Page 86 of Blue Embers
“It’s about the vessel now,” Draven said, pressing his lips. “We need to keep it far away from Haera and we need to figure out a way to talk to her.”
“It’s also about my niece,” Persephone added.
“It’s about all of it,” I summed up. “We can’t allow Haera anymore successes. Not after she’s put Phyre Glass into the hands of everyone in and outside the sectors.”
“About that,” Lukan’s voice appeared as he stepped into the room. “Are we all going to just run away now that people have a way to harm Draak? The point Haera was making by giving humanity a weapon is that Draak won’t trust people with it. She’s banking on the fact that we’ll act on our fear of it in ways that will make us look bad. Forcing it away or killing those who have it or even running now that it exists all puts us in a bad light. If we give in, she succeeds in slowly turning the world against us.”
“So?” Everly said. “Slayers were succeeding in killing you guys even before this stuff existed. What are we all supposed to do? Go back to our lives and hope people don’t get power hungry with this new weapon they have?”
“Yes,” Lukan nodded. “Show humanity that we trust them. That we see them as equals. That even if theycankill us, we know they won’t. Haera wanted us to act out against this. If we don’t, at least part of her plan failed.”
“That seems risky,” Persephone said. “Humans aren’t exactly honorable.”
“Neither are plenty of Draak, love,” I muttered. Taking a deep breath, I looked at Lukan with a slow nod. “But Lukan’s right. War has been the answer to every conflict in the past. Perhaps now we should avoid it as long as possible. Play nice as long as we’re allowed.”
“She’ll stage things,” Draven pointed out. “She’ll try everything to turn humans against us. We won’t have to get our hands dirty. She’ll put the blood on our hands herself if she needs to.”
“She will and were your brother here he would have said to hold out as long as possible. We have you, the Archon, and we have other advantages. Aethyn. The vessel. Saxon. If we stick together we can beat her at this game of hers without a full scale war. You know we can.”
Draven hissed, pacing again.
“Patience isn’t my strong suit,” he said.
“We know,” I smiled, amused. “But if we want to keep the things we fought for. This world.” I turned to Persephone, stroking the top of her hand lightly with my thumb. “The people we love. We need to avoid the mistakes we’ve made in the past. Avoid bloodshed as long as we can. Wecanplay this smart, brothers.”
It took a moment for the whole room to nod in agreement, but eventually Draven and everyone else had come around. Once we were all on the same page, Draven gestured for Everly and the two left the room together, hand in hand. I watched the Archon leave with his Ashling and hoped we hadn’t made a mistake by standing back and not engaging. We all had a lot to lose. Lukan with his wife and son. Now I had Persephone, who I’d almost lost more than once in the short time after I’d finally accepted that I loved her.
Turning back to look at Persephone, her gentle eyes met mine and filled me with hope. The kind of hope only a woman like her could give me. In all the violence and danger that we’d encountered recently, she was a beacon. A reminder that I was prepared to fight harder than ever to keep her and her world intact.
Raising my hand, I cupped her cheek and felt her Ashling energy slowly returning to her veins. She’d have scars now, but I was convinced she’d wear them proudly. I, on the other hand, would always be reminded of how close I’d gotten to losing her again. My heart ached at the thought and, as if she could sense it, she pressed her hand over the top of mine and turned her face into my palm. I could feel her warm breath across my skin just before she kissed it, filling me with that familiar alertness in seconds.
“You have no idea how hard it is not to tie you down somewhere hidden so no one can ever touch you again,” I said jokingly. “Like a dungeon, but I’d make it quite comfortable.”
Persephone’s lips stretched into that warming smile I’d missed over the past couple days. I watched her eyes brighten. I studied the sparse freckles on her high cheekbones and burned inside just witnessing her beauty.
“I don’t know about putting me in a dungeon hidden from the world,” she said, slowly raising her chin as if to kiss me. “But the part about tying me down sounds kind of tempting.”
She smelled of berries. I took her in, savoring her presence as her lips touched mine. She felt absolutely heavenly. Our mouths had always fit together perfectly and she was an addiction I found hard to quit, even for just a few moments. I wanted her so badly in that very second that I had to cut our kiss short for fear of getting carried away before her wounds had fully healed. Persephone looked up at me with a playful pout.
“Sorry, love,” I whispered, gently running my hand down the bandages taped to the bend of her neck. “What I have in mind would not benefit your injuries and your kiss brings out the monster in me.”
Persephone bit her lips as if she was trying to brush aside an agonizing arousal herself.
“I’m almost healed,” she said. “And I can feel your mark a little more every day.”
“Then we won’t have to wait long,” I smirked.
“And? What do we do in the meantime?”
I searched my brain for ideas and focused on one that I was both excited and reluctant to voice. Persephone cocked her head, sensing something was on my mind.
“The museum,” I said. “We never opened the exhibit.”
“We didn’t,” Persephone said, her mouth stretching again into a smile. “You think it’s ok to go back there?”
“We’re trying to coexist, even with Phyre Glass. I think this is the perfect time to promote understanding, just as we’d intended from the beginning.”
“I think,” she nodded, sliding her hands up to my chest in a teasing manner that was going to get us both in trouble. “That’s a good idea. I was also thinking.” Her demeanor changed a bit now, her smile drooping from her face. “That maybe we could finally put my sister to rest.”
