Page 58 of The Lost Nation

“Is it relevant to the war?”I asked. I didn't want any surprises while on this mission. Ronannervously thumbed the blade of his dagger, and suddenly found the frayed edges of his sheaths interesting.

I growled. “Ronan…”

He glanced up.“It is not relevant to the war in regards to defeating the Overlord, or dispersing the white magick.”

My eyes narrowed. There was nothingwrongwith his answer, but the way he said it had me suspicious.It was a veryRonananswer.

Light footsteps approached us, and moments later Conan's head appeared at the top of the steps.“There is no one else in this entire fortress except us.”

Conan seemed a bit disappointed at the lack of a fight. “Also, the blood witches say we are ready to try and disperse the magick. There’s just one problem.”

I tried to hide my irritation. There was always aproblem. “What?” I asked.

Conan sighed. “We need one ofeveryspecies, like they said. But we’re missing two. Three, if we want to be politically sensible about it.”

I snorted.Politically sensible.

“Who?” Ronan asked, actually interested.

Conan raised a challenging brow my way. “Talked to any mountain men recently?”

Chapter 25

Ronan

It would have been inappropriate to laugh at the gob-smacked look on Benedict’s face—so I stuffed it down. It seemed that everywhere Wren had trod in Dorea, allies had sprung up in the wake of her steps like freshly bloomed flowers.

Benedict didn’t answer Conan. He just stared. I nervously spoke on his behalf.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the ...rumorsconcerning drakens and the mountain men. Surely we could just use another human?”

I didn’t see why thatwouldn’twork. Benedict’s jaw ticked, but he flashed me a grateful look. Conan didn’t look nearly as relieved. “Though the good news is we don't need a demon. Apparently enough of their magick is already charged due to the earlier sacrifices."

I bit my lip. Conan scratched his head. "For the human though,you should probably get three—one from each kingdom. That means one Cantradian, one Aldurian, and a mountain man."

Benedict bristled. “You expect me to kidnap—”

Conan reared back. “Goodgods, no. Can't you justaskthem? I would imagine any human chosen would be lauded as a hero. You should have your pick.”

He gave Benedict an odd look, even as my king flushed in embarassment.

I rushed to cover the faux pas. “It would be a political nod if we asked their leaders to participate. Almost like a treaty of sorts.” I offered instead, liking the idea the moment it left my mouth.

Benedict growled.“We don’t havetimefor politics. I want to end this tonight.”

Conan’s eyes flashed gold, and fur crept down his face. “Fine then, kidnap some humans. What do I care? Just be back by sundown.”

He turned on his heel and left, leaving us alone again in the throne room. I opened my mouth to speak, but Benedict stomped away in a huff. Then he stopped about thirty feet away, his shoulders tensing. He sniffed the air around him and his head snapped upwards, eyeing a coil of chains that were wrapped around a large beam, and left to dangle towards the floor.

“What—” I asked, but cut myself off when he flew to the ceiling, inhaling deeply. He dropped back down, his face pale. “Wren’s blood is on those chains. They were cleaned, but they missed a spot towards the top.”

I seized the opportunity immediately, knowing I could use this to direct his anger in a useful way.“Wren has done a lot for us,” I began, and as expected Benedict’s head hung in acknowledgement. I continued. “I think then, that the leastyoucould do is be polite for a few hours, and perhaps make a few apologies in order to set things right.Seems a bit easier than the alternative, or anything she's had to put up with so far."

Benedict's ears flushed. He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'says you', but I pretended to ignore it.

Normally I’d try to have more tact for my king, but we only had hours until sundown. I didn’t have time to coddle his ego, or tiptoe around the point.

Besides, I knew deep down he didn’t want that—not from Kieran or me. He trusted us to push him when needed.

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