Page 52

Chapter Fifty-two

Calix

Peacefully waking up to Asteria in my arms, back in my bed, was the best start to a morning I could ask for. The pounding on my door, however, I could have done without.

“Argh,” I groaned loudly, snapping at whoever was at the door. “What?”

“I drew the short straw and have been nominated to tell you that you two have slept until lunchtime after being gone for a Tartarus damned week,” Baach called out. “So it’s time to get your asses out of bed!”

I groaned again, turning to bury my face in Asteria’s hair. I cracked an eye open, checking the hair I’d glimpsed turning into the night sky itself while we shared blood, in the moment the magic surged around us. To my surprise, her hair definitely was a bit darker than when we’d left, but it wasn’t quite as dark as the night sky, nor was it shimmering with starlight.

I shook my head lightly at my own fanciful imaginings. Asteria stretched her limbs, groaning softly as she roused. I smiled slightly, amused as always by the angry little kitten she resembled as she woke up.

A loud pounding on the door had me rolling my eyes. “I get it! Give us a few to wake up and get dressed, will you?”

“Fine,” Baach sighed, sounding incredibly put upon. “But only because I didn’t want to do this in the first place!”

Asteria cracked her own eyes open just to roll them, making me snicker. I pressed my forehead against hers, whispering, “Good morning, my réalta.”

“Mmm. Good morning, my dorchadas,” she cooed sleepily, pressing her lips to mine softly. We indulged in the intimacy for a moment before she pulled back.

“Was that Baach I heard?” she asked, her leg curving around mine. I squeezed her silky thigh and ran my hand up and down her skin, wishing we had enough time to laze around in bed for a while.

One day, we’d have that kind of time. That kind of peace.

“Unfortunately.” I snorted softly. “He was apparently nominated to let us know that it’s been a week since they’ve seen us, and they’ve grown impatient.”

“A week?!” she asked, eyes going wide as she half sat up in alarm.

“Apparently.” I nodded grimly. “I figured there might be some distortion between realms. I’m just glad it was only a week.”

“Still.” She stressed, gripping the edge of the blanket and twisting it in her hands. “That’s an entire week Cyrus had?—”

“Asteria.” I interrupted before she could work herself into a panic. I sat up, grabbing her shoulders and making her look at me. “Part of being a ruler is accepting that you can’t be everywhere at once. Learning to trust and depend on your people to do what needs doing in your absence is important. We had plenty of people here who were working hard while we were gone. We have a war council already waiting. We’ll learn what’s happened and plan our next steps. Okay?”

Asteria sighed, deflating. She shook her head before it dipped down, and I reached out a finger to put under her chin and raise it back up.

“I’m not very good at that. Trusting other people to do things for me,” she admitted, heavily. “I’m going to be a shitty ruler.” I shook my own head in protest now.

“Absolutely not. I’m not surprised you have trouble trusting others after the life you’ve led,” I told her softly, making sure she felt my understanding. “It will come with time, I promise. You’re not going to be a bad ruler.”

“I have no idea what I’m doing, Calix,” she argued, her brows creasing, and I could feel the fear and shame roiling around inside her. “They made me their queen, but I have no idea how to rule a kingdom or lead an army. You do so much that I don’t even know about! All those cities and villages and people. I don’t?—”

She cut herself off, her head falling into my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her back, sympathy pouring through me. She’d been pulled out of slavery and handed responsibility that no one had ever taught her to deal with. And while I could help her with this war, she knew she’d have to learn all of this for herself, too. I’d spent years training under my father before I ended up on the throne; she didn’t have that advantage.

“I will be here every step of the way, okay?” I promised, running my hands up and down her back. “I’ll help you learn every bit of the boring day-to-day of ruling and all the complexities of wartime. You’re going to be just fine. Better than even. Anyone can be taught the logistics of ruling, but not everyone has the spirit it takes to lead. You do.”

Asteria looked up, a desperate hope shining in her eyes like she wished she could believe me more than anything else.

“You really think so?” she asked quietly, her fingers tangling in my long hair.

“I know so.” I yanked on a piece of her hair lightly before teasing, “After all, you’re my mate, my equal. It only makes sense when I’m such a natural, right?”

She giggled lightly, lifting my own spirits at the sight. I loved nothing more than seeing that little wrinkle appear on her nose when she laughed. It, more than anything else, showed her joy was true and real, after a life with so little to be joyous about.

“Now, as much as I wish I could just keep you naked in bed all day, I have a feeling those bastards downstairs won’t leave us alone until we make an appearance.” I rolled my eyes, making her snicker.

It was enough of a push to get us up and dressed. Once I’d gotten my leather pants on, I put on a black button-up, leaving the top buttons undone, and threw my jacket over it. Asteria had donned a gorgeous crystal-encrusted dress that showcased her breasts and shoulders marvelously where it sat off her shoulders. The purple crystals around them faded into a sky-blue and then into silver on the corset, before the purple crystals picked back up at the top of her skirt, fading back into blue and then silver.

The sleeves were transparent and billowed out a bit before gathering at her wrist. The top of each sleeve looked almost fused to her skin with the purple crystals over the transparent fabric. She looked like the queen I knew she was. Donning not only her purple and silver, but the blue of the daytime sky.

She sat down at the vanity, and I grabbed the hairbrush from Asteria’s hand before she could run it through her hair. She looked up at the mirror in surprise, watching my reflection as I began to carefully work the brush through her hair.

I hadn’t done anything like this in years. None of my past lovers had inspired this kind of intimacy, but I had two young girls to raise after my parents’ deaths. And both frequently needed help with their hair.

“What?” I asked, lightly. “It pleases me to be able to do things like this for you. I know you usually have Delia and Priscilla, but when I was little, I remember my father doing this for my mother most nights before they went to bed.”

I felt a pulse of something soft through the bond, and I could tell Asteria knew that despite trying to brush it off, being able to do simple things of this nature for my mate meant more to me than I could admit verbally.

Seeing my parents again brought back so many memories. I’d nearly forgotten what they’d once been like together after so many years. I was only in my one hundred and twenties when they died, and three hundred years later, things had faded a bit. Especially with the time between my mother and father’s deaths being so fraught.

But now, all those years we spent in happier times seemed much brighter in my memory. I wanted more than anything for my life with Asteria to be just as blissful, and to stretch on into eternity.

She could clearly tell where my thoughts had gone, her hand finding mine and squeezing tightly. That mysterious and wonderful bond between us now provided a link so tight that we could follow the tenor of one another’s thoughts and be there for the other when needed in a way I could never have imagined before.

With such a bond fueling us, I had no doubt that should we get through this war, Asteria and I would build a life even grander than I could dream.

* * *

We walked into the war room to find the expectant gazes of the rag-tag family I’d built over the centuries, compounded by a bunch of interlopers. I was somewhat surprised that my friends hadn’t tried to get us alone first to question us, but I was pleased nonetheless. I knew Asteria wanted to get on with planning as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, Titan was already to the left of my usual spot, and Asteria would naturally stand to my right. Ndrita was next to Titan, while Liviana was across from her, standing next to Asteria’s spot.

Callisto, who’d arrived back from the border, was standing next to Priscilla, who was only the first of many surprises around the table. I had to wonder if she only showed up for an update from Asteria. Especially as Delia and Ilta had apparently joined as well, and they never involved themselves in such meetings unless absolutely necessary.

Interspersed around the table were Eryx, Baach, Harpina, and Lilith, who always had a fifty-fifty shot of being present. They were joined by Lord’s Ciaran, Kyler, Polaris, Rhidian, and Sterling, along with Lady’s Aisling, Alora, Jasira, and Zillah. Not to mention my cousin Siria and her husband, Aibek.

Mixed in with all of the usual suspects were Prince’s Arien, Altan, and Zakat, along with a few of their more highly ranked people who’d joined them, including Lord’s Beltane, Ergun, and Dritan, the former of which must have arrived in our absence.

But what actually stopped both Asteria and I dead in our tracks was the redheaded man standing stiff and nervous to the side of Eryx, a dark-haired human woman hanging on his arm with a strange mixture of fear and relief in her eyes.

“Vikal? Carrina?” Asteria asked, sounding bewildered. Her eyes creased, her suspicion and concern rushing through me in turns.

“Asteria.” The woman, Carrina, sighed with relief. It was easy to see how nervous she was, eyes skittering around the unfamiliar Fae surrounding her and hanging onto the familiar form of Vikal with a white-knuckled grip. Seeing another familiar face clearly helped, as her fingers loosened some on Vikal’s arm.

I couldn’t blame her. Nox only knew what she’d been through in Dusk. The daily fear of being taken away by Cyrus to be drained of blood would be enough to drive most to desperation.

“I assume Nithe brought you here?” I asked, meeting the bright blue eyes of Cyrus’s brother. The two couldn’t possibly look more different. The boyish features of the redhead alone were a contrast to his elder brother’s sharp ones.

“You assume correctly.” I turned my head as Nithe breezed into the room. “Sorry I’m late. I can’t stay long. I need to get back to Dusk, things are finally starting to move in the direction we hoped.”

I nodded, taking in the information with satisfaction. I turned to Eryx, nodding at Vikal with a raised brow, “You’ve already approved them?”

“I did.” Eryx nodded sharply. “Their story checks out.”

“What, did you think I was fleeing from my home to spy on you for Cyrus or something?” Vikal demanded, shoulders tight and back, his face incredulous.

“The thought did cross my mind.” I shrugged, forcibly casual, as I took my place at the head of the table. Vikal bristled a bit, and his anger at the idea helped to soothe any lingering ideas of sabotage that may have lingered.

Asteria’s amusement at my poking for a reaction echoed through me, though she did lay a brief hand on Carrina’s shoulder as she passed, giving her a quick smile as she did.

“Cyrus is no brother of mine,” Vikal spat, furious at the very idea that he may have been considered a mole. “Let’s make that real fucking clear, right now. That asshole threatened to send Carrina to those—those?—”

He struggled to finish, and he certainly earned points for that. His disgust and horror were too genuine to be faked. Carrina pressed her forehead into his shoulder, and his hand came up to the back of her head, holding her to him like someone might try to rip her away.

The sympathy and understanding I felt shook me. I didn’t want to be sympathetic or understanding to someone who sat back and did nothing for so many years.

But… I sighed internally. He was young. Not even one hundred yet. It took me many more years before I finally woke up to the horrors of slavery myself.

“And are you prepared to help stop your brother now?” Asteria asked, her hands on her hips as she stared him down with a sharply raised eyebrow.

My mate had spent a not insignificant amount of time spying within Dusk’s court, and that included Vikal. She was the one who reported that he kept himself out of politics and the squabbling for the throne. But this was no longer a matter of mere politics.

“Of course I am,” Vikal responded, grinding his jaw in aggravation. “He’s gone way too far, and now everything is threatened because of him. I never liked that humans were enslaved to begin with. I always got along better with humans than I did any Fae.”

That tracked with what Asteria had observed of him. I knew Nithe wouldn’t have brought him if he wasn’t sure, and his instincts were rarely wrong. Still, this was too important, and we’d had to skip so many of the usual steps for vetting newcomers for expediency’s sake.

“Good.” I nodded, looking to Asteria. She smiled slightly back at me. “Then I suppose we should get updates out of the way first.”

“Yes, please do!” Harpina practically erupted, clearly impatient. “What the Tartarus happened in the Otherworld?”

The others all looked at us with wide, expectant eyes. I couldn’t blame them. Had I not gone myself, I would have similarly been dying to know what it was like.

“We had to face several trials along the way, as well as several meetings,” I began, choosing my words carefully with so many present. “We wound through both Tartarus and Elysium, and finally accessed the city of the gods.”

“What kind of trials?” Eryx asked, his eyebrows creased enough that I could practically see the different scenarios running through his mind.

“What kind of meetings?” Delia spoke at the same time, garnering Eryx’s full attention immediately.

Asteria tried to stifle her giggle at the two, especially as Delia’s face flushed, her eyes looking down briefly in embarrassment. Eryx’s longing stare was only broken by his expectant look back at us.

We explained the trials briefly, answering all the expected questions, while trying to keep the more personal parts private. Explaining the meetings was definitely a more complicated matter.

“You saw mother and father?” Ndrita’s voice could barely be heard across the table, it was so subdued. Her eyes shone with a strange mixture of longing and forced indifference.

“We did,” I told her quietly, and I looked to Liviana, who didn’t seem very surprised. I wasn’t sure if she’d seen it in a vision or just wasn’t as impacted by the news. “I’ll meet with you two later to tell you more. They passed along messages for you both before we left.”

Ndrita looked ready to pull me out of the room and demand answers now, but she schooled herself quickly. We’d lost our parents when Ndrita was so young, but she’d been old enough that she still felt the loss deeply. Liviana, on the other hand, didn’t have any real memories of our parents. But Ndrita had never truly gotten over their loss. I’d done my best to be both brother and parent to her, but it had been overwhelming for both of us.

I didn’t want to get into all our family’s interpersonal drama in front of everyone here, however. Ndrita would never forgive me if I made her cry in front of all the lords of Night, and practically half the realm besides, I thought, looking around the packed room.

“We spoke with all of the gods,” Asteria said, getting to the point quickly. “They warned us that Cyrus is being influenced by another god who they imprisoned years ago. The god of blood created the Vampyres and had them running wild, and now he wants to break out and turn this realm back into his bloody paradise. The more Cyrus tips the balance toward chaos, the closer we get to this mad god getting free of his prison.”

A beat of pure silence met her words before everyone exploded at once in pandemonium. I raised a hand to try to bring some order back to the group. Having them all yell out their questions and objections to the facts would get us nowhere.

“Asteria speaks true. The gods are relying on us to stop Cyrus, and thus prevent Cruach from breaking free,” I told them firmly, my hands on the table as I leaned forward, staring everyone down. More like glaring, admittedly. “It puts more urgency on our mission. Should we fail, it won’t just be Cyrus who takes over this realm. Cruach will rise and decimate this world.”

The looks of fear around the table were met equally by looks of resolution, thankfully. They were warriors, and they wouldn’t falter at the task before us. Those of us in Night who bore the warrior’s mark felt that even more deeply than most. We all swore an oath to Nox, Erebus, and Anann, the god of war, that we would protect this kingdom and its people to our last breath.

“We already knew we needed to stop Cyrus,” Asteria began, looking every inch the queen she was as she surveyed our people. “Now we know he is being influenced by Cruach as well. Rationality already left him a while back, but now we need to prepare ourselves for a harder fight. Cruach is no doubt amping up his bloodlust, and that’s in tandem with chaos infecting him. The more blood magic he uses, the worse it gets. Every single use of it pushes this realm closer to the brink of chaos.”

“We know he had plans for iron weapons,” I said, looking to Nithe and Vikal. “What can you two tell us about the current status of those?”

Nithe stepped forward a bit, nodding at Asteria and me. “Cyrus has been keeping his operations very hush-hush when it comes to that. While he has no problem flaunting his camps full of human prisoners, he ensures that what goes on in them beyond standard torture and death is kept secret. Only a couple of men know the full picture, alongside the workers who are smelting the iron, but they are kept in isolation to keep the secret.”

I spotted Vikal shaking his head in dismay, holding Carrina close to him. Her shudder confirmed that Cyrus had indeed threatened to take her to one of those camps. The fact that he would hurt his own family in such a way was something I would never understand.

“I was able to slither my way in and to see what was truly going on,” Nithe continued, a faint pride in his eyes for a job well done, but it was all but drowned out by the horror of everything he’d witnessed. “The blood taken from the humans is being distributed in two ways. It either goes to Cyrus for brewing blood magic, or they use it for crafting iron. It seemed to be mostly smaller pieces they were crafting. I heard rumors of larger plans, but nothing that could be substantiated.”

“So if we hit him now, we may be able to take him out before he creates weapons big enough to—” Lord Ergun began, but Titan shook his head and cut him off before he could finish.

“Iron is iron.” His voice was firm, and he looked around the room like he was trying to impart a lesson on all of us. I couldn’t help feeling like a child again under that stare. “A scrap or a sword will burn you just the same. It leaves nasty injuries behind, and should you get stabbed with it? It will slowly drain your magic. You won’t be able to heal with any trace of the iron in you. The wound will just keep burning in agony until it’s gone—and that won’t be quick, either. If you get stabbed, get the iron out as quickly as possible. Your magic will try to fight it, but it will only delay the agony if you don’t get it removed. Do not underestimate it just because it looks innocuous.”

“Then how do we fight against it?” Arien asked, looking to Titan. He could learn a lot from Titan, and I was glad to see he wasn’t too proud to do so. Asteria and I would need both Generals aligned for this. As well as for everything after. I had no idea how we’d handle ruling two different kingdoms, with two different power structures. But that was an issue we would have to figure out once the war was won.

“You don’t get hit,” Titan replied dryly. I could feel Asteria’s amusement and watched as she bit her lip in an attempt to smother her smile. “Treat it like the poison it is, and avoid taking a dose. I’m sure Cyrus will put iron in the hand of every man out there.”

“Unless, of course, we can take them by surprise.” Lord Beltane spoke up. Asteria’s cousin looked over at her now, and despite not having even properly met yet, I could see the awe in his eyes. The love . Knowing he’d been there at her birth, I couldn’t imagine how it must feel now, finally seeing her after all this time.

“If we can arrive before he expects us, we may be able to minimize the risk,” he continued, dark shoulder-length hair falling forward as he leaned over the map spread out on the table. “He wouldn’t dare give his men iron outside of battle.”

“He’s right,” Asteria breathed out in realization, looking over to me and then Titan before turning back to me. “Cyrus is too paranoid to trust them.” She bit her lip again, but this time in thought. Her head slowly tilted to the side. “He would want to ensure that they couldn’t attack him on behalf of his siblings. He sees nothing but potential traitors everywhere. He would plan for the smallest number of people to have iron in hand, even in battle.”

“In that case, the question of whether he’s had time to build those larger weapons becomes a dire one.” I mused aloud. Asteria nodded in confirmation. “We’ll go in first for a sweep over Evenfall in our beast forms. We can check for anything obvious and signal whether we see them or not.”

“Craft two battle plans?” Arien asked, looking from his twin to Titan for confirmation. His sky-blue eyes were clouded with worry, gold beams of sunlight shining through them. “One for if he does and one if he doesn’t?”

Titan nodded slowly, before cracking his muscular neck side to side. “Exactly. Our goal here is to take out Cyrus. If we bring him down, we can stop the rest of them easily enough. It’s the blood magic he’s using, in addition to the iron, that will prove to be the biggest issue. Blood magic was forbidden for a reason, and his power will be heightened.”

“How heightened?” Rhidian asked, and the silence that followed said more than enough.