“The true form of the Venari King… I wondered where you’d been hiding him,” she mused.
His jaw clenched, and he walked over to the dresser, the echo of his black boots on the wood sounding in the quiet room. He grabbed his leather wrist braces and avoided her gaze. “Do something with that mane of yours,” he said in a low voice. “You’ll have us found in the darkness by the sight of it.”
She looked down at her hair, but said nothing as she pulled it up messily and tied it up with a fabric she tore from his sheet. He stopped moving and stared at her.
“Did you just rip by bedsheets?” he asked.
“You told me to tame my mane,” she said. “It was the first stray fabric I saw.”
“I can still see it,” he said, looking at her loose stark ginger ringlets. “You look like fire against the moonslight.”
“What do you suggest I do?” she asked haughtily.
His jaw clenched, and he grabbed a black scarf from inside the top drawer. The fabric was tossed at her face. “Wrap that around you.”
She balked. “You wish me to fight, covered up like—”
“I wish you to do nothing,” he argued. “You’ll have no one there to save you tonight if you get yourself in trouble.”
“Promise?” she muttered beneath her breath.
“On my life,” he answered.
Her jaw tightened, and she pushed the anger swelling through her to the back of her mind. He turned and left from the room then, leaving her to deal with the long black fabric. She took her hair down and tied it in a braid on her neck instead, then reluctantly wrapped the scarf around her head and neck.
The breeze from Lovi’s waters blasted her face the closer they reached to his shores.
Nadir’s people met them at the edge of the forest. They paused at the edge, waiting on their scouts to return. Aydra had sent the raven off earlier in the day to look ahead at what was waiting on them.
Draven and Nadir were pouring over a map when she caught up with them at the front. Aydra stepped up to them, her eyes flickering and narrowing to the bag dangling on Draven’s side, horns sticking out of the top of it. She pushed it from mind and focused her mind on the task at hand.
“My raven says there are ten ships now,” Aydra interjected into their conversation. “She says—”
“Your raven?” Nadir repeated, a frown across his face.
“She speaks to creatures,” Draven said without looking away from the map.
“Like…” Nadir crossed his arms over his chest and gazed wearily down at her. “Like you talk to animals?”
“Yes,” Aydra replied firmly.
“As in…. All animals? Like you speak rabbit?” he continued to ask.
Aydra’s jaw tightened. “You make me sound like some fated princess, Storn.”
“But aren’t you?” Nadir asked mockingly.
“Actually—” Draven straightened up and frowned at Nadir “—did you know about this? About Arbina’s daughters being able to speak with creatures?”
Nadir’s gaze stroked over Aydra, and he contemplated his answer a moment. “I’ve heard stories of them able to speak to certain ones. Not all of them.”
“She can connect with their cores,” Draven further explained.
Brows raised on Nadir’s face. “Really? That is—”
“Okay, we can talk more about the enigmatic freak that I am on another date,” Aydra cut in. “I believe we have ships to take care of?”
A small smile broke on Nadir’s face, and he scoffed under his breath. “What else did your precious raven say?”
She told them about the shelters and tents the strangers had erected, as well as the large sharpened wooden spikes they’d planted in the sand.
“Fire,” said one of the Honest women behind Nadir. “The darkness continues to surround us. We should wake them with fire.”
“Why wake them when we could slip in their tents and slit their throats?” Balandria asked.
“They have centuries patrolling the dunes,” Aydra cut in.
Nadir’s gaze met one of his men’s. “How many did you see when you scouted?” he asked him.
“Easily twenty,” the man answered.
“We are stealth,” came Dunthorne’s voice. “We can take care of the centuries without a problem.”
“You’ll be taken down again,” the Honest woman argued.
Aydra stared between them. “How exactly is it you two came up with a cohesive battle plan the last time? Was there this much division?”
Nadir straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. “Last time it was daylight. We relied on our weapons to do the fighting.”
“And how did that work out for you?” she smarted.
Nadir’s jaw tightened, and he exchanged a glance with Draven.
“All right, Sun Queen,” Draven began in a low voice. “What do you suggest?”
She felt a soft smile rise on her lips as her mind began to work. “Using what you were born with instead of relying on the same weapons they will be using.”
Draven and Nadir exchanged another look, their fingers tightening on their arms. Draven’s weight then shifted, and he gave her a full once over.
“Explain.”
“—It’s all right! I’m here! I found my way!”
The noise of Ash’s voice cutting through the silent crowd made Aydra’s nostrils flare. She’d hoped to leave him behind so that she would not have to deal with him that day. Aydra met Lex’s eyes over her shoulder and raised a short brow.
Lex gave her a nod. “Yes ma’am.”
Ash pushed his way through the people, and as soon as his feet hit the edge of the crowd, Lex grabbed his throat in her hand.
“—what—” Ash’s hands grabbed hers, and he struggled for air.
“Does the darkness around us mean nothing to you?” Lex hissed. “Do you think we walked all this way beneath moons so that we could be given away by some idiot Dreamer captain?”
His feet lifted off the ground.
“You will keep your mouth shut unless spoken to today,” Lex continued. “Do you understand?”
Ash’s head nodded voraciously. And
