Page 67 of Of Steel and Scale

“Perhaps.” He chuckled softly, though it held little of its usual vigor. “Tell Kaia the shield will flash gold if you, me, or Kele approach, and red if anyone else does?—”

“Will it stop weapons?” I cut in.

“Yes, although anything we carry will get through. If the shield is continuously flashing, it means someone is magically attacking it, but it’ll hold long enough to give them time to leave.”

Is good. Thank.

I repeated it, and he smiled. “We males do have some uses, Kaia.”

Some, she grumbled, amusement heavy in her tone.

I handed his pack to Kele, then I swung around and slipped my right arm around his waist. He half raised his left arm, as if to rest it around my shoulders, then obviously remembered my wound and wrapped it around my waist, under my pack, instead.

“You want me to take the lead?” Kele said, shouldering his pack. “You can shout directions from behind if I go the wrong way.”

I nodded, and she continued on, happily humming as she went through the tunnel. The barrier rippled briefly as she went through it, but didn’t flash any particular color. Its energy briefly caressed my skin as we followed her, though I suspected I only felt it because I was holding on to Damon. “How long will these barriers last? Because it hardly seems worth the cost if they’re only going to last eight or so hours.”

“A question you perhaps should have asked before I expended all that energy.”

“Probably.” I glanced at him. “Does that mean you’ll have to keep coming up here to reenergize them?”

“No, because I leashed these spells to a couple of steam vents. The spell should draw on the earth’s energy to regenerate. In theory, anyway.”

“You’ve never done it before?”

I couldn’t help the surprise in my voice, and a tired smile tugged at his lips. “It would be fair to say that the last few days has provided a number of firsts.”

“For us both.” I paused, easing us both past a narrower section of tunnel. “How long will it take you to regain your strength from your exertions?”

He quirked an eyebrow at me, devilment in his eyes. “And once again the specter of me being unable to perform my husbandly duties arises.”

“No, it’s simply a matter of practicality,” I replied dryly, though I couldn’t deny thatwasa part of it. “We’ve been on the go for over twenty-four hours now, and I was hoping we could use it as an excuse to get out of the consummation feast. That’s on tonight, remember.”

“I doubt us being unable to attend would stop the celebrations, anyway. It’s basically just another excuse for our friends and family to have a party.”

“True.” Though in times past, when virginity was far more prized than it was now, the consummation feast came after an inspection of the bedding to see if the wife had bled when penetrated. Too bad if she happened to be a rider because, hey, that scrap of skin designating so-called purity was easily torn when riding, especially bareback.

At least it was one custom that no longer existed, even if arranged marriages did.

Our pace through the mountain was by necessity slow, and while Damon’s condition didn’t deteriorate, it also only improved in small increments. We stopped a number of times to eat and rest, and that helped, but his weariness remained evident. He kept reassuring me he’d be fine once he slept and had a decent meal, but I’d heard too many tales of witches pushing it too far to be convinced.

Although by the time we finally reached Esan, he wasn’t the only one shaking with tiredness.

Guards met us with sets of orders—one for me to report to my father, and one for him to report to his. I told Kele to go rest, then turned to Damon.

He brushed my cheek with his knuckles, a featherlight caress that had my breath catching. “Whoever gets to the room first orders the meal.”

I nodded, my gaze dropping to his lips as the urge to kiss him hit. But our fathers were waiting, the guards were watching, and I was a soldier more than a princess or a wife. There were protocols to follow.

At least some of the time, anyway.

A smile twitched the lips I was desperate to kiss, an indication he knew exactly what I was thinking, but he didn’t say anything. He let his hand slide from my skin, then stepped back and, after giving me a somewhat formal half bow, left. I drew in a deep breath and made my way through the various gates, then up the stairs to the administrative and military building. My boots echoed on the polished stone floors, and the guards at the far end had the door opened by the time I approached. Which was good, because I think if I’d stopped, even for a fraction of a second, I might well have fallen.

I nodded in acknowledgment of their salutes and strode into the semi-darkness. My father was standing at the far end of the long table, studying the maps scattered in front of him. Mom wasn’t there, but Vaya and Jarin were, as was Harris, our master of the fleet.

The maps, I noted, all appeared to be of the isles and the seas around them. They were obviously discussing various options for rescuing whomever might survive there.

Ifanyone survived there.

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