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Saylor gasps. It’s a soft sound, but in the heavy silence of the room, it has nowhere to hide. Her face pales and her hands convulse on his arm, but she doesn’t say anything. Yet my heart breaks for her. There is no denying how dangerous this will be, because it will be. Terribly so.

“Yes my Queen,” he says, with only the barest hesitation.

Only long enough to catch his mate’s eyes and place his hand over hers in a reassuring gesture.

“My Queen,” Dilacs says. His voice is so tight it sounds like it is on the edge of cracking. His hands are clenched into fists and his muscles tremble. “Please do not do this. It is too dangerous. We cannot…Icannot lose you.”

I smile and it is, for once, genuine. I walk closer until I rest my hand on the arm opposite the one Gweneth is clinging to. His eyes are moist, his jaw clenched. The worry lines on his face are as deep as fissures in the depths of the mountain.

“My brave warrior,” I say, keeping my voice soft, meant for him even though they all will hear it. “I appreciate you more than words. I know this is dangerous and I wish I saw any other path that would not force me to put myself or your brother in danger, but I don’t. We must forge this alliance with the Zmaj.”

He grunts, shakes his head, but he doesn’t say anything. I step back from him, moving to where I can see them all in a single look.

“This war… it’s over. Our hope lies not in more conflict, but in the humans.”

I look at each of them in turn. Gweneth, Saylor, and Phoebe. The three women meet my eyes with their own, their eyes glistening with fear, but their faces resolved. They know it as well as I do.

“As you command,” the warriors intone as one. “We serve with the strength of the mountain.”

As one they strike their fists to their chests. The resounding thud echoes off stone walls. It is decided. I will be returning to my stolen city. If only for a little while. Long enough to make contact with the resistance and return with hope.

22

ELARA

Darkness swallows me whole.

I scream, but the sound dies, smothered by dust, heat, and motion?—

Then impact.

I slam down hard, my shoulder striking something sharp. Pain explodes along my side.

I can’t breathe.

I gasp, struggling to drag air into my lungs?—

A thud shakes the ground beside me.

It’s too dark to see more than a shape. Just enough to know that it’s another body.

My heart leaps fearfully into my throat. A hiss cuts through the darkness—Ryatuv’s voice. Relief floods me just as another crash shakes the floor. Z’leni tumbles down, rolling to a stop with a pained grunt.

My breath rushes back, lungs burning as I gasp sweet oxygen. Everything hurts, bad. I’m not sure yet if anything is broken, but it feels like everything might be.

I try to sit up, but a lightning bolt of pain flares through my ribs. I gasp and fall back, tears springing to my eyes. Every shallow breath feels like knives slicing my side.

“Elara,” Ryatuv’s voice is close, urgent.

“Back off, lizard,” Z’leni snaps harshly.

I open my eyes, but though the torch came down with us, it’s off to one side sputtering, barely alive itself. Protesting the fall too. Everything is dark shadows, but the two shapes over me are clearly the boys. One of them shoves the other.

“Stop,” I whisper but the other one shoves back, either not hearing or ignoring me. “Damn it, stop.”

I speak louder this time and they quit, their heads tilting to me. Two sets of hands touch my sides, running over my limbs. I cry out as pain blossoms on my left side.

“Sit her up,” Ryatuv says.