart?

The final installment of the tragic love story of the real Red Riding Hood, and the close of the prequel trilogy to the bestselling Red Chronicles.

And then the news came from Venice: Gerwalta could fly. By the traditions of their kind, it was a sign that it was the youngest child, not the eldest, who would follow Gunda unto the throne. Helga wouldn’t cede for tradition’s sake, however. Her youngest, so often overlooked, would now find herself on the sharpened end of her eldest sister’s sword. Perhaps the wolfsretter of the House of Night to whom Gerwalta had betrothed herself would help keep her from harm. It wasn’t the match Gunda would’ve chosen, but it was a good match for a child she suspected would be reluctant to sink to cruelty.
A knock on the door pulled the Matron from her reverie.
“Enter.”
Helga’s head poked through the chamber door, bringing Gunda to her feet. “What? What has happened?”
When the door swung farther, revealing Gerwalta’s intended, Mehmet, in Helga’s wake, the Matron knew.
“She refuses to enter the tent.” Gunda nodded in the shadow of her own presumption as the other two crept in. “Never fear, Herr Siyah, nerves about the joining aren’t uncommon and quickly remedied. I’ll find my erstwhile daughter directly and assure that she performs her marital duties posthaste.”
The two young people exchanged a look of confusion.
Gunda arrested herself on the spot. “There is something more.”
Helga looked to her clenched hands. “Yes, Gerwalta didn’t claim her bridegroom, but the situation is more dire than nerves. What I mean to say is…”
The Ottoman wolfsretter assumed the rest. “It appears she has betrayed our vows and your clan, Matron,” he announced. “She has run into the arms of the königswolf.”
The news hit Gunda in the gut and throwing her off balance. “Impossible. No wolfsretter of the House of Red would do such a thing.”
“Yet, it appears to be so,” Helga resumed. “No one in the schloss has seen Gerwalta for nearly an hour. Maximillian just returned from the packlands, reporting that the königswolf is also unaccounted for.”
“But that doesn’t mean… It’s not as though Gerwalta would…”
Or would she? Truth be told, Gunda had suspected some festering secret behind her daughter’s eyes. When Gerwalta had returned from Venice proclaiming she’d arranged her own marriage, Gunda had surmised that her youngest had pulled an excellent coup, working some secret conspiracy. Could it really be the secret she’d been hiding was that she was in love with a lupine?
Each of the Matron’s knuckles cracked in succession as her hands tightened into fists. “Find them.”
Both Mehmet and Helga dipped their heads, the latter saying, “And what shall we do with them?”
“Bring them both before me in chains,” Gunda declared. “He in silver, she in iron. I’ll have the truth of it from their own mouths.”
Mehmet stepped forward. “Matron Faust, if I may? You are entertaining a great many guests, and it is possible that Gerwalta hasn’t committed any act of the flesh with the lupine. I’d suggest a small party of men for this mission. Perhaps this can be contained silently, and men will not be missed as much from the festivities. It may still be possible to seal our union and merely punish the wolf without any inside the grounds being any the wiser tonight.”
She chewed on that a moment, discerning the taste. “Yes, perhaps. Helga, send the men, your brother included. My order otherwise stands but advise them to be discreet upon their return. Once I have the truth of it, I’ll decide how to proceed.”