Nyte was becoming more protective of Drystan, though he wouldn’t admit that was why he was vehemently against his younger brother going off on his own. Especially not with their father on the loose.
An argument crossed Drystan’s face, but thankfully Zath cut in before he could speak it.
“Did you get a piece of your key at the temple with Nightsdeath?” Zath asked.
“Yes, but it was a fake”
“There are only five key pieces; I was hoping you’d know which temples you sent them to,” Drystan sighed.
“It doesn’t work like that,” I said. “It protects itself by challenging the pursuant. For the Libertatem, it took on the mold of the king’s ideals to test him by challenging what he believed in most. That greed, envy, lust, wrath, and pride were the worst of mankind’s flaws.”
“Your weapon has a twisted sense of humor,” Rose muttered.
I said, “There’s no telling what form each trial will take this time for each of us. No one has attempted them before. For the one I faced with Nightsdeath, it challenged our trust in each other.”
Nyte’s hand resting on my thigh gave a gentle squeeze. I slipped my hand over his in comfort.
“At least we’ll free more dragons, even if certain temples don’t have a true piece. Which I’m guessing we’ll only discover when we get them all back to you,” Drystan pondered.
“Me or Nyte, yes. The key answers to both of us.”
“The dragons will change the tide of this war,” Zath said hopefully.
“Unless they bond with any of those allied with Auster or the king,” Lilith enlightened.
It was possible. Once a dragon was freed there was no predicting where it could decide to attach its allegiance. We’d gotten lucky with Eltanin and Athebyne, but life had taught me to brace for a storm after a blessing of sunshine.
I said, “We’ll cover Althenia after Astrinus. It’ll be the most dangerous to venture into. And I need… I need to see Zephyr.”
“What about our snake of a father and his new primordial allies out for vengeance?” Drystan said warily with a look at Nyte.
“We need the key before we can face them. Right now, all we can hope for is to remain out of their sights no matter what they begin to inflict on the land,” Nyte said.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” I said, torn by the notion that I had to let the gods who created me roam while we went on our quest for the weapon to destroy them.
“Then let’s not waste anymore time.” Drystan swiped my bowl just as I went to lift my spoon, and I reached after it in protest.
Nyte slipped his bowl in front of me, but Drystan was quick to collect that too.
“Another five minutes to eat isn’t going to give the gods much of a head start,” Nyte remarked, but stood anyway.
“You used to lead armies, and there was a time you spent more time on the battlefield than off; you should know how crucial five minutes can be.”
Nyte and I exchanged a look, which had us mutually regretting the insistence he join us instead of one of the other parties on this quest. I bit back my smile. I couldn’t help my amusement, even when nothing was truly humorous; it might be the only way to keep myself from buckling under the foreboding pressure of what we had to achieve.
Our farewells to the others outside Nadir’s home started to unsettle my stomach.
I hugged Zath tightly for longer than usual.
“Are you sure you’re well enough for this?” I whispered, wishing for an answer I wouldn’t get. One that would keep him here and safe.
“I bested Thorns in a combat test—”
“No, you didn’t,” Rose cut in immediately.
“Ialmostbested her,” he amended, pulling back with a boyish grin directed at her. “I’m as good as I can be, and there’s no way in hell I’m sitting this out while the rest of you are off risking your lives.”
When his sight fell back to me, his smile wiped completely. I couldn’t stop staring at him with such worry tightening in my chest. For Rosalind too, as I stepped up to embrace her next.
