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Chapter forty-one

HYACINTH

“You’re going to have to make it up to me, you know,” I said, smiling across the room at Landers as he pulled the crown from his head, setting it in the drawer of the bedside table and locking it.

He peeled his wedding leathers from his body, shrugging out of them as a chuckle slipped from his lips. “And what do I owe you?”

“A wedding night not planned around a midnight invasion,” I quipped, watching the muscles across his chest flex as he pulled his fighting leathers over his head.

A smirk flicked across his lips as he belted his sword to his side.

I stood there, leaning against the door, gazing at the beauty of the man that was now my husband as he strode over to me.

“Do not fret, my Queen,” he said, slipping his hands up my neck and into my hair. “When this is over, I plan to do things that would make even the Gods weep.”

I lifted a brow. “You plan to make me cry?”

“Tears of my pleasure, Darkness. Only ever tears of pleasure,” he whispered, his lips brushing across mine.

If I died tonight, I would die the happiest soul in the realms.

I pushed my lips fully onto his, letting the kiss lock those words between us like a promise.

The creaking of the front doors hinges sounded through the quiet house and we pulled away from each other as I let out a small breath.

Landers placed one last kiss on my forehead, then stepped from the room.

I followed behind him to see Andrues standing in the doorway, his features sculpted into hard lines and hand pressed firmly to the pommel of his blade.

“It is time,” Andrues said.

Landers gave a small nod and turned to me. “Andrues is going to fly with you and Nithra over the Essor Waters and Dread Sea to show you the way. If anything happens to him or me, I need you to promise me not to do anything reckless. I need you to promise me you will get our people out.”

I stared back at him for a long moment as the air filled with unease, the fear of what we were about to do finally beginning to sink in.

I nodded as my fingers tightened around the belt of daggers strapped to my chest. Landers’s hand slipped to the small of my back, gently rubbing as he turned back to Andrues and I leaned into his warmth.

“Show her all the landmarks—make sure she knows the way home,” Landers commanded. Andrues placed a hand over his heart as he dipped his head toward us then extended his hand to me.

I glanced down at it, taking a step toward Andrues as I glanced back at Landers. “I’ll see you soon.”

The midnight air tangled through my hair as mist from the Essor Waters kissed my skin. Waves crashing below us clashed with the sound of Nithra’s beating wings as I sucked in a deep breath. This was the scent of my childhood—the sea, the salt, and brine that filled every inch of the academy.

My heart ached knowing that my home had fallen. My realm had fallen. If we won this war, I would restore it. I would rebuild that fortress brick by brick and put Asrai as the leader of Redelvtum, where she belonged. Where she should have been all this time.

Nithra dipped closer to the water, her tail slicing into the waves as Andrues pointed to a small island to the east of us with towering stones.

“That is the island that marks the shift from the Essor Waters to the Dread Sea. We are now in The Silliands. If anything goes wrong tonight, get everyone across this line on Nithra’s back.” Worry drenched the edge in his tone as I dipped my head in response.

I could smell it, the shift in the air, the death and decay that filled The Silliands blend with the smells of the sea. Not even their waters were safe from the carnage that wrought this realm.

“How much further?” I asked against the smog that began to fill the air as I pulled the fabric of my tunic up to cover my nose and mouth.

“Not long. The island sits a few miles south of Ammord’s mainland on The Silliands’s border, right before the strait between the two realms. When we round the final curve of The Silliands, you will see it.”

How many of us do you think you can carry? I asked Nithra, my mind already spinning with worst case scenarios as I tried to formulate a plan to get everyone out if we were overpowered.

It would be too dangerous to tether back to Ithia and risk a necromancer getting caught in the tether with us. To risk them following our scent before we could cover it.

All of you, child. I may be ancient, but I still have my strength, Nithra said as I pressed my palm to her neck.

Your tears, they brought life to the mountains in Ithia. Can they heal? I asked down the fastening.

Only the earth, and those with dragon’s blood. The fastening went silent on the tail of her words as the lump in my throat grew.

The smog began to part and I could see it come into view as Nithra dipped low to the water.

Camp Bane.

Lights flickered from the island, growing larger as we approached, Nithra’s scales reflected the water, melding her with the flow of the tide, making us almost invisible against it. I swallowed as my eyes took in the buildings carved directly from the tall hills rolling over it.

Andrues tapped on my shoulder then pointed to the left of us where moving shadows began to come clearer. “That is them. The sandbar they are on should be large enough for Nithra to land.”

Nithra banked toward the rest of our group as I relayed the message, and with only a few more beats of her wings, we were lowering ourselves onto the water.

Andrues slid from her back, his boots splashing onto the shallow bank as Landers strode over to us.

I climbed down her side, my boots slipping on the seawater covering her scales as Landers caught my elbow to keep me from falling.

My eyes flickered to his as I regained my footing then over the rest of the group. “Where’s Ata and Wren?” I asked, my eyes darting back to his as panic flooded my chest.

“They are scoping out the city, looking for a good place for us to enter. They should be back soon.”

I blew out a large breath, the smallest amount of relief working to calm my nerves. “Have you learned anything about what happened in Ammord?

Landers shook his head. “No, we were waiting for you to get here so they would only need to say it once.”

I leaned into him, watching as Nithra dipped her snout into the water and clamped her jaw around a large fish, swallowing it down as she caught another.

“Will you shift?” I asked, turning my eyes back to Landers.

“If I need to.” His jaw flexed as he slid an arm around my waist. “I have almost no control of who I am when I let myself completely shift. The person I am now is just a whisper in the back of my mind. Everything is a threat when I am fully dragon.” He paused, taking in a deep breath.

“Once I learned where the line was in my emotions that caused me to become the beast, I learned to control when and how much I shift. If I let go of that control, I could kill you.” His voice was strained as he spoke and my fingers tightened around his arms as I turned to face him.

“You would never hurt me. No matter what form you take, I know you would never hurt me.” I pressed my head to his chest as I said the words, letting the rise and fall of his breaths soothe the anxiety twisting through my veins.

His lips slid across the top of my head pressing a kiss to my crown before pulling away.

“They are back,” he whispered as my head snapped toward the city.

Ata and Wren materialized on the edge of the sandbar and I watched as the outline of their bodies became clearer.

“There is a section of the camp directly ahead that is not well-lit or occupied. That will be the safest place for us to land without alerting them that we are here,” Wren said, glancing up at Nithra.

Dukovich clasped his hands behind his back, watching as Ata stepped from behind Wren toward us.

“There is a ball happening tonight at the House of High. All of the leaders from both The Silliands and Ammord will be attending, from what I was able to gather. With that and the disturbance we created in Sethros, we should be able to get in and out before they know what has happened if we are fast and quiet. I saw Cain—or at least, I assume it was him—he looked just like you. He was meeting with a woman in Millstrong Tavern,” Ata said.

Landers tensed at his name but inclined his head. We may have stopped the mating bond, but I knew he was not just going to disappear. It had been too easy and there was a reason he was locked in that mountain.

“And the distraction, it will be enough to keep them from looking for you here?” Landers asked as Ata’s gaze flickered to Dukovich for only a second.

“Yes. They’ll be occupied for quite some time,” Ata answered before striding to my side and slipping her hand in mine. I squeezed her hand as Mara turned toward Andrues.

“These men, are they living? Or are they dead that have been raised?” Mara asked.

“Both. You will know who the living dead are.” Andrues opened his palm, tendrils of glowing green and black magic writhing just above his skin.

“Their aura will glow the color of this magic. If you see them, run. Death magic and dragon fire are the only things that can kill them. And for the necromancers controlling them, if they are not killed by fire, you take their heads. If you do not, they can be brought back as living dead.”

Mara nodded, her fist tightening around her sword as she nervously glanced toward Ata.

“I will glamour us all for as long as I possibly can,” Dukovich said as the familiar shimmer covered the surface of my skin. “Now, shall we begin?”

Landers nodded, his hand slipping into mine as Ata’s fingers tightened around the other and we tethered into Camp Bane.