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Valeen sobbed and hugged her again. “Oh, Katana, I’m fine. What about you? Do you feel well? I don’t understand what happened, but it doesn’t matter, you’re here.”

Katana brushed her hand over Valeen’s hair like a mother would and wiped her sister’s tears but let her own fall. “I do not know either, but I missed you. You are as beautiful as I remember. And what is this?” She picked up the white piece of her hair and then giggled when she touched Valeen’s pointed ear then her moon and star crown. “The night elf queen!”

“I know, it’s strange, isn’t it?” she said, laughing with her. Thane wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Valeen so happy. It warmed his chest to see her lit up like this. She turned to him. “Thane introduced himself, I hope. You can trust him. He’s one of my closest friends.”

“He did.” She nodded and they stepped apart. “He is lovely.”

“When he wants to be.”

“Hey.” Thane narrowed his eyes. “I ran after her when you asked. A ‘thank you’ would be nice.” He assumed everyone else was fine based on her behavior. If there were trouble, she’d be dragging him back to fight.

“Thank you, Thane.” Valeen grinned, took Katana’s hand, and tugged her toward Presco. “Let’s go. I want to introduce you to the others. You need to meet Hel.”

Katana halted and pulled her hand back.

Valeen’s eyes flicked to Thane then back to her sister. “It’s alright. Synick can’t hurt you. We’ve… subdued him.”

“What if he gets free?” she said, barely more than a whisper. “I am not ready to see him. I cannot.”

“We won’t let him hurt you,” Thane added.

“You don’t have to.” Valeen’s lips formed a hard line, and she shoved her hand into her hair. “Thane, Presco can take you back to the others, and Katana and I will wait here until you hide Synick somewhere.”

“I’m not leaving you both here. We don’t know who is in control of this territory right now. We don’t know if Synick was alone. We don’t know if your wall held up after all this time. This place could be crawling with the council’s assassins. The new ruler here could see you as a threat. We don’t know anything.”

“We’ll be fine.”

“No.”

“I suppose it’s alright if you stay with her though,War,right? I’m done with the double standards. You and Hel both have treated me like I’m a porcelain doll.”

Thane rolled his eyes. “Thane, and it’s not about that, Valeen. The council hunts you first, not me. I’m not the one with Soulender, you are. That is why Hel and I are so protective over you. You should appreciate that we care about you so much.”

“I love you both and I do appreciate it but sometimes it’s smothering,” Valeen said, calmly. “And I don’t think you should be saying that I have you-know-what so loudly.”

He looked around. “Do you see anyone else here besides us? And I doubt Presco would want to leave you either.” Thane clenched his teeth. Maker above, she could be a pain in the ass. The most stubborn person he’d ever met. Always had been. Sometimes he wondered why he ever loved her to begin with. Half of their relationship had been arguing.

“Don’t bring me into this,” Presco grumbled, laying his head on his huge paws.

“Well, if there’s no one around, you should be fine going with Presco while we wait. Maybe Katana and I will just start walking and find my castle. You can meet us there.”

“Valeen.”

Full of attitude, she folded her arms. “Thane.”

“You know what, I think I will go get Hel and maybe yourhusbandcan get you to listen, because you damn sure never listen to me.”

“I don’t need a couple ofbroodymales telling me what to do but thank you.”

“Exactly how long ago were you lovers?” Katana interrupted. “I am getting the feeling that it was… recent.”

Too bloody recent, he thought, turning away from Valeen. He couldn’t even look at her at the moment. If they didn’t need each other to survive, they would be better off with some time apart.Farapart too. Things were certainly easier for him when she and Hel were in an entirely different realm in Ryvengaard.

After a long stretch of silence Katana said, “I will go. I will go with you both to find the others, so no one has to stay here with me. Just keep Synick away from me.”

Chapter 3

HEL