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“So, if we’ve got nothing from them, what did you want to talk about?”
“I was hoping we could find a way to meet one on one with a few council members who are more Arbiter leaning. I have some contacts working on that, but in the meantime, I thought we could go over their profiles.”
Darla let out a theatrical groan and slumped slightly onto the table. “We’re grown people in the middle of the world, and you’re telling me that we have homework?”
That got a laugh out of Aodin, and we soon joined in. It was nice to just sit around the table and share a joke together. Too bad that joke was followed by homework.
I supposed there were worse things in life.
“All right, I’m calling it,” Darla said what had to be at least two agonizing hours later. I was still committed to doing whatever needed to be done to ensure the safety of my mate as well as the people of Camdaria. Still, that didn’t make the equivalent of diplomatic flash cards any less torturous. “If we do this any longer without a break, I’m going to have to go start a tavern brawl and get some of this aggression out of me.”
“Fair warning,” Aodin said, chuckling. “I’ll have one of our staff bring out some food, some drink, and see if we rally by this afternoon.”
“Better be some damn good food, then.”
Although I could tell Darla was having fun being over the top, I agreed with her. Nothing like delicious food and something tasty to drink after talking too long about political allegiances and diplomatic tendencies.
Aodin stood, giving his own dramatic bow. If Darla was a theater kid, then he was, too, because he met her beat for beat in kind. “I will make sure that it is the most—”
He never finished the sentence, but that was likely because a massive explosion rocked the island, and he stumbled forward.
“What the fuck was that?!”
All of us were on our feet in less than a second, and my wolf was on full alert. The happy, syrupy contentment I’d been bathed in all afternoon went to the back of my mind, yet I didn’t feel the normal adrenaline drag that came from a sudden shock. If anything I felt ready to leap into battle, which was a good thing because I was fairly sure one was here.
“Is everyone—”
Another explosion rocked us, and this time I did have to catch Ayla, who was light enough to be thrown from her feet while Darla collided with Oren. Two pillars of black, malevolent smoke began to rise in the sky.
We were under attack.
All of us raced out to the front, most of the staff already present, and from the elevated veranda we were able to see all the way out to the port. I knew the situation was dire, but I hoped there was just an errant pirate ship or two, or even just a horde of Camdarian war ships.
But no, we couldn’t be that lucky. Even with Ayla’s curse locked behind a parasitic cage, our fortunes could never be that strong, because what was waiting for us looked like an entire armada of modern ships.
All sailing the Vekan flag.
Fuck.
Chapter 21
Kai
I ran across the ground in wolf form, cutting the distance between us and the docks as those ships rapidly approached. I was sure the fae had plenty of defenses, considering how thorough their set-up was in the capital, but even if they were extremely efficient, they were just a single island, and the armada in front of us looked like it was a quarter of the entire population of Blath.
I couldn’t let the island be massacred. I didn’t think I’d ever had such unfavorable odds, but that was just the way it was going to be. We and every other able-bodied warrior were going to have to fight for our lives.
It was chaos around me as I ran, but I also had to admire the majority of the citizen’s reactions. While some were running farther into the jungle and out of the city—mostly children, elders, and those who couldn’t fight—I saw plenty running toward those pillars of smoke with buckets of water, or even hoses from their own houses. I wasn’t sure what fire department Blath had, but I imagined being by the water, they had to have at least some infrastructure set up for it.
Those who weren’t fleeing or rushing to put out fires were still helping the injured get to safety, or even running in the same direction I was. Naturally, they couldn’t quite catch up, but that was all right. I needed to get as far ahead as I could in order to get a better idea of what was happening. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to issue orders considering the majority of the people around me weren’t shifters, but I could find one who could translate. I had a feeling I was going to need my wolf form.
I reached the line of government buildings marking the change from the pier area to the more residential area of the city and bounded to the highest spot. There, I looked over the approaching armada and took it in.
As far as I could tell, there were only four ships I could see with massive artillery guns on their decks: shining, metal, booming weapons launching explosive shells at the island. Four were better than a dozen, but that didn’t change that there were thousands of soldiers on those ships.
How had they found us so quickly? I’d thought we had more time. In fact, I’d hoped we’d be able to leave, overthrow my father, and the word of the coup would have Vekas making a move on the capital in the vain hope that I would somehow be as foolish as my father.
But no, things had to be more complicated, of course—more entrenched in blood—and there was always the underlying thought that if Vekas’ forces were at our door, the Shrouded Shriek wouldn’t be far behind.
