Chapter Twelve

 

Isa stopped running when she realized that everyone in the crowd had turned around to stare directly at her. The shifters looked uncertain, the Gilt Hollow citizens looked shocked, and her father looked furious.

Isa was suddenly conscious of the fact that she was still dressed in the nightgown she’d been wearing when she fled from the soon-to-be-exploding palace. It was several feet shorter now than its original floor length, and it was burnt, bloody, and torn in numerous places. She was sure her hair must also look like a bloody, sooty rat’s nest. She hadn’t been thinking about any of this when Leo rescued her. She’d been too overjoyed at the sight of him to think about what a hot mess she must look like, and now her cheeks burned red with embarrassment. What must Leo have thought of her? What must all these people think of her? Technically, she was still royalty, since her father hadn’t disowned her yet. But she looked like anything other than a princess right now.

“Isa!” her father growled at her. “I’m surprised you have the nerve to show your face again? Is it true what you did, then?”

The crowd had fallen silent, and every eye was on her. Isa straightened her back as much as she could, and looked her father in the eye. “If you’re asking whether I assisted the shifters in this battle, then the answer is yes.”

Gasps sounded off across the crowd and Isa’s mother let out a little shriek of despair. The Emperor didn’t gasp, though. He kept staring at Isa as though he wished he could destroy her with his angry gaze alone. Isa forced herself to keep looking at him. She would not allow him to intimidate her. Not this time.

“I helped them because they deserved to be helped,” she said, her voice ringing loudly out across the crowd. “Shifters are humans, just like us. For too long, we have oppressed them, with no justification. We have treated them like their lives meant less than ours just because they have a special ability we do not—to change forms. We should have been honoring their talents instead of demeaning them. And we should have been sharing our wealth with them. The Golden Claw River has plenty of gold for all of us. And the forests around here have plenty of food to sustain a population twice the size of Bear Hollow and Gilt Hollow combined, if not more. But instead of doing the right thing, we’ve acted shamefully. I could no longer stand by and be part of such a disgraceful government.”

“Well I hope you’re happy now, because you’ve destroyed Gilt Hollow completely. What you see here is all that remains of our population. The great majority of our people are dead, and at least seventy-five percent of the houses in Gilt Hollow have been burnt to the ground, including your own childhood home. I can’t believe you destroyed the palace.”

Isa looked over at the palace, which was a smoldering heap at this point. The explosion and fire had left little behind except a pile of black rubble. Little wisps of smoke still rose from the ruins, and the burnt smell permeated the air around them. Isa should have felt more emotional about the loss of her own home, but she couldn’t bring herself to be sad. Not when her actions had made a way for Leo and her to live together. And that was all she wanted. To be with Leo. To go home to their home at the end of the day. To run together in the forests during the warm summer, and to snuggle together under cozy blankets during the cold winter. All of that had seemed like such a far off dream just a few days ago. Now, that dream was becoming a reality right in front of her eyes. The shifters were free. Leo was free. And Isa was free to leave behind Gilt Hollow and spend the rest of her life with him. Who cared about a stupid palace?

“It had to be done,” she said to her father. “And I would do it all again, if it meant the shifters could finally live free from oppression.”

More gasps rang out in the crowd, this time all from the Gilt Hollow citizens.

“You’ve ruined us all!” shouted one of the palace guards.

Isa didn’t respond. What could she say to this group? They were so upset about the loss of their expensive homes, glittering jewels, and fancy food that they couldn’t even see that they hadn’t deserved any of that. Not when they had been oppressing the shifters for generations. Isa suddenly wanted to get away from here, and away from this crowd. It was clear that the shifters had won the war. There would be huge celebrations in Bear Hollow tonight, and probably for weeks to come. She wanted to be a part of those celebrations instead of standing here being judged by Gilt Hollow citizens who couldn’t see the truth even though it had smacked them right in the face.

Her father wasn’t about to let her go that easily though. He crossed his arms and glared at her. “You may think you’ve escaped destruction because you sided with the shifters, but I’m telling you right now that you’re not going to get away with this. We are being forced to leave Gilt Hollow and travel beyond the great forest to find a new home far away from here. Because of you, we have to leave behind the Golden Claw River and these forests. The shifters are giving us the choice to leave or be executed, and since none of us has an interest in being executed, we’re leaving. But the thing is, you’re going to have to come with us.”

Isa felt a momentary stab of fear. Had the shifters agreed to hand her over to her father? Surely, they wouldn’t do that. Not after how much she had helped them. Leo had assured her that the shifters would welcome her with open arms. “I’m not going with you!” she spat out at her father. Her voice might sound confident, but her hands had started to tremble with fear. She looked over at Leo, a pleading look in her eyes. His eyes were smoldering with anger. He stepped forward and took her hand.

“You heard her,” he said. “She’s not going with you. She’s going to stay in Bear Hollow with the shifters she helped to save.”

The Emperor laughed. “Be reasonable. You shifters all hate me, and she’s my daughter. You can’t possibly be interested in keeping her around. She’ll come with me, and she’ll suffer for what she’s done. Guards! Seize her!”

The few remaining guards stepped forward toward Isa. They had no swords or weapons—the shifters must have disarmed them completely—but they were quite a bit stronger than Isa, and they could have easily overwhelmed her if she didn’t have help. Luckily, she had help.

Leo stepped in front of Isa and held up the sword he still had in his hand. “Don’t even think about it.”

Isa held her breath, waiting to see how the other shifters would react to the fact Leo was sticking up for her. This was the moment of truth: had she been truly accepted into the Bear Hollow Clan, or not?

She need not have worried. Leo had barely raised the sword before other shifters were stepping forward. Isa easily recognized Otto, who had been one of the champion Shifter Competitors here in Gilt Hollow, and who had also been the leader of the Gilt Hollow shifter resistance according to Leo. Beside him was Kellen, another former shifter competitor whom everyone had assumed was dead. Isa couldn’t hold back a little gasp when she saw him, and apparently Isa was not the only one surprised by the fact that Kellen had suddenly come back from the dead.

“Hey!” Loki Severson yelled out. “That’s Kellen! He belongs to House Severson, but he tricked us into thinking he was dead. You mongrel! You’ll pay for this, Kellen!”

“Shut up, Loki,” said Fritz Severson, Loki’s father. His voice sounded tired and defeated. “Can’t you see we’ve lost? It doesn’t matter who has tricked us or how badly. We’re all done for. They’ve won.”

Loki looked at his father with wide, bulging eyes, as though he couldn’t believe that his father had actually said that. “But we are the Seversons!”

The elder Severson only rolled his eyes at his son, and Isa had to fight not to laugh. Most of the Gilt Hollow citizens thought more highly of themselves than they should, but none were quite so out of touch as Loki. The man had spent his entire life being coddled and told that he was the best, and he clearly could not understand that his days of being treated like a god were over.

The guards who had surged forward to grab Isa stood back, uncertain of what to do next now that a wall of shifters stood between them and Isa. Isa didn’t recognize all of the shifters yet, but she was sure she would get to know them all better over the coming months and years.

The coming months and years of freedom.

Isa did recognize Axel, the man who owned the bar in Bear Hollow. He looked like he had suffered quite a few sword blows during the fight, but he was standing tall nonetheless. He had positioned himself right next to Leo, and had a sword stretched out as well. Isa had never felt so protected in her life, even though she’d spent most of her life being protected by the best soldiers and guards that Gilt Hollow had to offer. These shifters were not going to let anyone lay a hand on her.

“Isa is part of our Bear Hollow Clan now,” Leo said in a loud voice. “We will protect her with our lives, just like we would protect any of our other clan members. Since you are all on the losing side and have no weapons and few men left, I would advise against foolishly wasting your precious resources on trying to get her back. You will lose that fight, and you will lose men in the process as well.”

Isa felt her heart swelling with pride and gratitude as she watched Leo sticking up for her. She stood taller and looked her father in the eye. “He’s right, father. I’m part of the shifter clan now. Leo is the man I love, and I’ve dedicated my life to him and his clan. I won’t be going with you.”

Isa’s mother stifled another anguished shriek, but Isa’s father only glared back at her. “Very well. You’re dead to me, then. Don’t try to come running back after these shifters show their true colors and mistreat you.”

Isa couldn’t help but laugh. Her father had the nerve to talk about the possibility of her being mistreated, when he had spent his entire life mistreating the shifters horribly. Her laughter only made her father angrier, and he turned on his heel.

“Very well. I can see these shifters are going to continue to be completely unreasonable. Everyone from Gilt Hollow who still has food or horses that survived the fire, go home and get them and meet back here within the hour. We will set out right away to cross the forest. It’s a long journey, and we want to make it quickly, before the truly cold weather sets in. We also want to get going before any of these barbaric shifters change their mind and decide to kill us instead of letting us go like they promised.”

Isa saw Otto roll his eyes at Leo, but neither one of them said anything. Isa was still fairly new to the world of shifters, but she knew enough to know that shifters didn’t break their promises. They kept their word no matter what, and if the shifters had agreed to let the Gilt Hollow citizens go without any more bloodshed, then that’s what they would do.

The group from Gilt Hollow began to disperse. Isa’s father and mother left, her father glaring at her and her mother crying hysterically, and Isa had a feeling that was the last time she would ever see them. She knew that if her mother apologized and swore loyalty to the shifters that the shifters would let her stay in Bear Hollow, since she was Isa’s family. But Isa didn’t bother asking her mother. She knew her mother didn’t have the courage to go against her father, and her father would threaten her mother horribly if she tried to stay.

And so, Isa watched sadly as they disappeared from view. They had been her family, but she had a new family now. And the most important member of that family was standing right in front of her. He turned now, and gave her a smile. Her Leo. Her bear.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me now,” he said with a grin.

“Well, then. I’ve never been happier to be stuck.” She ran to him, jumping into his arms and wrapping her own arms around his neck. He kissed her deeply on the lips, and all around them cheers, whistles, and hollers rose from the crowd that had gathered.

The shifters were free, and so was Isa. She hadn’t even realized she needed freedom, but now that she had it, the feeling was intoxicating. The best was yet to come.