Page 114 of A Rising Hope

“We could fly over the city with the dragons and burn their fleet from the sky . . . ” Finnleah considered. The wild gusts of wind rattled the windows.

I stared at the map, at the small wooden pieces scattered around it. Orest responded, but I didn’t pay attention, my mind lost to the thought of spreading Finnleah’s legs on the table and feasting on her. The table was just the right height for me to kneel. My thoughts drifted further away, reminding me precisely how she’d arch and whimper at the stroke of my tongue, making me go feral. My mouth watered, and I shifted in my seat as my cock twitched at the idea.

“Gideon?” Orest asked. I begrudgingly forced my thoughts to return to the conversation.

“Or we could simply burn the entire city to the ground,” I offered my own solution that would end this war quickly. Finnleah smacked my thigh. Whether it was because of my offer to commit mass murder or me fantasizing about tearing her clothes off, I wasn’t sure.

“Come up with something better,” she replied.

Ah, so mass murder was the problem then.

“I did. But it had nothing to do with the war.” A corner of my lip twitched upwards, and I earned another smack, this time harder as she sent a stern look in my direction.

“Fine.” I let out a sigh after Finnleah kicked me with her foot. “As much as I adore our new addition to our family, dragons aren’t helpful in a street fight,” I professed, quickly running outof patience from the meeting. “But even if we decide to take that path, the last report I’ve received stated they have five mother-creatures in the city hidden in the dungeons. Five against two are not odds I am willing to entertain.”

“So let me get this straight,” Priya hissed from her shadowed corner. My lip twitched in a scowl at the sound of her hateful voice. Finnleah insisted the assassin should be included. A decision I already regretted as the Truth Teller sat up in her chair, throwing her braid over shoulder. “The city is a fucking fortress with gates locked and covered by archers, impossible to breech with your little trembling soldiers; the dragons are useless unless we are talking about mass killings; the fields leading to the city are filled with black powder ready to blow up at the first spark of fire? And the river is blocked with their massive fleet while half of their army is playing pretend in the city, so we don’t even have an exact location to attack from the air either?” Her copper eyes wrathfully shimmered in the candlelight as she scanned the room. “Now you are telling me there arefiveof those giant fucking demonic creatures too?”

“Glad someone is paying attention.” Orest released a strenuous sigh, clearly not liking her presence here either.

“So explain to me again how in the fuck am I supposed to get home when every direction is blocked?” she grumped.

“You took down a creature. Perhaps you could take down five more,” Orest snapped in her direction.

“Let’s be very clear, boy.” Priya frowned, sending a threatening look. “Just because the three of you in the room know of my skills, I have no intention of extending the knowledge beyond this circle. Nor did I ever sign up to be in your little rebellion.”

“And yet you insist on being here,” I snarled.

“Entertainment is scarce in this gods’ forsaken town, so watching you buffoons try to think was my only option.” Priyastill eyed Orest, whatever pissing match they were having was beyond my interest.

The extra Truth Teller would have to go at some point.

But I could play the waiting game, as long as Finnleah was be happy.

Another booming roar of the midnight thunderstorm rattled the room.

“I just don’t understand, what’s their angle? They can’t possibly think they can win this.” Finnleah’s eyes stayed on the map of Svitar where streets like ribbons intertwined with each other like a tangled ball of yarn. “I mean, why won’t they surrender? The north is taken, the south and east have all been freed, and the west is still raining with ash. They are cut off besides the damn river, but even so they are surrounded. Even if they can withstand the winter and the ones after, eventually without the trade and the fields supporting their giant city, the citizens will starve. There would be an uproar.”

I knew Finnleah’s frustration and could feel her concern through her calm voice. No matter how many plans we discussed, they all ended up fruitless, either leaving our armies dead, or the biggest city in Esnox reduced to scorching embers.

“My father accepted long ago that people will die, he just hopes our people will die first.” The door opened wide, and Zora leaned against the opening, arms folded. “He is not known for his reason nor his acceptance of his failure.” Her unexpected appearance made everyone in the room pause. She was a lot more put together than when I found her rotting in the cellar earlier today.

She washed and dressed in her polished armor, leathers with black metal like scales covering her from head to toe. Her crescent blades curved at her hip; the black chain safely secured. Her hair was slicked back in her typical style, a high twist with metal spikes keeping it in place. The sides of her head werefreshly shaved, exposing the new scars from the previous battle. Nothing out of place, vicious and proud, she held her head high, withstanding the heavy stares sent in her direction.

“Come take a seat, Commander,” I finally broke the silence, pointing with my chin to the open chair across the table. She gave me a short nod, taking a seat. Her eyes analyzed the open maps, assessing the miniature figurines of the wooden ships and blocks representing each battalion.

“Your father is the fucking general Thynirite?” Priya ogled at Zora, but she masterfully ignored her piercing stare. “Thatis the family you married into, Freckles?” Her brows slid up, questioning. My wife gave her a silencing look that seemed to work as the assassin rolled her eyes and slunk back to her corner.

“After all four major generals died, my father was called to the role, one he retired from a long time ago.” Zora’s lips turned thin as she rotated one of the maps. “But given the players at hand, he couldn’t pass up the occasion to engrave his name in history.”

If Zora looked up, she would’ve known that Orest hadn’t blinked since she walked in. His face a blank mask as he stared at the back of her head, lost in whatever storm of thoughts his mind had become at her sudden appearance.

But perhaps she didn’t have to look up to feel his scorching gaze. Her throat bobbed in a few tight swallows. It seemed that the longer the silence lingered, the longer Orest didn’t breathe.

I felt another poke at my side from my wife’s elbow as her eyes dashed between those two as well. Releasing a long sigh, I broke the tense silence at her silent demand.

“Zora’s father never recognized my rule as a bastard-born Destroyer but Finnleah, on the other hand, has a true claim to the throne. Perhaps he’d be willing to revisit the termsof surrender with her.” I revisited the previously dismissed solution now with Zora in the room.

If the tension in the room was heavy before then such a drastic offering by me gave everyone pause.

---