Page 23 of Realm of Crows (Wings of Ink #5)

I almost laugh as the expression on the woman’s face changes from amusement to disbelief as she ponders the merits of our claim.

“Andraya and Pouly send their regards,” I add just in case she’s still wondering if she should trust me.

“They are busy visiting the rebel factions in the north to deliver my orders. Since I haven’t been this far south in a while, I thought I’d deliver my orders to this camp myself.

” Not a lie. I haven’t been this far south since I was taken all the way to Meer.

“You know Andraya and Pouly.” The short-haired woman shakes her head. “You really are her.”

I nod.

“She is,” Clio confirms as if her word held any weight between these people.

The woman closes her eyes for a long moment before staring right at me. “Fuck.”

“You could say so.” I brave a smile.

The men holding my arms take half a step back, unsure whether they should release me, until the short-haired woman gives them a curt nod, and they stand back.

“What are you waiting for?” the woman barks at them. “Get our queen a mug of ale.”

The entire room bows and curtseys, leathers creaking and boots shifting as the soldiers pay their respect, and I incline my head at them, turning on the spot to assess the capable people united under this roof.

While the men bustle off, leaving Clio and me standing at the center of the barn, the woman with the short hair lowers her head.

“Really? You couldn’t have shown up at a more inopportune time.

” Even as she bows to me, she keeps bickering.

“My soldiers are tired from hauling ass along the coast of Tavras. We’ve barely cut past the Horn of Eroth, and all we need is a night of rest and joy to ready ourselves to continue north. ”

Clio snorts a laugh. “Did you desert Erina’s army, or did he kick you out?”

“Clio—” I try to keep her from attacking the woman who still hasn’t introduced herself, but my spirited fairy friend is on a roll. “Really, if you were a soldier in the Askarean army, my mate would have your fingers and toes for your disrespect.”

“Your mate ?” The woman glances up at Clio, more concerned with the word than with the threat.

“It’s a thing between fairies,” I quickly explain.

“Fated partners. Soul-bonded lovers. Call it whatever you will, her mate is the general of the Askarean armies, and he’ll allow his soldiers no nonsense.

” I second Clio’s statement, even when I know Tori would never cut off anyone’s toes or fingers.

That costs the woman a throaty laugh. “Good thing I’m your soldier then.” She leans an inch closer, lowering her voice into a conspiratorial tone. “Erina’s army has gone downhill from the day he made that feathered creature his general.”

“Care to elaborate?” Putting on her best fierce face, Clio folds her arms over her chest. “After you introduce yourself, of course.”

“Of course.” The woman grins. “Iliana Jelnedyn.”

My heart skips a beat.

When I don’t speak, Iliana curtseys clumsily. “At your service, Your Majesty. ”

“Jelnedyn,” I catch up with the conversation. “Like Erina Latroy Jelnedyn?”

The room seems to hold its collective breath, the men returning with a mug of ale for Clio and me halting mid-walk, their free hands wandering to casually linger at the hilts of their swords.

“Like his fourth or fifth or I-don’t-give-a-shit-how-manyeth cousin.

My mother insisted I keep the Jelnedyn name to remain in the king’s graces after my father was beheaded for treason.

” When I open my mouth to ask, she immediately continues, picking my thoughts right from my mind.

“My parents were both rebels,” she explains, that grin replaced by the cold mask of someone who learned to lock up their emotions.

“I was only thirteen and was only beginning to get involved with the rebels, but Erina’s general—the late one, Katrijanov—was ready to kill me before my mother’s eyes before taking her head as well. ”

I try not to show how deep my sympathy runs, how much I can empathize with her. It would embarrass her in front of her soldiers.

“Mother made a deal with Katrijanov to put me in his army instead. She made me promise I’d live for her and Father and do whatever it takes to survive.

So I did. I carried on, the Jelnedyn cousin with no more than a trace of royal blood, a traitor girl between grown men.

They tried to kill me in training, tried to break me, yet here I am.

I lived. I survived. And I am doing what I can to make sure my parents’ memory does too.

” She glances around the room at the men and women nodding their heads at her as if in confirmation.

“You wouldn’t believe the ways men talk when they think you’ve given up and submitted yourself to their cause.

I know more about the Tavrasian army than any other rebel out there, and the hundred-and-eighty soldiers right here are only a fraction of the men unhappy with Erina’s new plans of conquest.”

She waves a hand, and the music starts playing, the two men with the mugs hurrying over to hand them to Clio and me, while the soldiers remain at the side of the dance floor.

They seem uncertain of whether they are dismissed or should remain where they stand, so I smile at them swaying from one foot to the other in time with the music, motioning for them to not let us bother them, even when their attention won’t divert from us now that they know who I am.

“They aren’t all rebels, Your Majesty.” Iliana watches some of the couples return to the dance floor while others are animatedly chatting, gazes darting between Clio, Iliana, and me.

“What are they then?” Clio prompts, sniffing the ale.

“Soldiers who are fed up with Erina’s methods. People who want a change. They don’t care if it’s you who’ll sit on the throne, only that Erina cuts loose the new general and abandons his endeavors of starting a war with the fairies.”

“The war has already begun,” Clio points out. “King Recienne’s armies are ready; we’ve already fought battles against Tavras and Ephegos’s magical troops.”

Iliana shakes her head. “I know that, but they don’t. Not all of them are aware of what’s going on. Most of them are simple soldiers who were never included in the reasons of this war. All they know is that the fairies supposedly are our enemies.”

“And they don’t believe that?” The nervous glances from the sides tell me otherwise, that they are intimidated by Clio’s and my pointed ears, and that they are doing a great job not letting on more.

“They don’t believe it because they are smarter than that.

I grew up between these men and women. They have seen what Erina is willing to do to a girl to shut her up and destroy her will.

They have accepted me as one of their own and protected me from the day Katrijanov’s men beat me into a pulp until the very day I decided to leave.

And when I did, they chose to come with me. ”

“To fight with the rebels?” Again, it’s Clio who wants to know details while I stand and listen, trying to banish the images of violence filling my head as I listen to the soldier’s story.

“To fight for justice .” Iliana’s eyes glimmer with determination.

“And many others are following. They are a week south of us, but they are headed to join us. A unit of Tavrasian soldiers ready to fight their own. We didn’t get the order to march north from the fairy general like others did.

Pouly sent a letter through the network of rebels inside the military the day he deserted his post. I waited an appropriate time for things to calm down internally at the discovery of Pouly’s affiliations, and when they gave up on ratting out more rebels, I reactivated the network, and one by one, we broke away from the missions we were sent on to find and kill rebels outside of Meer .

“We ran into a group of rebels telling us the fairies had partnered with us to defy Tavras on behalf of Queen Wolayna. That she was in Askarea and had turned into one of them.” Her gaze slides to my ears, and there is no judgement, only acceptance.

“So we went with them to meet the rest of the rebels to finally form an army. We’ve made camp here for the night and will march tomorrow at twilight to reach the forest.”

“I’m sorry for what you went through,” I tell her when she falls silent, observing the dancing men and women.

The atmosphere is far from the lighthearted one we found when we first entered the room, but at least, people aren’t watching us anymore.

Only a look here and there to confirm we’re still here, but no one is eavesdropping on our conversation.

It’s a good feeling not to be overrun by formalities and sudden devout gestures of respect, almost like I’ve been part of this group all my life and they merely realized I’m more than what they thought but not a different person. Even when they don’t know me at all.

“I’m sorry for what you went through,” Iliana plays my words back to me.

“I have been following your story, Queen of Crows and Queen of Tavras. Your father met the same fate as mine. Your mother died in a remote village at the edge of this realm. You ran off to live with outlaws and steal your way through life. But you can’t outrun fate, can you?

” The knowing expression on her face makes me want to nod.

I can’t. I don’t know this woman well enough to lay bare my heart and my scars.

But I respect her for how she embraces everything she knows and shares the trauma she endured so bravely.

Clasping my mug between my hands, I raise it before me like in a toast. “You can do something better.” I take a long sip, savoring the spices and bitter aftertaste, so much stronger with my fae senses now, and smile. “You can forge it.”