Page 70 of Blue Embers
“He’s not Draak,” Draven said calmly, taking a deep breath. “His tone suggested he hates us or at least he did at some point. And he mentioned he can’t fly.”
“You think he’s human?”
“He could be a Pike for all we know. He said he was blending in. The point is, he’s going to be doing the work for us when it comes to Ares, so maybe we put him on the back burner for a minute and head to that factory.”
“You want to destroy it?” I said. “The two of us? It’s a compound dedicated to making weapons that kill us. Perhaps we should plan this more thoroughly.”
“Have a suggestion?” Draven raised a brow.
“Yes. We gather men we trust to storm the place in numbers greater than two. Even if you’re a Red, we don’t know exactly what we’re up against here. For all we know, they’re expecting us.”
“The longer that compound exists, the more Draak-killing weapons are distributed into the world. The greater chance there is that this will turn into a war.”
“And I understand that. I would like nothing more than to prevent a war. I have something I love and I’d like to protect it. I’d also like to live long enough to enjoy it. Now, your fire is your strength. Your courageous ability to face foes with the entirety of your being and yes, you’ve come out on top every time, but you are missing the reasonable side since your brother was taken from us. Let me be that reasonable side. Attacking a place we have no intel about is unwise, brother.”
“Right. Still waiting on another suggestion.”
“Yes. We fly out and observe. See what we’re dealing with before we shed blood and give humanity a greater reason to rise up against us.”
Draven took a breath and let it out on a groan as if disappointed, but he did not argue. Taking a moment to give it some thought, he nodded in agreement.
29
Persephone
. . .
The day was getting late and the feeling of being separated from Killian wasn’t a comfortable one. It was as if I’d lost something important and no matter how much I looked for it, it wasn’t there. I stood on the second story bannister, leaning forward on the railing and staring out at the lake down the way. It had just started snowing and the fleurie was giving the woods a fresh blanket of white fluff.
When the sun finally set, I strolled back inside, meeting the others for dinner in the dining room. Unfortunately, I’d blocked out most of the night’s conversation and despite Keera’s kind glances and concerned questions, I wasn’t feeling social. Perhaps it was the unfamiliar environment paired with the loss of my sister, buckets of surprising, new information, and the separation from the one man who’d been my anchor through it all. I felt pathetic.
The next morning, I was disappointed to feel an empty bed around me when I opened my eyes. I’d instinctively rolled over, reaching for another body. Killian’s body. Finding space instead of him was rather heartbreaking and I was almost disgusted with how much I’d come to rely on him. He’d barely been gone two days and I was stressing over it. Then again, experiencing that need made me feel alive in a way I hadn’t in a long time.
Trying to get my mind off of things, I got dressed in warm clothes, slipped on my boots, and headed down into the kitchen to find something to nibble on. I found some bagels that one of the men had retrieved from town and a fresh pot of coffee on the counter. The smell of it was almost enough to distract me from my separation anxieties. I poured myself a cup and stood by the kitchen window, staring out into the thick, white snow that had covered the yard. Lukan stepped into the kitchen soon after. I saw his reflection on the glass when he walked across the room and whipped around to greet him. He threw me a pleasant smile and grabbed a mug of coffee for himself before shaking a fresh sprinkling of snow from the sleeves of his jacket.
“You’ve been quiet,” he said, pulling out a chair to sit himself down at the table.
I took a deep breath, sipping my coffee, and turned to face the table.
“I’m just a little unfamiliar with all this,” I said.
“Your life’s going through a lot of changes very suddenly. It’s only natural.”
“Is it this bad with you and Keera?”
“Being apart?” Lukan raised his brows. “Well, it’s never enjoyable, but it does get easier. Time goes by and eventually you can feel each other enough to seem as if you’re not apart.” His eyes wandered off into the yard outside the window. I could see him thinking about something pleasant and almost smiled at the way his eyes relaxed into serenity. “Like right now,” he said. “I can feel her up the hiking trail with Ronan. Whatever they’re doing, she’s laughing,” he chuckled, raising his mug to his lips and taking a drink.
I grinned, my nerves calmed by Lukan’s expression when he spoke of his mate and his young son. The man was as big and as menacing as any other Draak and yet he had an ability to be utterly gentle and caring. I didn’t know him well, but I was quite eager to change that in the future.
“So what’s your story?” I asked him.
“It’s a long one,” Lukan said.
“Aren’t they all?” I leaned over onto the table, tucking my hands into my shirt sleeves. “So you’re from Kumir, right? You’re a Blue Breath. Was your father?”
Lukan shook his head. “My father was a Red. He died on Kumir.”
“Did you have a family?”
