“Tomorrow at sunrise should give everyone enough time to reach the capital.” She directs everyone. “Odr, can you go down to the docks with Lachlan,”—she gestures to him, but he looks to me for approval—“and select a ship, a grand one?”
I dip my chin and Lachlan pushes away from the table. He presses a kiss to my temple before leading Odr from the room. “And Mathilda, can you make sure that Skadi is in leathers and not those mundane human clothes?”
Mathilda nods and heads to the door without question. But her shoulders droop with the heaviness of her task.
Which leaves Freya, Mina, Harald, Piominko, Tane, and me.
Freya shifts her attention back to me. “Would you like my help with the war preparations as well?”
I reflect on how little I know about war and the preparation for it before sliding my eyes around the table, to the people who are counting on me to not to fail.
“Yes.”
She nods.
“Harald, can you go with Evander and get training reports? We need to know how it’s going to assess where we need to go.”
He crosses his arms over his leather-clad chest, leveling a glare at where Evander stands behind Tane.
“By the looks of it, not well.” He eyes Tane’s remaining arm.
One moment he’s standing there arms crossed, the next his body is being thrown into the wall.
The resounding crash has the ground quaking and my ears ringing. He crumples against the marble floor.
Mina stands, chest heaving, arms clenched into fists at her side as she watches Harald clamber to his feet.
“You watch your fucking mouth,” she snarls.
My eyes widen in alarm, watching her stare down a bear of a man after using her power to throw him into a wall.
Freya watches the entire interaction with an amused expression, as does Luna. Piominko looks on with a hint of satisfaction. While Evander and Tane look shocked.
Harald stares at Mina with a mixture of anger and…arousal.
“Well met, sprite,” he grumbles, his eyes raking across her body.
The nickname causes a laugh to surface through the grief, but I shove it down. She does resemble a sprite. All she needs are gossamer wings instead of her opalescent feathers.
Evander’s head moves between Harald and Mina. But as she relaxes her fists, he turns to leave. “Come on Harald, before she throws you again.”
Tane’s attention shifts to Mina and she beams at him before taking a steadying breath.
“It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to do that.”
“I apologize,” Freya addresses Tane. “He’s insufferable most days, but exactly the kind of warrior you want beside you in battle.”
Tane nods at her and then looks at me. “And my orders?”
“Rest for now. We’ll begin evaluating your training tomorrow.”
His jaw flexes, but he doesn’t argue. He stalks out the door.
After he’s gone, Luna snorts. “It would’ve been kinder to kill him.”
I whirl towards her, my mouth dropping open, but she cuts me off.
“If you don’t let him fight this out, he will die.”
