You’re making me look like a love-drunk fool in front of the soldiers!I chastised him playfully via our bond.
Sage made a dismissive snort and proceeded to nibble his way along my jaw.
“Then we will both be love-drunk fools!” he insisted between nips and kisses. “So what?”
I rolled my eyes at his antics, my cheeks flushing as he finally let me go. From the corner of my eye, I could see there were other fey looking at us, but I decided to adopt Sage’s stance and ignored them. Being deliriously in love and happy with my mate did not mean I couldn’t still put every one of them in their fucking place. So did it matter what they thought of our ridiculous behaviour?
I looked up at Sage and found he was already looking down at me. There was such adoration and admiration in his eyes, and then he smiled when our eyes met, andgods, that smile was beautiful.Hewas beautiful. Gentle. Kind. Protective. Supportive. Not to mention a fantastic lover.
Andminefor the rest of my life.
“I love you,” I told him, my ears flinching nervously. While I may have gotten used to saying it privately, it was completely different saying it within earshot of others.
“I love you too,mo chridhe,” he murmured back as he pulled me back in for a more sincere kiss on my head.
“Are the two of you done flirting yet? Can we get back to the battle formations?” shouted Ciaran loudly enough for absolutely everyone in the vicinity to hear him.
My teeth ground together as I turned, my ears pinning back when I saw him striding toward us with his golden vargr, Aingeal, at his side. Behind them walked Asha who was dressed in her leather armour with a sword buckled on both of her slender hips.
“I hate you,” I growled at Ciaran when he reached us, but it only made him grin.
“Rian is on his way to meet us on the field,” said Sage to his mother before Ciaran could instigate me more.
“Yes. Let us fly,” Ciaran suggested with far too much enthusiasm as he turned to climb into his saddle.
I scowled after him as he and Aingeal took to the night sky without another word. But my expression cleared as soon as I turned to look at Sage and Asha again.
“I will see you soon,” I told Sage as he pressed those soft lips to my forehead one more time.
“Be safe,” he replied as he pulled himself onto Serafin before reaching down for his mother. She was as nervous as she had been the first time she climbed up behind him, but she let him haul her into the saddle.
I had been shocked to learn just moments ago during a brief from Darragh that Asha was a talented illusionist. Months ago in a meeting at Aes Suri with the other Sua, she had hinted at being able to prevent the Fuath from fleeing a battle. I had been immensely curious at the time, but her gift had not crossed my mind again until Darragh said she would conceal our army.
“I love you, Ornella,” she said suddenly, taking me off guard completely. She merely smiled at my surprised face as if she anticipated I might not be ready to say it back. But if losing Sage had taught me anything, it was not to leave the important thingsleft unsaid.
“I love you too, Asha,” I responded confidently, which earned me a smile from both her and Sage before Serafin bent down and leapt up to take flight.
Pyrope grumbled dejectedly as she watched them go, and I tried to hide a laugh as I stroked her soothingly.
“Don’t worry, we will see them soon,” I assured her.
Tell Rajah to move her troops just a little bit to the right. They are marching off centre from up here,Ciaran noted with a smirk in his stupid voice.
Shut the fuck up,I snarled back. There was absolutely no way I’d fall for another one of his so-called directives. Both of the tiefling commanders now thought that I was a complete imbecile thanks to Ciaran.
I had limited experience in organizing and moving so many warriors around, but the soldiers were well trained, and their commanders were very competent. Thankfully, my only real role was to relay directions to them from the command tent to help coordinate and avoid congestion.
It was dark, and while many fey may possess excellent night vision, every fifth warrior was carrying a torch for the benefit of the strictly diurnal. Our warriors stayed so quiet that in the dark distance, we could hear the Fuath screeching between booms and roars from Rian’s fire as he distracted them. In the brief flares of light, I caught glimpses of their frantic host as it scurried across the black flatland. All while Asha made us invisible to them as we got into position before they could overrun us.
I was not the only one who was amazed by our leader singlehandedly holding off an entire army. I could hear the murmurs of awe from the warriors around me as we watched Rian distract and divert the Fuath.
Through Sage and Ciaran’s view, I could see the army arrayed across the dark field with torchlights winking. Most of our forces were stationed along the riverbank in the south to defend the bridge, but our wing of the army was stationed to the east, parallel to the end of the river. Just in case the Fuath decided to do the smart thing and circumvent the river altogether. Rian still felt strongly that the eastern side was most vulnerable, since it would have given them a straight shot into our encampment and then into Mionlach behind. But Darragh had sent plenty of scouts to explore the eastern forest, and they had not found any sign of impending incursion in that direction. Nonetheless, Rian wanted to be careful.
I saw General Rajah raise her hand from the front of her division and knew it was time. The warriors around me went uncannily silent until Rajah dropped her hand in a firm swipe.
Now,I whispered to Sage, and I knew the second Asha dropped the illusion, because I heard the delighted shriek of the Fuath just before our warriors bellowed at them. The collective sound of our army chanting their war cry was so exhilarating, it made me want to charge straight into the fray. But I held my position just like all the other warriors for the second part of Asha’s illusion.
I could see the dark mass that was the Fuath army in the distance as it immediately pivoted to charge. It was an unorganized stampede, but it still had potential to utterly overwhelm us. Especially if they managed to hit our front lines at full speed with their far superior numbers.
