Page 80 of A War of Ruin and Reckoning

Rush said, “We should focus on delivering a message to Maebh and Rory.”

“Rory is easy,” Leaf said. “We’ll use your familial blood tie and a communication spell to contact Willow. With Nova’s help, it will work.”

“Absolutely not,” Clarke snapped, furious. “We refuse to include our daughter in this war. I saw her covered in blood in my vision—my untainted vision, need I remind you. I won’t invite that fate by calling on her when she’s with a megalomaniac. The longer they stay behind Crystal City walls, the better.”

“No one said she had to come with Rory.” But he would have thought they’d jump at the chance of having their daughter here in Elphyne.

“She calls Rory Aunty. Of course, she’d come with her. Plus… the last we spoke, it seemed there were things she couldn’t tell us about. She said he joined her too often in the garden. Do you know how risky it is to contact her out of the blue? Willow calls us, not the other way around.”

“Silver’s smuggling contacts have dried up,” Leaf pointed out. “Even Sid’s been in Elphyne for years now. There’s no way to get a message to Rory other than through Willow. At least not with this urgent time frame.”

As if voicing the name of his vengeance summoned him, Cloud dropped from the night sky like a falling shadow made flesh. He landed roughly in his haste and strode toward them, all fury and indignation at being left out of the conversation.

He took in their faces. “Start again.”

There was no point telling him to piss off. He was on the Council. If Leaf had allowed Clarke to remain in this conversation, he had to do the same with Cloud. With a sigh, he prepared to rehash what they’d learned, but Cloud said, “I’ll go.”

It took Leaf a moment to realize Legion had caught Cloud up mind-to-mind.

“Go where?” Leaf asked, eyes narrowing to slits.

“To Crystal City to deliver the message.”

Leaf’s lips flattened, and he glanced at Legion. “You told him? You realize she’ll die immediately after he delivers the message, right?”

“Which was why we did not ask him,” Legion replied curtly, ignoring Cloud’s increasing vexation. “Wewill do it.”

Cloud’s mocking eyebrow raised with scorn. “And you think Maebh will relinquish her power on your word that her daughter is alive? She needs to see the truth in the flesh.”

Leaf could see his point, but he didn’t trust the manic look in Cloud’s eyes. It was worse than before. Something had happened since this morning. He looked ragged and travel weary.

“Where have you been?” Leaf asked.

“None of your fucking business.” Cloud shifted his gaze to Clarke. “And I suppose this new intel about the battle is from her?”

“What’s that tone supposed to mean?” she returned.

Cloud switched his attention to his fellow Guardians. “You should all know better than to trust humans.”

A low snarl rumbled from the base of Rush’s throat. Leaf really didn’t want to break up in-house fighting tonight. He leveled his glare on Cloud. “She’s been helping more than you.”

“Yeah. I wonder why.”

For fuck’s sake. Maybe ignoring him was a better strategy. Leaf continued speaking with the rest of the group. “If getting a message to Rory risks Willow, we may have to work on getting a message to Maebh first.”

Cloud grew still, almost with defeat. “You’re all going to do whatever you want, regardless of my input.” Paranoia flittered over his expression as he looked past Leaf to where the other Guardians were… to where River and Ash stood watching at the base of the porch steps. “Even you two—you’re a bunch of pussies.”

Before they could deter him with explanations, he took a running leap into the sky. River flew after him, but Ash remained, those quiet eyes watching Leaf and the rest. For all he knew, this was a part of Cloud’s ruse. Make them think he was insane and his friends were no longer loyal. It would be the perfect way to trick secrets out of them.

If Leaf actually had any secrets. He met Ash’s hard gaze, hoping that if the shifter heard the whispers from the Well, he had more sense than the rest of his trio.

He turned back to Legion. “You can’t go to Maebh. You said it yourself, she’ll use the Wild Hunt.”

“Not until the battle. She won’t want to die before then. But she is already on the move with her army, likely hiding and traveling here instead of Cornucopia. We are the only ones who can find her. We always know where our queen is.”

Could they risk it? Leaf asked, “How soon can you get there?”

“By dawn.”

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