Page 29 of Realm of Crows (Wings of Ink #5)

“My men are ready to move,” the fairy general adds, composing his face, but it’s clear he feels responsible for the troops slipping through the borders. “We strike hard and fast, a surprise that they won’t see coming, and if we’re lucky, we’ll be back home by nightfall.”

I don’t dare hope he’s right, but I second his statement anyway .

“Perhaps we should think it through again,” Kaira cautions.

All eyes turn on her, and I almost crumble when I see the crease between her brows that lets on she’s planning something.

“Perhaps we should pick up our weapons and get over there before they can take another step toward Aceleau,” Rogue cuts in, shifting as close to Sanja in his seat as he can get, and the familiar look of fear crosses his features as he glances at his mate’s belly.

“We are outnumbered for sure.” Kaira breaks it down for him anyway.

“Doesn’t matter that our soldiers are fairies and Crows and one part-Flame.

They will surely have their weapons and armor coated in magic-nullifying serum, and if they manage to hit us with coated arrows or get that Guardiansdamned drug into our systems any other way, we’re fucked. ”

“So, the usual?” Silas prompts with a sarcastic smirk.

“The usual,” Herinor agrees, turning to Rogue. “Have your healers made any progress with the antidote? Or with replicating the drug?”

“Not enough to use on a battlefield,” the fairy king admits through gritted teeth.

“But we still have the vials we harvested from Erina’s fallen soldiers,” Kaira points out.

Next to me, Myron shifts uncomfortably. “It’s a good thought, but if we’re not careful, those vials could do more harm than help in a battle.

” Of course he’s already calculated all potential uses of the loot.

It wouldn’t be Myron if he hadn’t weighed all options and outcomes before even indicating his opinions.

It’s how he handled the curse, dealing with the burden on his own as best he could, and it’s how he’s handling this .

I’m still deciding whether I love him for this right now or if I find it disturbing that he isn’t sharing more of his thoughts with me.

Despite the deep connection we have, some things he seems to have to fight out on his own before telling a soul.

Or at least before telling me. Because he had no problem including Royad in his plans of visiting the Shaelak temple in the western part of Aceleau when I was stuck in my bird form.

“He’s known Royad all his life, has relied on him his entire existence while he could never fully trust his court. You don’t wipe something like that out overnight.” Why am I surprised Kaira chooses that exact moment to butt in on my thoughts? “And pull your shields up.”

I give her a saccharine smile. “How was your night?” It’s all I have to say in response, and when she takes on the color of a strawberry, I know this will be a longer discussion.

At least, she doesn’t try to dig deeper into my inner quarrel, and no one appears to have noticed our silent exchange.

Except for Herinor, who leans back in his chair.

Playing with the edge of the map while his gaze lingers on Kaira’s features.

“We could coat our own arrows with it,” Silas suggests, then grimaces as he thinks it through. “But that might simply waste our resources if we fire them at magicless humans.”

“There is no guarantee there will be any Flames or Crows in that army,” Myron throws in as if he’s done this thought-loop a million times.

“And if we waste it now, without actually being able to produce something useful from the test-vials and Kaira’s blood, we might lose our chance to neutralize the magical players in this war. ”

He doesn’t need to add that this might include Ephegos.

“Whatever you do”—Herinor leans forward, studying the rebel units, all too far away from the point of conflict to even consider engaging them in this discussion—“keep a vial of the original drug, and if Ephegos ever manages to give me a direct order to kill any of you, put one of those damn arrows through my heart.”

I’m not the only one who cringes at his words.

“Myron, you can’t,” Kaira starts, but Myron already nods, and the silent understanding passing between the two males overrules any claim Kaira may have on Herinor’s life.

“I say, prepare the arrows and give them to our best shot,” Silas argues. “If we do things right, Ephegos will never get a chance to command Herinor to do anything.”

“Your faith in my skills is almost endearing,” Clio purrs, but Silas is eyeing Kaira across the table, the face of the fierce warrior who’s survived so much hardship and pain on full display.

“I’m sorry, princess,” Kaira chimes. “It seems I excel at something after all.”

“You excel at a lot of things,” Herinor murmurs as if in an afterthought, and I almost choke on my own spit at the heated gazes flying between my sister and the oath-bound male.

When he realizes he spoke his thought aloud, he rubs his hand over his scarred and stubbled chin.

“Shooting arrows, siphoning the living shit out of our enemies’ magic, not burning alive when stepping into a fire, just to name a few from the top of my head,” he adds so fast he almost stumbles over his own words .

No one laughs, our focus back on the map and the challenge at hand. Only from the corner of my eye do I witness the slight smile on Kaira’s lips and the color rising on Herinor’s neck.

“All right then,” Tori claps his hands. “Our soldiers are ready to leave at a moment’s notice. They’ll site-hop into position so we can sneak up on the Tavrasian troops, and once we’ve prepared a bundle of coated arrows, we’re good to go.”

We’re not good at all, but what choice do we have? Tavras must have been planning this from the beginning, and if we don’t act now, they will have found a safe way into the fairylands and establish a foothold.

So when Tori and Clio offer their hands to site-hop us out, we don’t object. We clasp our weapons and ready for battle.