And suddenly, I felt the weight of the situation upon my shoulders. “You want me to tap into our guests to check for their intentions because Dorian is worried?”
“No.” Kane pulled his shoulders back. “If you are feeling up to it, I would like you to tap into everyone who is traveling with us.”
“What?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why?”
A number of shocked responses sounded out around us.
Kane held his hand up, stopping the growing commotion. “I understand the need to be concerned. I, of all people, am more so than any of you. This is my future wife, and she is pregnant with my child… or children.” I was sure he threw in that last part to appease those that were sure of the prophecy. “But, if I am to question one, should I not question all to be sure? And if there is a way to know, should I and Auriena not be certain of everyone?”
“This is a waste of time. Your army is true to you and have been for many years. Why would it change now?” Dorian spat.
“Aeden?” Kane turned to the Emalne warrior.
“Yes?” Aeden stepped forward.
“Were you aware that your fellow warriors would turn on your orders as they did? Had they not fought beside you for some time, and did it not take you by surprise that any, let alone so many did as they did?” Kane inquired.
Sorrow pulled his head down. “I was taken by surprise by their actions… their betrayal of a direct order.”
Kane slowly turned his head back to Dorian. “One can never be so sure. And in my many years, when someone pushes for the possible condemnation of another without reason, it almost always smells of betrayal of its own.”
“We do not have time, nor does she have the strength to read each of our energies,” Dorian’s words were hissed through his teeth.
Kane grabbed the soldier by the front of his armor. “You assume to tell me that you know more than I… or more than she knows about her abilities? About her strengths?”
I walked over to the men and placed my hand on Kane’s arm, my other on Dorian’s shoulder, directing my words at Kane. “My love,” I took a breath when I saw Kane relax. His shoulders dropped when he let go of Dorian. “I cannot say that I would have the strength to connect to every single person in our party one by one and rifle through all of their emotions to see if they have even a shred of malice against me. No. But,” I turned toward Dorian, my hand still on his shoulder. “I get that you do not like me. However, I do not need to unpack each of you to feel your intentions. I can do that with just being near you… which I have done to everyone in question. And only certain people…” I paused, looking at him for longer than comfortable, “stand out to me. Do you really want me unpacking everyone’s emotional baggage?”
Dorian straightened up. His eyes going wide for a moment before he attempted to hide them. “My sincerest apologies. I merely want to protect my king.”
I lowered my arm. “Your king does a well enough job of protecting himself. Your job is to protect me. Is that a job you can do?”
The commanding officer looked to Kane, who stood, stoic, verging on anger the longer it took Dorian to respond. Looking back to me, he tipped his chin up. “Yes. It is the wish of my king that you stay safe, and you are to be my queen. That means it is my duty.”
“Now,” I walked around the table and knelt down by Oberlea and Dohlmas. Putting a hand on their arms, I offered both a friendly smile. “Would you want to stay or come with us and help me learn about Naelyra since I grew up very sheltered to its ways and other races?”
“We’ll come,” Oberlea stated decidedly.
Dohlmas’s deep breath spoke volumes of how he felt. But instead of arguing with her, he agreed with his sister’s choice. “We shall come.”
“Are you sure?” I asked him.
“Other than work? We have nothing here. And for the first time in a very long time, my sister is excited and happy. We shall come.” The grin he gave to Oberlea was one that didn’t hide a sadness but did show his love for her.
“Thank you,” she practically whispered to him.
I went back to Kane’s side. “Would you care to have all of the warriors and soldiers come shake my hand? Or are we set so I can eat and then get some sleep so I can go home tomorrow?”
Proudly, Kane rolled his shoulders back. Nodding to Aeden and then curtly doing the same to Dorian, he took my hand in his. “What would you like to eat? I would like to get you back upstairs to rest soon.”
Wulfgar chuckled. “She needs the rest after…”
“Consider yourself warned.” Kane’s tone was sharp.
The raider roared with laughter. “What? I was wondering if we needed to have someone come fix the glass in your windowpanes.”
“Wulfgar…” Kane warned.
His laughter grew. “I’m glad you’re satisfied with a woman, my friend. She’s definitely worthy of your love and our respect.” He patted Kane’s shoulder and went back to his station at the bar, immediately ordering another ale.
Chapter
Fifteen
Home
The evening before, once everyone had settled down after Dorian demanded that I read them, we - human, vampire, Emalne, Voirechoes - all gathered. Pulling together a cluster of tables, we ate, talked and enjoyed the night.
It had been decided that the siblings, Dohlmas and Oberlea, were coming with us. They had plenty of knowledge to share from what we could tell,
