Page 137 of The Iron Flower

“He’s got some nerve, that one,” Rafe says. “Acted almost glad to see me. Raised his glass to me, even. I saw him again later in the evening, just as the door to his room was closing. I spotted the two Selkies in the room with him. They were...horribly altered.” Rafe stops, as if he can’t quite figure out how to phrase the next part. “They’ve destroyed their skins.”

A collective gasp goes up from all of us. Marina’s gills burst open, and her hand flies to her mouth. Gareth’s hold tightens on her.

Rafe’s face takes on a remote, haunted expression as he stares into the fire. “Their eyes... They were opaque...like they were the walking dead. That’s who Damion was with. Those two Selkies. He actually smiled at me as he shut the door.”

Marina starts to weep. Rafe looks away, and we’re all silent for a moment, struggling with this new horror.

Eventually, my brother turns to Wynter. “I know we need to give the Amaz as many details as we can, but...if you don’t want to see...”

Wynter’s face is wan but determined as she answers. “I’ll be all right.” She pats the bed beside her. “Here, come sit by me.”

* * *

Diana, Marina, Wynter and I journey for Amaz lands after we’ve all snatched a few hours of rest.

There’s no need for Andras to guide us this time. Like a migrating bird, Diana only has to be shown a path through the woods once to remember the way forever.

This time, we’re met at the border by Freyja and two other soldiers who escort us to Cyme quickly and efficiently, bringing us straight to the Queenhall.

When we arrive, Queen Alkaia takes her time examining each of Wynter’s pictures, then passes them around to the other members of her council. All of the women listen intently to Wynter’s vivid descriptions of the Selkie taverns.

Alcippe stands just to the Queen’s left, glowering at Diana and me, but she also appears deeply interested in what Wynter and Marina have to say. Valasca is there as well, dressed as casually and unadorned as she was the last time I saw her, silently watching the proceedings.

Our eyes meet once in unspoken solidarity.

After thoroughly looking everything over, Queen Alkaia sits back in her chair and meets the eyes of each of her councillors in turn. The other women nod to her in silent agreement.

“It is decided,” Queen Alkaia announces, hands clasped before her. “We will free the Selkies just after the full moon.”

“It’s dangerous to wait much longer,” I caution her. “It’s only a matter of time before the Mage Council votes to have all the Selkies executed.”

“The full moon is a few days prior to their next meeting,” she tells me. “On the night of that full moon, more Selkies could be drawn up from the sea and captured. If we wait until after the full moon, we’ll be able to free those Selkies along with the others and returnall of themto their ocean home.”

CHAPTER TEN

VALASCA AND ALDER

Three days before the Amaz are poised to do what will surely be seen as a declaration of war on the Gardnerians, Diana, Tierney and I are ensconced in the North Tower, staring at our books and frantically trying to catch up with our classwork.

I glance out our lodging’s large window. It’s late, but the western edge of evening sky is still tinted blue, the days lengthening as spring begins its tentative hold on the land, snow increasingly disappearing into earth. Soon, the Western Realm’s famously stormy spring weather will move in.

I struggle to focus on the page before me. It’s difficult to study, knowing what’s coming, especially with Marina gone. She remained behind in Cyme, preparing for the rescue, and we all feel her absence acutely.

Diana looks up from her thick medical text, her head tilted, nostrils flaring. “Someone’s coming,” she says, sniffing the air. “Amaz. Two of them.”

Abruptly vigilant, Tierney and I move to the large circular window and peer down. There are two horses tethered to the old hitching post at the rear of the North Tower. I recognize the black horse with the reddish mane.

It belongs to Valasca.

Heavy footsteps clomp up the stone stairs, followed by a firm knock at the door. Tierney and I exchange a glance of curiosity.

Diana opens the door.

Valasca stands in the hall, but she’s completely altered from the last time we saw her. Her blue-streaked black hair is in the same short spikes, but she’s clad in Amaz battle gear—thin black armor covered with scarlet runes over a dark tunic and pants, a variety of blades strapped all over her body. Multiple black metallic rings adorn her face and ears, and thick kohl lines her eyes. Glowing runes mark the hilts of her weapons and their sheaths.

Her stance is military erect, as is that of her cohort. Valasca’s tall companion pulls back the hood of her cloak, and a streak of astonishment jettisons through me.

The young woman’s coloring is deep forest green, but her hair is ebony and her eyes are a dark Gardnerian green. She has long, gracefully pointed ears, and her skin shimmers emerald—similar to Gardnerian skin, only the sheen is dramatically heightened.

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