Page 176

“Wren and Ardan,” she started again, her voice thin, “they are together now—their souls reunited—and there is hope in that thought. We cling to it like our very lives depend on it, and when this is over, when the time comes, we will mourn them properly.”

Tears burned my eyes like poison as Pri’s face flashed into my mind. The thought sent my heart careening into the bottomless pit inside me, shattering on its way down and leaving shards lodged into my flesh.

She had only loved twice, and both men were taken from her by Ammord.

I had many reasons to want to tear the realms apart, to burn them to the fucking ground. But something in the thought of her pain, the strength it must have taken for her love again only to be rewarded with more heartache, made me think that maybe, Nimbria wasn’t worth saving.

I knew what she was doing right now.

Knew that she was sitting with Wren’s lifeless body wondering what she could have done to stop this. Wonderingwhy her—why it had to be her. I’d been there before, and no one—no one—deserved that pain.

Yenne stepped forward on the tail of Asrai’s words, her cloudy eyes swirling like storm clouds as she clasped her hands in front of her. I’d never seen her in anything other than her velvet dresses, but standing here in front of us clad in battle leathers that were the deepest amethyst I had ever seen, she looked almost frightening.

“I d’na ‘ave time ta give ye all ze back story, ‘n frankly it does’na matter why. But I was asked ta create daemons to ‘elp find out who in Ammord ‘as been creatin’ zem. Me daemons were able ta get in ze ‘Ouse of ‘Igh before ze fight started. All I was able ta gleen from zem before zey were killed is zat ze leaders, Oryn, Varah, ‘n Sovana are also daemons. Zey are not ze ones creatin’ zem.”

A collective gasp rippled through the room, shock and dread mingling with the grief already saturating in the air.

This was bad.

This was really fucking bad.

They’d said they were protected, that they were doing someone else’s bidding. But this . . . this meant they had no control. No control to stop the carnage even if they wanted to.

My mind reeled at Yenne’s revelation, pieces clicking into place while trying to thread together the missing information. If the leaders of Ammord were daemons, puppets controlled by an unseen hand, then our fight had just become infinitely more complicated. We weren’t just battling an enemy realm, we were up against a ghost pulling every single string.

“Who could be behind this?” Cin’s voice quavered, her fingers digging into Landers’s arm. “Who has the power to convince the leaders of Ammord to become daemons?”

Asrai shook her head, her eyes haunted. “I do not know. But whoever they are, they have been planning this for a long time—manipulating events, setting the stage for war and chaos since placing Taft with me as a child,” she started pacing as she spoke. “They are patient, and patience in an enemy is dangerous.”

A heavy silence fell over the room as I watched every one of the steps Asrai took, my guts painfully twisting as the reality set in.

We couldn’t possibly win against these odds.

Andrues broke the silence, his voice hard as flint as his eyes avoided mine. “If whomever is creating them has already taken Ammord, then we have to assume they have taken The Silliands and Redelvtum as well. We need to find out who that is, and stop them before they can create more.”

“Easier said than done, brother,” Dukovich said as Andrues’s eyes snapped to him.

Andrues’s next words were a growl as they left his lips. “I am not your brother.”

Dukovich raised a brow in his direction, a smirk forming as he parted his lips, readying to respond as Cin cut in.

Thank Gods for that woman.

“Whoever it is, we know it’s a woman. We start there,” Cin said, her tone commanding as her eyes scolded Andrues and Dukovich before turning toward the Fallen Ones. “Go feed your dragons; take them to the infirmary to heal any wounds and get them rested, we will be fighting again soon and they need their strength.”

They did not hesitate to tether from the room as the words slipped from her mouth, like they had been waiting for permission to flee. Landers’s arm tightened around her waist at the audible breath the room took with the loss of their presence.

We could finally speak freely.

Cin turned to Asrai and Yenne, and I could see the exhaustion that seeped into the lines of her face. “Can the two of you go to the Elders’ archives and look for anything you can find on awoman spoken of throughoutThe Storiesthat may give us some direction?”

Asrai nodded, pulling Cin’s chin toward her and placing a soft kiss on her forehead before tethering from the room with Yenne by her side.

“We need rest,” Landers started, his voice strained. “The army in Ammord was just a taste of what they will unleash upon us, and it did not include The Silliands’s forces. I suspect they will come in the night, so gather your strength. By sunrise, the realms will be at war.”

“I’m not fuckingresting,” I snapped, my eyes locking on Landers.

The muscle in his jaw feathered. “I am not asking, Ataliia.”