Page 65

I filled him in on my recommendation and found that he’d come to much the same conclusion.

“I hoped you would see something I missed.” He nodded, processing the information before shoving to his feet. “We have to brief the King.”

“We?”

“Yes. Your ryder is here now, so you will take over your duties eventually. Better to be in it from the start than to be handed a war in the middle.”

Maybe he wasn’t trying to block my taking over the command after all.

“Can I ask you something?” I said as we waited for our audience with the King.

“Go ahead.” Octavian nodded.

“Why was the entire village destroyed in the Fifth Kingdom?”

“Why are you bringing this up?” he asked, like it was insignificant.

“It was an entire community. There were females and children there.” He didn’t say anything, so I went on. Maybe I hadn’t made my point clear enough. “It felt excessive. We could have burned the Dragon’s Bane and taken the males into custody so they could be tried for their crimes.”

“We have to stomp out all extremism. The whole village helped to cultivate and grow the Dragon’s Bane. Those extreme religious views are dangerous, and if they aren’t stopped they will keep growing their crops and spreading their poisoned ideals. They will kill all the flyers if we let them. We can’t leave half of it to come back. We have to get it by the roots.”

“I disagree.” The loss felt so monumental and wrong, but arguing with him in this moment felt like starting a fight that would blow up in my face. I had to be careful with our dealings until I had the command. With outposts falling and lives lost, he could make the argument I wasn’t up to leading if I wasn’t going to protect our people.

I would make changes when I took over, and he couldn’t stop me.

TWENTY-FOUR

NYX

“Where are you?” I reached out to my brother’s mind as I stormed toward the main library.

He sounded exhausted when he replied, “I just finished a pointless formation exercise with the new flight trainees. I don’t know why they get us involved when they are that green. It’s just to parade the famous flyers around for inspiration, I assume, but it’s a colossal waste of my time.”

“Can you meet me in the main library?”

“Now? I stink.”

“What’s new? Just meet me. I need you to do something for me.”

“I’ll have you know I always smell fantastic, thank you.”

“It’s not something you can mask with your cologne, brother, trust me.”

“Good luck with your library mission,” he mocked as I felt him pull away.

I rolled my eyes. “Wait! Please. I could really do with your help.”

He grumbled, but I could feel that it was with love. “Fine. Is there anything else you need, General, or will my presence be enough for now?”

“Yes. Can you stop by and see of Kiera can join us, too?” I hadn’t found anything in the healer’s library, but I was sure she could help me sift through stuff in the main library.

“Unbelievable,” I heard him mutter before he blocked our connection.

I arrived at the library and got straight to pulling texts. By the time Kol and Kiera arrived, I was at a table with a couple of books open and three neat stacks beside me.

“Here we are. What couldn’t wait for me to bathe?” Kol asked as he peeled off his jacket and took a seat opposite me.

Kiera pinched her nose, pulling a chair slightly away from him and sitting. “Goddess, spare me. You do smell.”