Page 24 of Flight of Fate

“I’m still not over that one,” she merely tells him with a wicked grin that makes me wish I were that bold, and the Fairy King’s usually so composed facade crumbles as heat fills his golden irises.

“Not again,” Clio groans. “One would think you’d be over it after a Guardiansdamned century.”

That costs Tori a laugh, and Herinor glances uncomfortably at the ceiling like a little, innocent flower. “Youneverget over it.” Tori’s fingers graze Clio’s as he reaches for the bread basket, and color stains her cheeks as he stares into her eyes rather than where he’s grabbing.

Silas clears his throat so loudly I almost choke on the winterberry paste, and Sanja rolls on as if nothing happened, “So what news from the prisoner have you gathered?” Her eyes are on her mate, curious and warm, and full of that silent expectation that tells me whatever she asks, the king of this realm will lay it at her feet.

Recienne composes himself, heat turning to warmth as he glances at Sanja’s belly, then to calculated cold as he meets Myron’s gaze, then Tori’s. “It seems this realm is no longer safe in the way we assumed it was.”

Not a surprise after the incident in the forest, but still?—

“Gus says about five hundred soldiers have infiltrated Askarea over the past weeks,” he continues, passing the word to Tori with a nod.

The thought of so many sneaking into these lands undetected chills my blood.

Features stone-like, the general says, “They slipped past our men in Ansoli, disguised as merchants and commoners.” Before anyone can comment, he adds, “I’ve already ordered reinforcements and port patrols to ensure we cut off the stream of soldiers.” Studying the Fairy King, he tilts his head. “According to the Flame, they are hiding near the mountains north of Aceleau. That alone is a problem in itself, but we also need to consider that Erina will be expecting a response from Recienne soon enough. If we kill Gus, Erina might give the order to attack before we’re ready. He might have already given it, knowing the negotiation was a suicide mission, and the troops are merely waiting for a given period of time to pass before they attack.”

“Can’t we find them and destroy them before they have a chance?” Kaira suggests over her plate brimming with greens and a thick slice of mushroom tart. “You’re already gatheringyour own army east of the city, so it would be easy to march them north.”

“And dangerous to attack an enemy hiding in the clefts at the foot of the mountains,” Tori adds, like he’s merely continuing her thought rather than dismissing it as not feasible. “Enemy forces wouldn’t be the only danger.”

“Besides,” Herinor interjects, leaning back in his oak chair and running his hand over the cream-and-pine colored napkin beside his half-full plate, “if they carry the magic-nullifying serum with them, there’s no way we can ambush them with a small force in a surprise attack. We’d need an army double their size to stand a chance, and still they’d easily pick us off one by one between the rocks and canyons at the foot of the mountains.”

Clio shoots him a sideways glance. “You know quite a lot about Askarean geography for someone supposed to have spent the past centuries confined in a forest.”

A shrug is all Herinor gives as an excuse. “It gets boring being among a pack of broody males night and day—unless you favor that type, of course.” A grin splits his lips as he scans Silas’s form then Royad’s, and, at last, his king’s with the interest of a male who could imagine acquiring such a taste. “Not sore on the eye, my kind, are they?” The last comment is directed at Kaira, whose own eyes are on Herinor’s broad shoulders as he turns to the side, staring directly into her eyes.

I can’t help cackling a caw, and Myron shifts in his chair like he’s having trouble biting back a comment, but Herinor isn’t done. “Ephegos is Erina’s general, and we know Ephegos enough to anticipate his preferred way of fighting.”

“With a knife in our backs,” Royad finishes for him, and despite all the good defining the male sitting to my mate’s left, I can see a hint of the monster he’ll become when he faces the traitor Crow again.

Silas nods his agreement, white-knuckling his dinner knife as he slices into the lump of butter on the side of his blue and gold plate. “If only we had made progress with the antidote.”

It’s the first time any of us has brought up the topic so openly since the initial discussion after the battle, and I’m surprised no one is voicing more frustration with the lack of an actual antidote.

“The healers analyzed every last part of the substance. Crow blood, some herbs, purified water. Nothing that would be difficult to acquire, and yet, it seems impossible to find something to break the magic on the substance itself,” Recienne explains, gaze on Herinor, who was there for the development of the drug when Ephegos and Jeseida initially worked on it.

The male shakes his head. “Ephegos never explained how he binds the components together, and when they were testing the different variations, I was too far gone from being constantly drugged to really tell anything that had been going on.”

A pang of sympathy for the male boxes me in the stomach, and I wish that I could break his oath to Ephegos for him so he could freely do whatever he wishes without fearing he’ll be forced to betray us all.

Herinor doesn’t meet my gaze, nor does he meet Kaira’s, who is staring at him from the side like she wants to throw her arms around him in consolation.

“Have you at least tried to replicate the serum if you can’t get an antidote out of it?”I ask into the silence following Herinor’s words, relying on Kaira to transport my question to the rest of the table.

All eyes snap to me as they actually hear me, only Clio, Myron, and Royad looking unsurprised.

“A little something I’ve been working on,”I tell them before they throw questions of their own at me, “and which Kaira is luckily capable of helping with. So what about replicating thedrug to use it against Erina’s forces? Even if most of his army is merely human, we could still use it against the Flames and the Crows in their ranks.”

Silas raises his brows as if in confirmation that this, indeed, would be a smart move, but Herinor says before hope can flare, “We don’t know how to create the drug, and all our experiments so far haven’t led anywhere. If Gus was telling the truth”—his gaze flicks to the Fairy King, who gives him a look daring him to question his methods of interrogations—“then we have days before we can expect an attack.”

Not a threat but a fact assessed by a creature old enough to have outlived even Tori by millennia, with the experience of countless battles and the ruthlessness to win them at all costs. I’m not surprised when Tori nods at the Crow’s remark, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair as if there is nothing else to be said on the subject.

Despite the dire situation, it’s good to be part of the conversation, to be able to ask questions of my own without waiting for anyone to repeat them.

“We should have thought of this little trick much sooner,”Tori speaks into my mind as he follows my train of thought, my own shields barely existent with the absence of my powers, and his gaze drifts from me to Myron and back to me.“Hopefully, it will make things easier for the two of you.”

“Thank you, Tori.”It’s all I can think to say as I glance behind me at Myron, whose eyes find mine as if he could feel my attention on him, and his mouth tightens with held-back words, questions, accusations, I don’t care as long as I can respond to any and all of them with my own words. I still have to tell him the truth about what Shaelak revealed at the temple, and I’m not looking forward to the disappointment or, worse, resentment when he learns his existence is now bound to my brief birdlife. But the tenderness entering his eyes whenever our gazes lockremains, and I know he won’t give up on me—gods be damned, if they don’t help us, he will find a way, even if it means destroying himself.

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