Page 266 of Of Empires and Dust

“Us.” Belina looked from Mera to Alina. “The three of us. The three people who would give anything and everything to keep him alive. He wants you to assault the keep.”

“Oh, that’s all. And how do we go about doing that? Because last I checked, we were still outnumbered by nearly twenty thousand and Aeson is yet to arrive with his promised reinforcements.”

“It will take Dayne at least a day to reach the river and another two for him to make the journey to Achyron’s Keep. Loren will attempt to use Dayne as leverage to force your surrender. Once he does, we can drag out negotiations to buy time. With any luck, Aeson will arrive before we have need to attack.”

“Luck is neither something we have much of nor something I wish to rely on. We are now in the same situation we have been for weeks, but without Dayne at our side.”

“No, we are not. Now we have Dayne on the inside and the warriors in your army have something very real to fight for. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but your people love him.”

Alina closed her eyes, stood back, and put her face into her hands. “Why does he do this to me?”

It wasn’t Belina who spoke next, but Mera. “Because he is Dayne Ateres. Because, for better or worse, there is no world in which he would leave his brother in the hands of the man who killed your parents. And no matter what you say, no matter how much anger you feel in your veins, neither would you. Do you think I wanted to let him go? You’re not the only one who waited all those years for him to come home, thinking he was dead, thinking… He has a thousand flaws, but he is my world, Alina.My whole world. The father of my child, the love of my life. I would give every drop of blood in my veins just to hear his voice one last time. Now are you going to help me knock down thewalls of Achyron’s Keep, or will I have to take the Wyndarii and do it myself?”

Alina’s breath caught in her throat. “Father of your child?”

Mera’s expression softened, and she held up her left hand. For a moment Alina had no idea what the woman was trying to show her, until she saw the sparkle of an orange gemstone on her finger.

“Mera…” Alina took Mera’s hand into her own. A beautiful, ornate golden ring sat on her finger, with engravings of wyverns twisting about it. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is. Now, can we please go and get my idiot husband before he gets himself killed?”

Alina nodded slowly. “If it were any of us in there, Dayne would sack the keep on his own. It was always going to come to this.” She drew a long breath and exhaled sharply. “Let’s burn it down. Let’s burn the whole thing to the ground.”

“Good. I was hoping you’d say that.” Belina turned and made to slip out the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Me? I’m going with Dayne.”

“What?”

“It will take you time to break camp and get the army marching. If I leave now, I can catch up with him.”

“And what do you intend to do?”

“Kill anyone or anything that tries to harm him. And with any luck, we can open the gates from the inside. That might make the siege a little easier. It’s all part of the plan.”

“And how will we know when you’re in position?”

“Oh, you’ll know.”

“No, we’re not playing that game. How will we know?”

“Fuck. I’ll set something on fire. Something big.”

Chapter 61

Ticking Clock

20thDay of the Blood Moon

Southeast of Camylin – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

The thunderof Drunir’s hooves rippled through Dann as the horse galloped at full stretch. He hovered over the saddle, the horse’s body moving in free flow beneath him, his white wood bow in his left hand, his right hand on the reins. Ahead, the columns of smoke rose above the hill, screams piercing the still morning.

Dann risked a quick glance over his shoulder. The fifty scouts who rode with him were quite a distance behind, Erik among them. Their horses were no match for Drunir in the open plains. Even the six Dvalin Angan in the forms of giant white stags couldn’t keep pace, each galloping with an elf on their back, Vaeril at their head, Lyrei just behind him. Dann’s head told him to slow and let them catch up, but his heart told him that every second wasted would be a life lost on the other side of that hill.

They’d been scouting ahead of the main army, attempting to gauge the siege at Camylin, when they’d spotted the smoke and heard the screams.

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