Page 34 of Of Steel and Scale

“I’ll go,” I said. “I need to see the queen anyway.”

“You need to rest—” Mom said, then stopped when my father touched her arm.

He knew, like I knew, that I was the logical choice. Very few people knew those tunnels as well as me, thanks to my long years of wandering them as a child. I’d often wondered if my inherent need to explore was part of the reason Mom had insisted I learn sword and bow. They never expected me to move into the military from there, but hadn’t fought the decision either. Maybe Mom’s often reticent seeress abilities had foreseen a future where it would come in handy.

“You cannot go alone,” he said.

“But—”

“No,” he said bluntly. “You’re bone-tired, and that’s when mistakes happen. If we were not so desperate for information I would not agree, but we both know you’d disregard orders and do it anyway.”

“On the pretense of tending to the queen, of course,” my mother added. “But your father is right—you cannot and will not go alone.”

I nodded. I knew that tone from my childhood. Even the soldier in me wasn’t about to gainsay it. “Then I’ll take Damon and Kele.”

A party of three wouldn’t scare the queen, and we’d be able to move quicker and easier through the tunnels than a full patrol.

“Ensure you at least eat something first,” Rion said. “I’ll send orders to Kele to meet you at the cavern entrance in an hour.”

I nodded, lightly saluted, and returned to my apartment.

Damon was standing at the air slit, but turned as I entered. “I’ve ordered us both a meal. It should be here shortly.”

“Good.” I slung off my weapons and headed for the bath. A quick hot soak would ease the worst of the aches even if not the tiredness. “The islands have come under attack. First reports are of mass destruction.”

Damon swore. “Boats have been sent?”

I opened the water pipe and let the heated water spill into the bath as I stripped off. “Just cutters at this stage. We have no idea what they might be sailing into, and they’re not as easy to see in the darkness.”

He walked across and sat on the nearby stone bench. Though his demeanor was all business, his eyes glimmered with appreciative heat as I stepped naked into the steaming water. “I take it you’re planning to be on the boats when they are sent?”

I recapped the pipe and reached for the soapweed. “No, I am not.”

“But you want to.”

“Yes, but I need to make good on my promise to heal Gria.”

He studied me for a moment. I rather suspected he was seeing what few others did, and not just physically. “But that’s not your first priority now, is it?”

I sighed. “No. We’ve lost contact with the patrol my father sent into the Black Glass Mountains. I leave in an hour to retrace their steps and hopefully find them. Well, you, me, and Kele will be, because we both know you’ll not be stopped from accompanying me.”

A smile tugged at his lovely lips. “I do like the level of understanding we’ve reached so early in our relationship. It bodes well for our future.”

“You’ve yet to view me in a shamoke-deprived state.”

He laughed softly. “Nor you me, I’m afraid.”

Another thing we had in common, then. “This may well delay our departure for your city.”

He shrugged. “Our departure is delayed anyway. My father has decided to forgo the traditional celebration of consummation?—”

“Which hasn’t happened.”

“Whether the marriage has been consummated or not plays no part in festivities. You should know that by now.” A decidedly wicked smile briefly teased his lips. “Of course, an hour does still lend us time.”

“If our marriage is consummated in a mere hour, I will be mightily miffed.”

He threw back his head and laughed. Desire skittered across my skin, warmer than the water itself.

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