Page 86 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

I replied by opening the door to find Dane asleep, his head resting on the desk. I wanted to leave him like that, to give him a few more hours of peace, but then I saw the massacre playing out over and over.

“Dane?”

His head jerked up and for a moment he just stared at me, blind and unseeing, though not for long. Whatever meticulous, controlling mindset ruled my love, it snapped back in place the minute he awoke fully and saw the state I was in.

“What?” he barked. “What did you see?”

In halting bursts, I repeated all the observations I’d made, my mates helping supply some that I’d started to forget, the dream falling apart in my hands already. That’s when Dane looked down at his desk. A map of Strelae was spread out across the top of it with little markers peppering the landscape.

“Are these…? Are these where they’ve attacked?” I asked in a faint voice.

He shook his head. “Strategic places where they’re likely to. Father had me working on it, but…” His finger slid over the map, tipping markers on their side as he rejected them, one after another until it settled on one place.

“Ironhaven?” Weyland said, leaning over to consult the map. “Gods, that’s one of our major manufacturing towns.”

“And the perfect place for a Reaver prince to set up a permanent camp,” Dane said grimly. “He’ll be able to capture the local populace and get them working around the clock, arming his men.” He looked up at us. “The one advantage we had up till now was that his men don’t fight with weapons.”

He jerked himself to his feet.

“We have to go and wake Father.”

43

“I want to come with you,” Del demanded as I moved around my room, packing clothes and anything else I might need.

“Del—”

“I can fight.”

“Del…” I shivered when I saw the younger version of him being torn apart in my dreams. “You can fight, but I’m not taking you into a bloody battlefield.”

“The other boys will go,” he said, his chin jerking up in a way that was all too familiar. I’d done the same when I was his age, though not with my father.

“The older squires,” I replied, “and they won’t get within ten feet of the battlefield. It’ll be boring as hell, or terrifying if the bloody Reavers break through our line.” Gods. I paused then, watching his face go white. “Del, I need you here.”

“But—”

“Who do I have? Who can I trust to look out for Jan?” I felt like the worst kind of person as I pulled every string I had to make the boy see my side of things. “Because if we fail, the Reavers will come to Snowmere next.”

Del paused then, his stream of protests dying, just as I’d hoped, but they were replaced by something far worse: pain. He searched my face, as if desperate for evidence that what I said wasn’t true. He didn’t find it.

“You’re coming back.” The demand was crisp and clear and full of budding alpha energy. I smiled in the face of it, but that didn’t last as his eyes burned blue. “You’re coming back. Promise it!”

I moved in then, wrapping my arms around him and holding him close. I let myself experience the pleasure of stroking his hair, pressing my lips to his head. That golden light flared harder as I did so.

“I promise you, Del. I will come back for you and Jan. I’ll be here to protect you, no matter what.”

“You better.” His voice was nothing more than a ragged growl and I felt the beginnings of claws prick at my shirt. “If you don’t, you’ll be foresworn and the gods themselves will turn their back on you.”

I pulled free of his grip and looked down at him, watching him blink furiously before I nodded.

“Well, we can’t have that.”

“Can you come and talk to Jan? She’s really scared and she doesn’t want to say anything,” he asked, his words coming out in a rush. “I know you have to get ready.”

There was apparently a strange period before a battle where people moved with all urgency, but we weren’t likely to ride out for several hours. I’d been horrified by that announcement until Dane had very thoroughly explained the logistics of moving an entire army at short notice.

“I’ve got time,” I said, holding out my hand. He gripped it tight and held it all the way until we reached their room.

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