Page 121 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

My heart rose in my throat. “How did you bring the tribe around?”

“By showing them that I wasn’t—that Luthers weren’t—something to fear. That we were real, too, and held similar hopes and dreams and fears to them. That we could be one side and that the fighting could stop.”

My heart splattered on the floor. There went my hope of following a set of guidelines to tell the coven I was a demon. I didn’t think I’d have much success selling them on the hopes and dreams and fears of demons.

“This news affects you,” Kyros said to me.

He’d been listening to my heartbeat. “Unlike your games, ours was never won. I simply came into a fourth affinity, gained the position of leader, and the game ended as a result. Some are happy about that, and others are not. The issue will work out one way or another, but I wished you to know as coven allies that you could be dealing with another leader at some point.”

“Our alliance is with you,” the Vissimo prince said. “My father will not deal with just any magus. He sees potential in you. Much potential, I might add. I have never seen him treat someone as an equal before. You must hold great power.”

I dabbled. “I would not wish to place your father in that position. Hopefully the situation doesn’t come to that. For now, we must continue moving forward. We meet today to discuss how best to unite our forces and various strengths, weaknesses, and uniquities to battle demonkind. Shall we set our attention there now?”

Princess Basilia interlocked her hands on the stone table. “While King Julius is unwilling to provide you with details of individual Vissimo power levels, he is willing to provide you with numbers.”

“Which are?” Wild asked.

“Five hundred and seventy of our strongest will be at your disposal,” she answered. “The rest will remain behind to guard our gates and territory.”

Nearly six hundred. I hadn’t expected half that number. “We thank King Julius for his generosity.”

“We do not operate like your coven,” the prince told me. “We cannot. A Vissimo is not wired the same as a magus. My father is ruler, and those in his territory are his subjects. If he tells them to go to battle, they do. If someone in his clan rises against him, he crushes that Vissimo.”

I’d like to apply those rules to Frond, but I didn’t connect with that setup of complete power in general. Then again, Vissimo were wired differently to magus. I felt there was a need for disagreement. What I had to figure out was how to manage disagreement.

Sascha leaned back on his chair. “Our numbers are not so sizeable. We can offer you one hundred and twenty of our people. A lesser amount will remain behind with the sick and vulnerable and to guard the gates. We don’t have enough numbers to guard our gates well anyway, so what we ask is that, if the alarms you set go off, a small number of Vissimo and magus can split away with our Luthers to protect our lands.”

If we got split in two or three, then the demons did too. “I see no harm in that.”

“We’re also happy to provide you with the power levels of those in our pack and tribe,” Andie said. “If you ever misuse that information, then I hope you understand what you would lose.”

I dipped my head. “That is information that only I and Wild will know. You can be assured we are fully aware of the honor you bestow with such knowledge. In return, I will offer you the details of our magus. It’s only fair.”

“The details of your magus,” Kyros murmured. “Perhaps Father would reconsider if that’s on the table.”

Did I want King Julius to know the exact force he’d need to crush our coven? No.

“Training forces of this size will take thought,” Wild said. “I believe we’re best to initially work with groups of the most powerful fighters. They can take back what we figure out together to their respective territories to train the larger group.”

That made sense. “We’ll need to practice on a larger scale periodically.”

The Vissimo prince nodded. “That should take place outside of your territory. We can’t know the extent to which the demon king is able to spy on what we do here.”

True. “You each have a force in mind?” I asked the supernaturals.

Sascha and Andie looked at each other. A minute went by before she answered, “Yes. A group of ten including us.”

“My eight siblings will attend,” Kyros announced. “In addition to Basilia and myself.”

King Julius and Queen Titania had been busy.

“I suggest we rotate the location of trainings to limit the inconvenience to our rule,” Andie said. “It may be good for each of our peoples to see the others at work too. That held value for me in the past.”

I rested back. Decision and discussion just came easy with this group.

“And what of your mating?” Basilia asked me, glancing at Wild.

A quick look told me he was staring a hole in my forehead again.

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