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Occasionally, I amused myself imagining Prisca growing up in Regner’s court. It would have been like letting a tiny, venomous snake slip in undetected. Her schemes would have turned his court upside down.
There was no doubt that Regner would soon know exactly what we were planning. Unfortunately, the blood vow Prisca had made with Daharak Rostamir couldn’t wait. As the summit had proven, we needed allies. Our chances of surviving this war would be greatly improved with the pirate queen’s fleet sailing on our side.
Regner likely hadn’t anticipated us working with the pirate queen. Jamic was currently sitting on this ship, his expression serene as he watched the horizon. Prisca had ensured he was brought onto the ship separately, with a few fae loyal to Lorian. All of us had agreed to hide exactly who he was from Daharak until Prisca had completed her first blood vow.
Daharak might not react well to learning she had been tricked.
All I knew was I wanted this next part over. Prisca had been practicing with her hourglass and seemed certain she could give the pirate queen’s ships enough time to get past Regner’s fleet with their weapon in hand. Of course, that depended on nothing going wrong. Just the thought felt as if I were tempting the fates.
A pigeon circled above us, flying down to where Prisca stood, smiling up at Lorian. Her smile disappeared at the pigeon’s appearance.
I couldn’t blame her. Any messages we received were rarely good news.
She unrolled the parchment, and the color drained from her face. Lorian leaned over her shoulder, his brows furrowing at whatever he read.
Getting to my feet, I made my way over to them.
“What is it?”
Prisca met my eyes. “It’s from Asinia. Tibris is okay. But the rebel camp was attacked, and Demos almost died. He’s recovering now. That’s not the worst of it, though. The camp was attacked by vicious, winged creatures with fangs and claws. According to Asinia, they showed a high level of intelligence. She described it as a feral malevolence.”
Terror thundered through me, my vision spiraled, and my lips turned numb. We’d expected to meet humans wielding iron on the battlefield. This changed everything.
“How?” I asked.
Lorian’s expression was dark. “There were rumors of Regner finding fae creatures decades ago. We searched for evidence of such a thing and couldn’t find it. But…there are beasts hidden throughout this continent. Remember the stone hags? They’d made their home in the Cursed City—along with creatures that were once solely found in the fae lands. It’s possible Regner did find those creatures and that he’s been breeding them for just this purpose.”
“The best way to kill them is to target their wings and heads. Apparently, burning works as well,” Prisca said.
“We need to know how many of these creatures he has,” Lorian said. “Now we know for certain that they exist, they would have left a trail on their way to the rebel camp in Gromalia. I’ll let Conreth know. And we’ll need our spies to search for any traces of them.”
Daharak swaggered toward us. She’d demanded that we travel on her ship, so she could “have the best possible view” as Prisca used her power to help her recover her ships…and her weapon.
She glanced between all of us, her brow tightening. “What happened?”
Prisca glanced at Lorian. But I didn’t bother choosing my words carefully. The pirate queen seemed to believe her people would sail out of this war without sacrifice.
“Regner has unleashed vicious beasts with wings,” I said.
She met my eyes.
Yes, that’s right. They could fly right to your ships at any time.
Prisca sighed. “I’m going to go tell the others.”
“Good,” Daharak said. She watched Prisca and Lorian walk away before meeting my gaze. “Your friend is very clever.”
She clearly meant Prisca. I turned back to watch the ships she’d ordered to sail with us. “I have no friends.” But my chest clenched as Prisca’s words trickled through my head. “My people are not for sale.”
Daharak snorted softly. Her dismissal set my teeth on edge.
“A blood vow from the hybrid queen,” I mused. “And you used it to find a weapon.”
“Your point?”
“I’m merely wondering who it is you plan to kill with that weapon. Is it Regner?”
“No.”
