Page 55 of A Legacy of Wrath and Reckoning

Nye’s two commanders followed the general, Arlan and his second in command tailing them. Okwata and Ahrek arrived next, followed by Daizin, and finally, Holt. He hadn’t rejected their bond… yet. Zylah willed her expression to remain neutral as his gaze swept over her, as his face softened for a heartbeat before settling back to what she once might have considered his look of indifference, but now knew better. It was worry, so thick it was palpable.

“Twice you saved my life yesterday. Thank you,” Nye said to Zylah quietly, dragging her attention away from Holt.

Zylah squeezed her friend’s hand but said nothing more of it, grateful that there would be no more talk of debts owed. If Holt had been in her position, he’d have done the same. Or rather, the Holt they’d all known before his imprisonment. Though something told her no matter how much this had changed him, no matter how difficult his incarceration had been, he’d have tried to save Nye’s life, too.

“Where’s my brother?” she asked as some of the others took a seat at the table beside her.

“Checking on his wounded.” There was a hint of something in Nye’s tone, admiration maybe, but she rarely gave much away. Pride swelled in Zylah’s chest that her brother had earned the respect of her friends so quickly, that they regarded him as their equal. And it was another step in the right direction for humans and Fae cohabiting when all of this was over, for the Fae to step out of the shadows and stop hiding. To finally know what it meant to be free.

“We weren’t going to disturb you, Zylah,” Arlan began, pulling her from her thoughts, “but as you might be the only one of us that can get close to the vanquicite, we need your help.”

She wasn’t immune. And getting near the material certainly wasn’t without consequences. But Zylah understood the advantage it gave them.

“We need a way to counter the vanquicite or we’ll be sending soldiers into a slaughter,” Arlan added.

“We’re working on that.” Okwata tapped a hand against the table. “Ranon and Aurelia are unaffected, so a method exists.” Holt must have told them that much. “The acquisition of the archers in possession of arrenium, you believe it might work against the vampires?”

“It’s an untested theory,” Holt replied. “The source of the metal is a well-guarded secret.”

One of Maelissa’s secrets, no doubt. Zylah bit her tongue to stop herself from speaking out of turn, protectiveness surging through her. The Fae had used Holt for years, and the last time they’d been in her court, she’d raised a hand to Zylah. That hadn’t ended so well for the High Lady, thanks to Holt, but the thought of the female so much as breathing in Holt’s direction had Zylah’s stomach churning, anger rising in her chest. “I’ll speak with Maelissa,” she managed.

Holt’s head tipped to one side. “You know her?”

They’d visited her court together. Met Okwata and Ahrek there,together. But Zylah didn’t say any of that, didn’t want to draw attention to how much of his memory he was missing in the presence of the others. “I do,” was all she allowed herself to say.

He didn’t shift his attention away from her, and Zylah wondered if he was trying, again, to piece together everything Aurelia had taken from him.Don’t, she wanted to tell him. But if she could earn his trust, perhaps he would consider allowing her to attempt to unravel whatever had been done to his mind. To let her help piece it back together. The knot in her chest seemed to pull tighter again at the thought.

“We’ll need to get hold of one of those bows first, test the arrenium against a vampire before sending you away.” Arlan’s gaze flicked between Holt and Zylah, and she wondered how much he knew.

“Kej and I can arrange that,” Daizin said. “The archers were stationed outside the palace. Picking one off should be easy enough.”

Kej nodded enthusiastically. “We’ll need a scout.”

Zylah listened quietly as they discussed their options. It was a risk for any of them to return to the city, but if the arrenium was the key to taking down the vampires, it was worth it.

“What about the blood moon?” she asked when the conversation wound down. The blood moon was just over a month away, and if Ranon intended to use it to create more of his monsters, both humans and Fae would be powerless to stop him. Ranon and Aurelia were a threat to the entire continent.

“We still don’t know. But the Seraphim might,” Ahrek said at Okwata’s side.

Zylah had made a promise to Arioch, and she intended to keep it. That didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid. “I’ll go. And when I return, I’ll go to Maelissa. If you can spare a scout.” The last part she said to Nye.

The general merely dipped her chin. “Enalla’s fully recovered. She’ll go with you.”

“How does it work, Zy?” Kej asked, “Can you still see through deceits?” How does any of it work?”

Her sight, she assumed. “Do you mean can I see the way you’re fondling the neck of that wine bottle?” Quiet chuckles layered over each other around the table, and Kej raised the bottle in a toast before taking a swig. Zylah was careful not to turn her attention to Ahrek when she spoke. “But to answer your question, yes, I can still see through deceits. I can…” She glanced at Nye and Daizin, at the way their shadows pooled, and then beyond the tent to where the soldiers were, to the wards. “I can feel more than see in the conventional sense. But it all pulls together to paint a vivid picture for me.” She paused, unsure of how much she should tell them before settling on the truth. “At the mine attack, before…” Zylah couldn’t help but look at Holt, the memory of the sword going through his chest rising through her and threatening to take hold. “I discovered I can pull apart pieces of magic, snag a particular thread.”

“The compulsion…” Kej murmured, and Daizin shot him a warning glare.

Zylah nodded, hands splayed on the table to force her attention away from Holt. “It’s those threads that help me to see now, like everything is a tapestry and I just have to follow a particular thread.”

Okwata leaned forwards in his chair. “You can unravel it. But can you piece it back together?”

“With enough practice… I think so.”

“Remarkable.” His smile was genuine as he leaned back, sharing a look with Ahrek beside him.

“Can someone explain to me what that last little part meant?” Kej waggled a finger between Zylah and Okwata, the rest of his hand still firmly around the neck of the bottle.

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