Page 18

Eighteen

Myron

Godsdamned Erina.

I shift into my bird form halfway down the stairs to Recienne’s throne room where Herinor is leading me. The tug in my chest has gotten stronger over the past days, and it’s not the mating bond. That promise I made to Ayna the last night in her human form, what I’d withheld from her to give plentiful after we survived the battle with the Flames—she has no idea that her part of that promise was the easy one.

The world would have continued with or without us in it, but mine…

At least, that magic acknowledges she’s a bird. It hasn’t counted any of these days as the actual tomorrow . That will be once she’s shifted back into her human form, but the magic is eating away at me anyway, making it difficult to breathe at times. Compassion for Herinor’s situation has grown exponentially with that constant thrum of ancient power lingering in my blood, waiting for me to fail.

“Thanks for joining us,” Recienne says by way of greeting as we enter the pompous room, so far from the enemy who once spilled Crow blood on a battlefield. He’s in leather armor, two blades sheathed at his hips and a bow slung over his shoulder. Beside him, Clio is talking to Queen Sanja, who has opted for a pair of loose pants and a thick tunic to see her mate off for battle. Part of me wonders if she would happily walk onto the killing field herself, even in her condition, if it means Recienne will return alive and with all his limbs attached.

Herinor stops a few feet from the others, looking over Kaira’s light leather armor where she is counting her own arrows before storing them in the quiver at her back. For a heartbeat, I believe he’ll tell her not to go; then his features settle into cold indifference, the face of the emotionless soldier I first appointed as Ayna’s guard.

In a flash of darkness, I shift into my fae form, walking up to Recienne, harboring both anger and fear in my chest. I don’t look back to where I know Ayna has followed us. Even if I forbade her to come, she’d make her own choice to join us on the battlefield, but the anger softens a bit, and the fear flares at the mere thought of her near Erina’s soldiers.

Whether or not she understood my not-so-subtle hint about what’s been bothering me, I don’t want to consider. I don’t want to give her the wrong impression, but there’s something about the power of bargains, of promises, that reaches deep into the core of us Crows, and considering Ayna is a Crow—a mortal one, according to Shaelak, but still a Crow—the magic of my promise might affect her as well. A danger. And an opportunity if we play it right. I wish I had the courage to explain to her in depth?—

“Astorian is readying the legion he’s taking north. Tata is leading a second one slightly northwest to fall into their flank,” Recienne interrupts my thoughts with the reality of open war.

“I take it you’re joining from the beginning this time?” I run my gaze up and down his battle-black armor, earning a curt nod and a grin that promises blood and cleaved torsos. But beneath that bravado, a different emotion dominates his features, every move he makes, every last twitch of his lips, and his eyes give away who it is he’s going to battle for.

“I’ll be fine,” Sanja reassures him, reading him easily while it took me a moment to figure out.

For her, he’ll slay every last soldier Erina sends to Askarea. For her, he’ll kill and kill again. The truth resonates within me as I search the room for Ayna and find her perched on the edge of the dais holding Recienne’s throne. For her, I ’ ll kill. For her, I’ll wreck myself.

Ayna blinks at me as if the same profound sensation slams through her, but the moment is interrupted by Recienne’s marching order.

“They are advancing along the river, using the water in the east as a protection from an attack. Tata’s legion will be the one to smash them while Tori will use the river as a shield for his own units. I will take command of a small, powerful group site-hopping in from behind Erina’s forces.” He gives me a pointed look. “You and your Crows will join me.”

Not a question. Not a command either, but I’m grateful he’s considered a spot for us in his personal unit. With our Crow powers, we can sneak across the battlefield and scout, carrying messages between units if necessary, and with our small numbers, we’re a perfect four-Crow killing team. “Where is Royad?”

“Coordinating with Tori,” Herinor supplies, adjusting the weapons at his hips and the various knives strapped to his body. “Silas will be here shortly.”

“Silas is here,” the latter announces as he prowls in the door, hatchet in hand as if he’s expecting to find the enemy in the throne room.

I quickly relay Recienne’s plan to him, surprised by how little it bothers me that the Fairy King is in charge of the situation. This isn’t the moment to match my power with his and find out who’ll win. It’s the time to unite those powers and direct them at our enemies.

Sheathing his hatchet, Silas comes to my side, his gaze on the dais where Ayna is pacing. “Which unit will she be fighting in?”

Ayna halts, her gaze meeting Silas’s, and I could swear gratitude and respect pass between the two of them, even when I don’t dare turn my head to study the expression on Silas’s face.

“Ours,” Recienne answers like he can taste my reluctance to leave her out of my sight. When I glance at the Fairy King, his eyes are on his mate then on his sister. “You know what to do?”

Clio nods. “I won’t let a single person get within a twenty-foot radius of her,” she confirms with exasperation, and I know who’ll be staying behind this time. “Just make sure you all return to this palace alive and in one piece.” Forcing a smile, she wraps her arm around Sanja’s shoulders. “Your mate is in good hands with me.”

Sanja flashes her teeth at the Fairy King in a grin that’s equally sweet as it is terrifying. “Make them wish they’d never set foot in our realm.”

An efficient nod is all the confirmation Recienne gives her before he closes the distance between them, kissing the top of her head then her mouth, then bends lower to kiss her round belly. Neither of them speaks their goodbyes as Clio and Sanja walk out the hidden backdoor behind the throne and Recienne orders the rest of us to get ready and meet him back here in half an hour.

I’m the only one who needs to change into armor and equip myself with all the weapons I own, but Herinor and Silas keep me company when I return to my room to fetch the shoulder pieces of my armor, the metal reinforced vambraces, and strap more blades to my belt. Ayna is right there with us, observing while Kaira provides her mind link for her.

“What if they hit us with arrows coated in the drug?” she asks on cue as I analyze what lies ahead of us.

“Then we’ll fight with steel.” Silas’s grin is nothing short of wicked, but the tightness in his jaw gives away that he is just as concerned as the rest of us about what will happen when we’re exposed to Erina’s not-so-secret weapon.

Herinor crosses his arms, leaning against the wall in the common room while I stand on the threshold of my room, readying for battle.

“Tori’s leading his legion north. They’ll be there by morning if they march now. Of course, they can’t site-hop whole legions; not all soldiers are gifted with magic that strong. But their fairy speed and strength will still guarantee a swift travel. Tata left an hour ago,” Herinor says. “She’ll reach the flank of the army around the same time Tori will attack from the southeast.”

“Something feels off about this.” Ayna isn’t wrong. “They have been hiding at the foot of the mountains for so long. What made them decide to make a move today?”

“You mean apart from killing off their messenger and dumping him for Erina’s soldiers to find?” Kaira asks in that smooth and unbothered tone of hers she sometimes adopts when Herinor is staring at her intently—and which I now recognize as nervousness. “Something doesn’t add up.”

“They were bound to attack sooner or later. Recienne isn’t yielding his realm to Erina. With or without Gus, the King of Tavras must have gotten the message of our silence and drawn his conclusions.” Silas paces the length of the room while Ayna flutters to settle on the backrest of the closest armchair.

“But the army in the north? Either they had marching orders long before they ever infiltrated Askarea, or they have spies and scouts and messengers moving undetected through these lands.” If Ayna puts it like this, it does feel a bit off. Tori and his men have captured spies, but chances are those weren’t all the troops Erina deployed to unearth our secrets.

“What do you suppose we should do? Wait until they are at the city gates?” I don’t mean to snap at her, but we truly have no choice. “It’s either stand with Recienne the way we asked him to stand with us, or lose the alliance. We can’t win against Erina and Ephegos on our own.”

The way she lowers her head a fraction tells me she knows it, too.

Herinor is the last of us I expect to play diplomat when he says, “At least, we have the element of surprise on our side. We are prepared as best we can to fight without our powers, and Recienne’s soldiers have learned the dangers of the magic-nullifying serum as well. Worst case, we get away with a few new scars.”

“Worst case?” Kaira gives him an incredulous look that makes even me want to squirm. Herinor weathers it with dignity.

“Worst case, we’re all dead, and Erina takes up Recienne’s crown then moves on to conquer Cezux before he makes himself emperor of Eherea.” The glint of malice in his light green eyes is nothing I want directed at me. “Worst case, Ephegos lets Erina do the dirty work then sweeps in to replace the monarch and continues the conquering spree to the Southern Continent or to Neredyn. Who knows what’s going on in that sick mind of his.” A thin crimson film is coating his lips at the final words, but he licks it away and swallows it down, resolve overtaking his expression. Kaira’s hand twitches toward him, but he turns on his heels and stalks to Ayna’s side, glancing down at the crow who’s eyeing him with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

“On the battlefield, stay up in the air at all times. Stay out of sight except for when you find an isolated target. Go for the eyes the way you did with Jeseida. And whatever you do, stay away from arrows.”

It’s the most concerned I’ve ever seen him with Ayna, but he brushes it off, amending, “Of course, these are mere suggestions from one Crow to another. I would never dare give you orders, my queen. And Shaelak damn me if I’d dare break the bargain with Ephegos.”

“Of course,” Ayna says and flutters across the room to perch on Kaira’s shoulder. Why it bothers me that she’s accepting his advice so easily, playing along with his weaseling around his bargain like they’re best friends, eludes me, but the feeling that something is wrong remains like a thorn in my side hours later, after we ate a meal to replenish our energy reserves and Recienne has site-hopped us all to the back of Tori’s legion where we march until the sun declines in the west and the river kisses our path. It’s only then that we break away from the main unit again, readying to kill.