Page 207 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

Vaeril is much faster, making it to us in what seems like seconds, his hands gripping my shoulders, bringing me to a halt as his eyes frantically scan me for injuries. Eldrin stumbles to a stop at my side, which catches Vaeril’s attention. Hissing like a cat, my mate turns to his friend, who is leaning forward to catch his breath, which for Eldrin is a sign of weakness he would never usually show.

Tor reaches me and pulls me against his chest. “Clarissa.” His deep voice rumbles through my body, and I release a sound of contentment as his arms wrap around me. Closing my eyes, I allow myself a couple of moments of comfort, but we can’t rest, not yet. A gust of wind signals the arrival of another elf, and when I open my eyes, I see Naril gripping Eldrin’s shoulders as he tries to get a response from his brother. It seems now that he’s stopped, weariness has overtaken him, and I don’t blame him. Even now, I can feel fatigue crawling along my limbs, making each one heavy.

Naril spins to face me, his teeth bared and his golden eyes wild. “What happened?” he demands, his voice forceful. I’ve never seen Naril like this before. His behaviour is more like what I’d expect from his brother, and I instinctively take a step back, only to bump into Tor’s solid chest. Vaeril frowns and places a hand on his friend’s shoulder, clearly worried about Eldrin but equally protective of me and still trying to get his own answers as to what’s happened.

“I will tell you, I promise,” I start, feeling the need to keep moving as I take Tor’s hand and begin walking in the direction ofthe camp, dragging him behind me. “But we need to get back to the tribe—”

“No!” Naril shouts, appearing in front of me, startling me to a stop as he blocks my path. “Not until I know what happened to him.”

Tor moves behind me defensively, and I know if I don’t settle this soon a fight is going to break out. “Please—”

“Clarissa! I need to know how to help him,” Naril begs, his face falling as he gestures behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I see that Vaeril is talking to Eldrin in a low voice, and the scarred elf is leaning against my mate for strength. His wounds are mostly healed, but some of the larger ones are still bleeding and his chest is still a mess of blood. “He’s my brother. Please.”

Meeting his golden eyes, eyes like his brother’s, I take a deep breath and prepare for their horror. “It was my fault, I accessed my wood elf magic.” My words are quiet, as if by saying it softly, it could take away the awfulness of what happened. “We were sparring, and I spread my awareness like he instructed. The plants…well, they reacted.” Naril is frowning now, and I can’t look at him anymore. I don’t want to see his reaction when he realises I am the reason his brother is like this.

“What do you mean?”

Looking down at my clasped hands, I notice I still have dirt around my nails. “They protected me.”

There’s a pause as he absorbs what I’ve just said, and I wait for his hatred. “You’re telling me plants did this to him?” The surprise in Naril’s voice makes me look up. There’s no hint of disgust or anger there, just pure shock. Not knowing how to answer, I simply nod. “They must have done a number on him if healing the wounds is taking this much energy.” Naril is looking at his brother again, shaking his head as a rueful smile appears. “He’s never going to live this down.”

Surprise runs through me at his joke, but I can see the concern for Eldrin in his gaze. Still, I wait for his scorn, for some sort of backlash for causing harm to his brother, but it never comes.

Go, beloved.The Mother’s voice echoes in my mind, and I’m jolted into action. Before it was just nature warning me, along with a gut instinct, but now that I’ve got a direct warning from the goddess herself, I know I need to move.

“We have to go back to the tribes, someone’s coming.” Everyone’s attention shifts to me, and Tor spins me around to face him, his face uncharacteristically serious.

“Are we under attack?”

“Is it the queen?”

Tor and Vaeril speak at the same time, and I shake my head, already moving towards the tribes. “I don’t think so, but I know it’s important we’re there.”

Tor follows after me, but I glance over my shoulder to see what the others are doing. The two elves are moving towards Eldrin and trying to put their arms around him, except he snarls at them, pushing them away. His eyes are searching for something. He seems to settle when he sees me and stands up as straight as his healing wounds will allow him, hiding his injuries with a snarl as Naril reaches out to him again.

“Get off me,” he mutters, but the words lack heat as he follows in a slow jog.

Thankfully, the meeting place isn’t far and it doesn’t take us long to get there. When we do, the watchers must have alerted Revna and the chiefs that something was going on, because as soon as we set foot into the camp, I see my aunt striding towards me. Except right now, it’s not Aunt Revna heading my way, but the high chief, her face set into a grim expression, with Chief Arne and a couple of the others following behind. She must have been in the middle of a meeting when we arrived.

“What’s happened?” she demands, her eyes scanning me and then taking in Eldrin’s bloody state with a wince.

“Someone’s coming.” The confidence in my voice has her looking back at me in a flash. There’s a pause, then she nods her head, glancing around as if searching for an invisible enemy.

“Friend or foe?” she asks, and the fact she believes me almost makes me sag with relief. I had been dreading having to try and convince her to trust the fact that I just knew. After all, if I said the trees told me, she would think I was mad. I’m about to explain that I’m not sure when an odd call cuts through the camp. It sounds almost like a bird’s cry, like that of a hawk, except the effect it has on the tribespeople is instantaneous. Everyone stops what they’re doing and reaches for a weapon as they wait for further instruction.

Revna curses and turns to the chiefs who are with her. “Go to your people, you know what to do.” They nod and break apart until we’re left with only my aunt. Turning back to us, she grits her teeth then blows out a breath. “Stay with me,” is all she says before turning and striding off.

We don’t get far before one of the watchmen runs up to us. “High Chief!” he calls out, stopping us in our tracks. “Strangers! At the edge of the camp!” The man is familiar, and I recognise him as one of the men from the training area yesterday. He’s obviously trying not to look at me, which I don’t understand, since he didn’t have a problem with it yesterday. “They say they’re here peacefully and want an audience with the beloved?” he finishes, his eyes finally flicking to me, and I realise why with a sinking feeling.

Mother above. We were too late. Whoever it is I was being warned about is already here, we just have to pray they don’t mean us any harm.

Everyone looks at me. There are only a certain amount of people who call me ‘beloved,’ but that doesn’t mean the queenhasn’t found out and is using it to get to me. I wouldn’t put it past her.

Revna and the watchman have been discussing something while I’ve been internally panicking, but she dismisses him, and I realise I still have no idea what’s happening. “Wait,” I call out as he turns to leave. “Did they say who they are?”

“No,” he replies with a shrug. “But it was pretty easy to see who they were, I could see their ears from a mile away.” He glances at my companions behind me, and although he tries to hide it, I can almost hear the sneer in his voice. “They are elves.”

Sharing a wide-eyed look with Vaeril, I turn to my aunt. She’s the high chief here. Although I want to demand to be taken to the elves, I have to defer to her judgement. There’s a pause as her eyes run over me, weighing the risks, but she doesn’t know the elves like I do. She’ll be remembering the attack and the lives lost, whereas I’m picturing my friends. I know this could be a trick, but that urgency, thatneedis still pulling at me. Eldrin and Naril move in closer behind me, and I can feel them starting to bristle. I may be confined by the rules of the tribes, but they aren’t. Glancing over my shoulder, I give them a look, asking them with my eyes to wait, and to my surprise, it’s Eldrin who nods.

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