Page 143 of The Queen’s Shadow

That, coupled with Pride and Greed’s army was starting to feel like we might actually be able to level the playing field.

“Why are you just mentioning this massive library now?” Rycon narrowed his eyes at Dossidian, who sighed.

“I typically try to avoid going home if I can help it. And we needed to go to Italy regardless, to try to see if we could recruit them to support Raven’s claim to the throne. I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all if we had been able to leverage the archives.”

“Why do you avoid going home?” Meredith asked softly. Dossidian looked at her and pursed his lips.

“Well, for one, my father’s a bit of a… I really don’t know the word for it. You would have to meet him to understand.”

“A prick?” Rycon guessed, and Dossidian huffed a laugh.

“That’s one way to put it. He’s not a malicious daemon, but he does like to stir the pot if you will.”

I remembered when I first came here, Dossidian mentioned that he, Amon, and Kasha had consulted The Eye on the whereabouts of his sabers. He had lost them because his father had hidden them somewhere in the Viridian Dessert. Amon had needed to pay Dossidian’s weight in emeralds to get his blades back in the end. The corner of my lip twitched up, and I wondered if I might actually like Prince Sirroco.

“Well, it’s worth a shot. We can free him while we’re there.” I said, and Dossidian smiled at me. “That would be wonderful, my Queen.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “You don’t have to call me that, at least not in private.” I had allowed Cerenah to call me her Queen in The Court of Greed, as it hadn’t seemed like a good idea to shy away from the title in front of Zayne. But when it was just my friends, eating together like this, the title made me skin crawl.

“Well, what about the Prince of Pricks? How are we going to get him back?” Rycon asked, leaning back in his seat, his plate now empty. All of us looked at him in surprise. I hadn’t expected him to ask about Amon. He glanced around at all of our shocked faces, confused.

“What?” He asked.

“Wi just nuh expect yuh tuh care about him.” Conrad answered honestly, and Rycon shrugged.

“I don’t care about him. I’m bonded to Raven in case you all forgot, and the amount of pain I’m being forced to endure through the bond because they’re separated is absolute shit. Plus, next to her, he’s the most powerful motherfucker we got. It’s just good sense to prioritize his rescue.”

Everyone collectively rolled their eyes.

“Well, that was almost noble.” Jeremy said as he took a sip of wine. Though I couldn’t help but notice he was biting back a smile.

“Yeah, they call me Prince Charming.” Rycon smirked, taking a big sip of wine before continuing. “I think it’s a good idea to go to Wrath to meet Biceps’ father and do some research.” He continued, and Dossidian looked shocked, then amused.

“Biceps? Are you referring to me?” He asked, clearly trying not to laugh at the stupid nickname.

“Yeah, I just thought of it.” Rycon said wryly, and Dossidian gave him a considering look before letting loose a bellowing laugh.

“I like it.” He said, his eyes shining with mirth and Rycon grinned at him before bulldozing on.

“I thought you would. Anyway, I was thinking, since the Obeah Man’s plan turned out to be a huge flaming bust…” He glanced at Conrad. “No offense.”

I expected Conrad to get mad, but he just kind of shrugged.

“Everyting irie, man, yuh nuh wrong.” He responded. He looked disappointed, but not with Rycon. I had a feeling he was rightfully angry at his own people for failing him.

“I was thinking I should see if we could recruit some shifters. The panthers are in for sure. I’m their Rhoan so they have to be on board whether they like it or not. But there are more. I could pop over to Olkuyrbe and call a council meeting while you all are in Wrath to see who we could get on our side. If you’re not able to find a way to neutralize The Flute, at least we’ll have more bodies that can resist its magick and break free of its spell.”

I mulled this over. I didn’t like the idea of being separated from Rycon any more than I had wanted to be separated from Conrad. Though I supposed it would be worth it, if it meant we could get the shifters on our side. Rycon was just one shifter, and his body count on this mission was already insanely high. He could take as much damage as he could dish out. A whole army of shifters would be a massive asset in a war. I also wasn’t naive enough to think Ash Nevra wouldn’t be trying to recruit them to her side either, the same way she had with the magick folk.

“Okay. Fine. You go to Olkuyrbe. We will go to Wrath.” I said. Rycon nodded, his eyes flashing.

“I’ll be taking Kasha with me.” He warned. I could feel his resolve through the bond. This was not something that I would be able to argue with him about. Though, if I was being honest, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to.

“I think that’s a good idea.” I said, and he seemed to visibly relax, as if he had been prepared to fight me on it. “If Ash Nevra sends her armies to Wrath after we free Prince Sirocco, things are going to get violent. It will be no place for someone who’s trying to recover from the kind of trauma she has been subjected to.”

Rycon nodded, and I felt a rush of gratitude flow through our bond.

“If dey show up again and try tuh kidnap yuh,” Conrad said suddenly with a devilish look in his eye. “Mi tink wi should try tuh take one of dem prisoner, instead of killing dem off. Bet yuh wi can mek dem talk and tell us where Prince Amon is being held.”