Page 50 of Songs of Retribution

The image of Seelie troops storming into the Prasanna city, using this powdered death on our people, destroying our temples and art and history, screamed through my mind so I could gag on it.

I had to think like a prince, however. "Have you updated the Maharani with this information yet?"

"Not yet, Your Highness."

"Would you do that? We'll work on a strategy."

"Of course." He bowed, and I returned the gesture before he left.

The creek trickled and babbled, flush with water from the rainfall, like a ticking clock counting down to our inevitable defeat. I wanted nothing more than to walk to my tent, pray I'd find Lira there, and lose myself to her arms and touch. It seemed likely I wouldn't have many more days to do so. Perhaps a few months at most.

There was someone I needed to speak to first before I gave up hope, though. I walked back into the quiet camp. A few soldiers had lit fires, and they glistened in the falling dark. I stepped over to the section where we'd placed the royals’ tents. They were at the camp’s center, easy to defend.

Except these soldiers shouldn’t have to die to defend us when we had nothing to offer them in return. What magic could stop this cruel fate that awaited us all?

I found Lira, Shaan, Lennox, and Ishir all seated around a fire. Their expressions were as grave as my feelings. To find Ishir, a royal guard, sitting by Shaan in front of the entire camp said a lot. He was acting more like a friend than a guard at the moment. Perhaps he felt the doom awaiting us all as well.

"Lennox," I said. He lifted his face. "May I speak with you alone for a few minutes?"

Shaan looked ready to protest, but Lennox placed a hand on his knee to stall him without breaking eye contact with me. "Of course."

He rose and followed me a dozen strides away, out of earshot of the others. Magic snapped in my mind, and I opened myself up to Lira's gentle voice.Please, Sai. This wasn't Lennox's fault.

I pulled the veil between us fully back so she could feel the full weight of my emotions, the regret I had over treating Lennox so harshly, the fear I held for our people, the hopeless resolve to fight to the death to protect everything and everyone I loved, the resolution to repair things with Lennox if it would help.

Her gasp echoed around the chambers of my mind.What happened?

I'll tell you later. For now, I promise I'm not taking Lennox aside to attack him, all right?

Her emotions swirled, but she acquiesced, and the magic pulled away as I turned back to Lennox. I gestured to a few boulders, and he sat on one gracefully. He was like his sister in that; they moved like the dancers they both were.

I sat as well but before I could speak Lennox raised his hands. "Look, I know what you're going to say and—"

"I was wrong." The words stung as they spilled past my lips. It hurt as much as my injuries to admit it to the man.

"Wh-what?" Lennox lifted his face, and in the dim light of distant fires and without his glamour, I could see how much he looked like Lira. He had the same slope to his nose, the same pale eyes, the same thick lips.

"Sometimes I'm an ass.” It was the most honest thing I'd likely ever said. "I move forward with my plans too brashly, and I make quick judgements that I stick with even when they're no longer valid."

Lennox stared at me like I spoke an ancient elemental language and he struggled to comprehend the meaning. His eyelashes fluttered. "I'm sure it's helped to keep you alive."

I grunted; that was true. "What I really mean to say is I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?"

"I've been an asshole to you. Lira and Shaan have both asked me to give you a second chance and I haven't done it. I haven't even wanted to, were I honest."

Lennox leaned on his legs, his mouth gaping a moment before he spoke again. "I appreciate it, Sai. More than I can say." He looked up at me. "I'm not sure I understand why you bring this up now, though."

I gritted my teeth together and took a deep breath. "I need your help."

One of his eyebrows rose. "My help?"

"Yes."

Wrinkles swept across his forehead, and the wind ruffled his hair up so it glowed orange in the firelight. It was possibly the most disconcerted I'd ever seen him, which was saying something after all we'd experienced already. "Okay. How can I help?"

"Your father raised you as the next in line for the throne, like my elder sister." He parted his lips like he might speak, but I lifted my hands to stop him. "You understand how to lead, to direct people, and how to make hard choices."

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