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Fingers touched my chin, startling me. My eyes flew open as my head was tilted back. The faint burn of gold pierced the shadows of the night. My heart sped up as Casteel drew his thumb along my lower lip. I started to apologize for waking him, but he lowered his head, brushing his lips across mine. The kiss was soft and so very sweet. I could never pick a favorite kiss of his, but these…these were special, tasting of love and devotion.

But so were the deeper kisses, the dark ones full of need and yearning. And that was what this kiss became. His tongue slipped between my lips and moved against mine, silencing any sound I would’ve made. His arm tightened around my waist, his fingers at my hip pressing in harder, drawing me even closer and sending a wholly ill-advisable dart of wanton pleasure through me.

Casteel’s lips left mine, but they didn’t go far. “Sleep, my Queen.”

“Both of you need to go to sleep.” Kieran’s low voice rumbled against my back.

My eyes went wide, even as I felt Casteel’s lips curve into a grin against mine. “Sleep,” he repeated, kissing me once more before guiding my cheek back to his shoulder. His hand left my chin and slid down his chest to my hand. To Kieran’s beneath mine. To both of ours. Casteel hadn’t used compulsion, but my eyes shut, and I drifted back to sleep with our three hands joined.

Chapter 47

We crested the last of the Niel Valley just as the sun began to set, turning the sky a deep, violet-blue. Kieran rode to Casteel’s right, and Delano and the wolven traveled alongside me as the northern portion of the Rise surrounding Carsodonia came into view. The area of the Bone Temple and Pensdurth sat at a much higher elevation than Carsodonia, much like Masadonia, and the air was a little cooler and less humid. With my hands steady on Phobas’s reins, I looked at Sage.

The wolven cut away from the pack, followed by General Sven’s and Murin’s divisions, heading for the front gates of Carsodonia as planned. The draken remained in the heavily forested area at our backs, since we weren’t sure if the Blood Crown had learned how many draken had survived the attack. In case they hadn’t, we wanted that detail to remain unknown. With the draken’s speed in the air, it would only take minutes for them to reach us once needed.

I glanced behind me to where Hisa and several Crown Guards rode beside the wagon. I’d kept checking on the wagon, almost as if I expected the casket containing Malec to disappear somehow.

Which was as silly as most of the thoughts I’d had in the middle of the night.

Our hearts were calm as we continued forward, carefully watched by the guards along the Rise. Their bows were readied, but none had fired upon us as we rode on, our Atlantian banners rippling in the faintly sea-salted breeze. The silence was unnerving, shattered by the horns blaring from the corners of the Rise. The same ones that blew when they spotted the mist. I wondered if the people were seeking shelter in their homes, hiding this time from who they’d been led to believe was the Harbinger of Death and Destruction instead of the Craven.

My gaze lifted to the archers on the Rise, and my senses swept out. Bitter fear gathered in my throat, stroking the restlessly stirring eather. “They’re afraid.”

“As they should be,” Casteel commented, and I dragged my attention from them, focusing on my King. He also eyed them. “Atlantian armies have never traveled this far west.”

“Not even in the War of Two Kings,” Kieran added. “Most of those guards up there have probably never even seen an Atlantian or a wolven—or were aware that they had.”

“They’ll probably be shocked that we look like them,” Emil said from behind us, where he rode with Naill and Malik. “And not like the Craven.”

“All that is likely true,” I said. “And it means that when this is over, after we’ve ended the Blood Crown, we need to prove to the people of Carsodonia and the rest of Solis that we are not the monsters they have been warned about. It won’t be as easy as it was in Padonia or any of the cities farther east,” I reasoned, though I wouldn’t say any but Padonia had been particularly easy.

“We will.” Casteel’s gaze found mine. “It will take time, but time is what we will have on our side.”

I nodded. We had time, but so did all the Ascended who’d fled their cities, either abandoning them or leaving nothing but death behind. They were behind those walls now. They too would need to be dealt with.

But it was what waited before us that needed all of our attention now.