Page 56 of The Lost Nation

I bowed my head deeply against my chest.I was either about to be forgiven, or disemboweled. I hadn't known who he was when D'Arcy had brought him and two other lykos into our fortress as prisoners.

Then I realized it didn't matter. We should never have treated them the way we did, regardless of who they were.

I stepped forward.“My deepest apologies. I—”

Conan held up a hand,stopping me.“That is in the past. I am more concerned about our future.”

I pushed past the sudden tightness in my throat, thanking the gods once again for sending me Wren, and that Conan was clearly a better man and king than I had ever been. Guilt twisted inside of me, but Conan was right.We had to look towards the future.

“As you wish,” I replied, and looked out over the mass of his forces.I was grudgingly impressed with their numbers. Conan smirked.

“We also brought the witches. All of them.”I added, not wanting to be outdone.

The witches descended from their brooms as shouts were sent up by the lykos. Conan snorted, amused at the display.He already would have known about them thanks to his talks with Ronan.

He raised an eyebrow at me.“DidImention I found the last herd of unicorns? I even have a vampyre prisoner to use for the ritual. Probably one of the last ones left alive.”

A snap of his fingers brought the vampyre forward, spitting and hissing as he struggled against his bonds and captor. He was thin and pinched, likely mad with hunger and bloodlust.His red eyes blazed at us, no real intelligence left.

“Just the one?” I questioned, not sure what the point was of havingonevampyre.

Conan shrugged. “I suppose it’s semantics. The disbursement needs to happen acrossallspecies, and he was the only oneleftthat we could find. He was actually quite the poker player when he was sane. It's a shame.” The disturbed expression on his face made me wonderhow well Conan had known him. And how.

“And anyways, it only takes one blood sucker to restart their population, right?”Conan remarked.

Well, he had a point there.

“What about the nymphs?”I inquired.

Conan’s face grew dark and shuttered. “We weren’t able to find any. I’m guessing the demons exterminated them. They were being hunted for a while in the beginning of the Demon Wars.”

We shared a moment of loss for the gentle, forest-dwelling creatures.

Conan sighed.“What can you tell us of their new leader—thisThad?”

Anger pulsed in my veins just at hearing his name. “He’s a filthy half-breed," I snarled. "He may appear as a man, or as a black draken. Tell your men to shoot if they see an all-black draken. None of my males have such coloring.Well, one does, but I left him to guard Lyoness so he wouldn't be attacked by mistake."

Wyrren hadn't been pleased, but understood.

Conan’s lips thinned, but he nodded. “Kill everyone else?”

Wren’s tortured face swam in my mind, but I hardened my heart. I was doing this forher,and for our future children.For Xana.“Kill everyone else.Get the children out first."

With a roar and a bellowed command, we marched north through the woods. It was eerily quiet, and we met no resistance. I remembered a time when these woods had been teeming with magickal life, the air so dense with power you could feel it when you inhaled.

Now it was empty, barren. Lifeless. I had the demons to thank for that.

As their dark fortress and accompanying mountains loomed in the distance, weprepared at any moment to encounter some kind of assault.

But we didn’t.

We halted in front of the massive front gate, and I glanced up at the bleached bones pinned at its apex.Was this the demon Thad had killed to protect Wren?

I didn’t have room for any conflicting emotions. Thad clearly made his choice when he stole away with one ofmyunmated females for his own purposes. Nothing good he did before that mattered.Nothing he did after that could redeem him.

I blinked, wondering if that was a bit harsh. If that was the case, did I deserve another chance after the terrible decisions I had made in the past?

Conan joined me, interrupting any more introspection.Astrid and Vela were there was well, and then our army parted for the magnificent, white stallion that stoically trotted towards us from our rear. I openly stared, having never met a unicorn in person.

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