“I am under orders to return the bone to my mother. As are you,” she said, her eyes still hard on my own. “Do you remember the terms of her deal?”
My lips pursed as I replayed the words of Queen Antares in my head. She’d bring our fleet back to Sultira when I gave her the bone.
“They’ve wed,” she continued. “If what Tiberius showed you was true, Bayne is king, which means fifteen thousand Lotrennians will follow you to Sultira. But only if you return to our land with the bone.”
My stomach pitched. I wouldn’t give Queen Antares this power. We’d find another way to dethrone Saros and return to Sultira. I couldn’t let any Bellator power fall into her hands.
“Are you willing to let that go? The aid and power of the elves? Even if it means the continued sacrifice of Sultira’s people while you wait to dethrone him?”
Fresh nausea churned in my gut. “She’s not getting this bone, or any other bone of power,” I said quietly.
Carina’s eyes bounced between mine as she took a step closer. “Leaders are forced to make difficult choices. My mother has made many that have left her…”
She paused, glancing at Aquila's large form behind me. “Scarred. And changed. She wasn’t always like this.”
Her eyes drifted toward the sea beyond us and its vibrant waters before shaking her head. “I haven’t sworn the air oath to my mother. She reserves that right for people she deems more valuable.” Carina crossed her arms as she surveyed me. “But I’d swear one to you, if your offer of an alliance still stands.”
“An air oath?”
“The same words Astraeus swore to you,” she confirmed. “That you receive my counsel. That you use your powers tounifythe lands of Vael.”
I blinked and nodded, taken aback by her sudden offer.
“I’ll find you later,” she murmured and moved to join Kresida at the back of the ship.
“Nerissa’s below,” Vulcan muttered as he approached, his voice dry and throaty as if he’d hurled a gallon of lake water.
“How long has it been?”
“A day and a half,” he murmured as his blonde eyebrows furrowed.
We entered a small, private room below deck where Nerissa’s form lay peacefully under a thick, black fur. Ronan straddled the sole chair, hunched over the back of it as he watched her.
“Has she awoken yet?” I asked quietly as I entered.
I stepped around the chair and knelt beside her cot. Ronan wiped the crumbs from his eyes, rubbing the space between them. He shook his head, light curls dull and splattered with mud and dried blood.
“Have you slept?”
Ronan turned toward me and raised his eyebrows. Of course not.
“I can take over,” I said, concern squeezing at my chest. I reached out to the wall I had so forcefully broken through. My consciousness reeled back as a current of flame lashed at it. Despite the guard, my chest eased. She was still there.
“Pretty sure you’re needed elsewhere,” he muttered, turning back to Nerissa. “I’m not leaving.”
My brows pinched in question.
“Astraeus,” Vulcan answered.
I scoffed, shaking my head. “He can wait,” I growled, nodding to Vulcan and pulling a chair up next to Ronan. “I’m staying.”
Ronan’s lips twitched.
A tugof air pulled me from my slumber. I blinked at Nerissa, still asleep, as I sat up. Ronan lay passed out on the floor. A shade of amusement rose as I remembered the last time he offered to sleep on the floor. Such different circumstances. And instead of dredging up the stinging ache of betrayal, the memory brought a swell of gratitude along with it for his friendship. His love for Nerissa was so clearly written in his actions that I wondered how anyone, Nerissa and I included, ever missed it in the first place.
Another tug of air, this time wrapping itself around my braid.
What the hell?—
