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“Nonsense. Our ward can’t be shifted anywhere.”

“It can be if one of Regner’s pet Patriarchs developed a weapon that can temporarily remove wards from this world,” I said.

His expression stayed entirely neutral, but I glanced at the council. Several men were frowning, while an older woman with deep laugh lines had shakily gotten to her feet. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the battle we’d prepared for. Perhaps they would actually listen.

“We can no longer afford to be neutral,” she said. “It is now a matter of honor. If we’re attacked, no one will come to our aid.”

“We won’t be attacked,” Verdion ground out.

I angled my head. “Oh yes, you believe you can go crawling back to Regner and bargain with him. Tell me, will you fall to your knees for the human king?”

Verdion’s mouth dropped open, but he quickly recovered. “How dare you come here. You shouldn’t even have stepped foot on this island, and yet you believe you can barge into this meeting and attempt to convince our people to go to war for you?”

“The Arslan were a great people once,” Rythos said quietly, turning to face the council. “We weren’t just known for our expertise when it came to inventions like our ships. We were known for our compassion. For our willingness to welcome people who were searching for a new life.”

“You know nothing.”

Rythos continued as if his father hadn’t spoken, his gaze sweeping each council member. “What will you tell your children if Regner wins this war? How will you explain to your children’s children that you had a chance to fight on the right side of history, and you chose not to get involved? Will you look them in the eye and tell them you allowed innocents to be slaughtered because it was politically convenient? War will come to this island. Already, Regner has invaded Gromalia. Yes, his creatures—creatures he took from the fae and twisted— have slaughtered almost an entire city of men, women, and children. And still, you would do nothing?” He let out a bitter laugh. “Do you know what happens to those who allow innocents to die for their own convenience? They soon find that convenience is replaced by the coldfingers of guilt tightening around their throats each time they attempt to sleep.”

“Humans,” Verdion snapped. “There are too many of them already. Perhaps this is nothing more than population correction.”

Rythos bristled. “That population correction will come here. It is a fact.”

“Allow us to think on this and vote,” the woman with the laugh lines said. She had enough courage to carefully ignore the furious look Verdion shot her. “We must deliberate.”

With a last look at the council, Rythos nodded. I followed him out. I didn’t like leaving them where they could listen to Verdion’s poisonous words, but we had no choice.

“What do you think they will do?”

Rythos shook his head, his face tight. “I don’t know. Likely, they will deliberate for hours. Their decision won’t come down to what is right, or good versus evil. They will spend their time poking at one another, using their political power to irritate those they despise, and questioning if we speak the truth.”

Frustration clawed at me. Rythos nodded at whatever he saw on my face. “Pray to any gods you believe in that they choose to ally with us. Because if they don’t, this island will become nothing but rubble, and the ships that could give us a fighting chance in this war will be little more than debris at the bottom of the sea.”

ASINIA

For a few moments, it seemed as if perhaps we were wrong. As if perhaps the monsters lurking beneath the surface were merely created from our overactive imaginations.

A dark, scaled creature leaped across the surface of the water—shockingly fast—and aimed for Demos.

My bolt arrowed through its open mouth, and it silently dropped back into the water with a splash—just footspans from Demos’s head. Cool waves of terror swept through my body, my muscles turning liquid.

He sliced a single glance at me, and then he was turning, paddling toward the area we’d first seen rippling. I nocked another arrow and waited.

Next to me, Amalra and Elysanth had done the same. All three of us were utterly silent.

Demos, Horrison, Gwynara, Firion, and Nyrik all circled around Brinlor, guarding him from every side as they swam toward the ward.

My lungs were burning, and I slowly let out the breath I was holding, rolling my neck. If I was too tense, I was more likely to shoot early. Which meant I was more likely to miss.

I had to—

There!

Another flash of something long, dark, and scaly, only this time, the creature didn’t leap from the water. It swam up next to Firion, who responded by slashing outwith his dagger.

Fighting in the water couldn’t have been easy. Especially knowing lethal creatures were watching their every move. A flash of teeth, and Gwynara used her power, slamming her fire into the side of the creature.

Even though Gwynara was fae, I was relatively certain that Madinia’s fire was much, much stronger. If she were here, she could have turned most of these monsters to ash.