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‘But he—’

‘Naxi, therules.’

She staggered back as if he’d slapped her in the face. Edored slumped against the counter with a squeal of relief, and at once Naxi’s sharp-toothed menace was gone, that wild gleam of urgency in her blue eyes. ‘Oh.’ She breathed the word like a sleepwalker waking up to find a corpse at her feet. ‘Oh, fuck. I’m sorry … I’m so sorry … I—’

‘Edored?’ Tared said sharply. ‘When and why?’

‘Soon.’ It came out breathless. ‘Later today, they think. The Mother says she’ll spare them if they tell her where the Alliance is hiding, but—’

‘But they don’t know,’ Lyn finished. She’d gone pale as a sheet below her freckles. ‘Except the rest of the world will hear the tale and that threat and think the Tolyididknow – that they died because they chose to support us.’

Naxi uttered a high, wailing sound. Tared stoically said, ‘Clever.’

‘It’s rather stupid, isn’t it?’ Edored said, wildly looking back and forth between the two of them. ‘The poor girls have no idea! Why is she threatening them if they’ll never be able to—’

‘She isn’t threatening them,’ Tared said with another vigilant glance at Naxi. ‘She’s killing them and threatening the rest of the world with their example. Which is going to shrink the numbers of our allies significantly, I suppose.’

‘Some of them may see through it.’ Lyn didn’t sound particularly hopeful. ‘It’s not the first time she’s played that game, after all, and—’

Naxi let out another quiet whine.

Not the first time.I glanced at Naxi, suspicions sparking at the sight of the tears gleaming in those bright blue eyes. She had mentioned her demon father every now and then. Her mother, on the other hand, or any family members on that side …

Not a word. Not the quietest whisper about them.

‘Is there anything we can do to stop them?’ I whispered.

‘Go there, I suppose,’ Tared said grimly. ‘Put a few swords in their way. The Alliance showing up to help would shift the narrative, at least, even if we can’t save the entire island.’

Go there – which meant leaving the continent. Which meant giving up on this mission, or at least pausing it. Lyn gave me the quickest apologetic glance before she turned back to Edored and said, ‘Is anyone at home preparing to help out?’

‘Thorir is gathering people,’ Edored said, pulling a face that suggested he hadn't been invited and wasn’t happy about it.

‘Enough of them?’

Edored gave a helpless shrug.

‘That’s probably a no,’ Lyn muttered, plopping down on the edge of the lowest stool in the room. ‘Fuck. Alright, Edored sweetling—’

‘You can’t send me back home!’ he sputtered. ‘You need more people!’

She threw him a blistering glower.

It took a few more garbled objections and a couple of pointed remarks from Tared, but in the end he faded back to the sickbay he’d never have left if not for the urgent need for a messenger able to reach Zera’s temple. Naxi didn’t speak until he finally vanished, although the wafer-thin line of her lips was evidence of the effort it took.

‘Em?’ Lyn cut in before anyone could get out another word. ‘Go find Beyla and Creon, will you?’

Creon. Even though she hadn't seen him since unleashing a firestorm at him the day before, even though the fact that we hadn’t turned to charcoal while Naxi slept was the only reason they knew he was still around. If he was invited, this was not going to be a friendly discussion among trusted allies.

Rather, a council of war.

I threw one glance at Naxi’s chalk-coloured face and decided to ask my questions later.

Beyla was surprisingly easy to find, scurrying around the periphery of the temple where she was looking for more dragon traces. It took half a sentence of explanation for her to fade back into our temporary home. Creon found me five minutes later, landing in the flowerbeds beside me with soundless fae grace just as I was beginning to wonder if I’d have to search all of the temple for him.

Tared is allowing you to leave home on your own these days?he signed wryly as he tucked in his wings and raked his flight-ruffled hair back in place.

‘The Mother is threatening to attack the nymphs on Tolya,’ I said, not in the mood to laugh. ‘We’re gathering to make a plan.’