Page 61 of Of Steel and Scale

I nodded again. “I have a promise to fulfil.”

“Excellent.” Her gaze slipped past me. “You can come out of the shadows now, my lord. The men have gone, and we women are never likely to mock such a deliciously rigid rod.”

“It’s hardly rigid,” he said mildly. “It has been a good ten minutes since it received so much as a longing gaze.”

“If that’s hardly rigid, our girl is going to be one happy woman.”

He laughed. “Only if she deigns to stop playing with drakkons and start playing with me.”

“Seriously? I am here. I can hear you both.”

Kele clapped a hand on my arm. “You can hear, but will you take notice? Because that fine man behind you is obviously in need of some tender ministrations.”

“And if you had timed your arrival ten minutes later, he might well have gotten them.”

My voice was dry, and she laughed in delight. “Well, that certainly explains the state of your jacket and the flush on your cheeks.”

I frowned down at my jacket. “What state—” I stopped. The buttons had been done up wrong. “Obviously, my husband is more used to undressing women than dressing them.”

“I cannot answer that statement on the grounds that I may incriminate myself.”

I rolled my eyes, fixed my jacket, then brushed past Kele and once again led the way. It didn’t take us long to reach the still faintly glowing remnants of the barrier spell. I stopped and pulled out the scribe quill and tablet, knowing I had better send my father a message before he sent out a secondary rescue team. I quickly described what we’d found, then let him know we were sending our scavenged tubes and liquid back with Grant’s team while we headed for the drakkons. His reply simply said,Keep safe.

I hesitated, then sent back,The islands? Any news yet?

No. Contact remains lost.

And the cutters? They should have arrived there by now, should they?

They were sleek and fast, even in rough seas and weather, and at the very least, should have reached Manderlei, the closest island, just before dawn started stretching her bloody fingers across the sky.

No word from them as yet. Scribes may be down.

That was unlikely, and we both knew it. The scribes had been tested under the most trying conditions, and generally the only time they stopped working was when the tablet had been shattered—and it took a good deal of force to do that—or it was beyond a usable range. Jakarra was well within that range.

I wrote back,And the tracker stones?

Eighteen signals remain, but they weaken.

Meaning death was closing in, because the trackers were fueled by body heat—no heat, no tracker. Any rescue launched was now on a tight deadline.

It also meant they’d been attacked and that three of the six boats had been lost. But if three did remain, why hadn’t they reached Jakarra yet?

Have sent out a rescue team,my father continued.Should know more once the ship reaches their location.There was a pause, the tiny ink blot that was the quill he was holding pulsing gently as it waited to relay more information.Have told them to find shelter before dusk, no matter what.

Meaning he’d ordered them not to risk their lives to save the lives of those in the cutters. I closed my eyes. That would have been a hard thing to do. It was a hard and fast rule within Esan’s military ranks that we never left anyone behind—not even our dead, unless it was absolutely necessary.

But we couldn’t risk losing any more people and boats to this threat, either. Not until we found some way of countering their weapons.

I hesitated again, not entirely sure what to say, then simply signed off. It was pointless to keep questioning him when so little was known. Hopefully that would change by the time we arrived back. Hopefully the rescued men and women would be able to shine at least a little light on what was happening.

I packed the quill and tablet away, then rose and continued on. As we neared the cavern in which the olm had attacked, I sent Kaia a message, letting her know we were on our way.

Knowcame her reply.Hunt.

Meaning she was well aware of our location and had acted accordingly once we were close enough.

Am queen, she said, her tone almost condescending.Am smart.

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