“I know you can. Doesn’t mean you will.”
Amaya and Reign grab onto each other and begin jumping up and down when I tell them about the invitation.
“I’ve never been to a wedding before!” Amaya squeals.
“Me either! It’s going to be so romantic!”
Girls.
“What are we going to wear?” Amaya suddenly looks stressed and sprints to her closet. One of the dresses she tosses over her shoulder hits me in the face, and I quickly stop her before her entire wardrobe ends up in a mess on the floor.
“Relax. Everything is going to be taken care of.”
“Oh, thank The Mother! I don’t have anything nice enough for an Infinite Sea wedding.”
“All you need to worry about is filling Zane in on who everyone is.”
She whirls around on her heel so fast that she stumbles. “Wait, he’s coming? I thought it was just the four of us.”
“I got special approval for Zane to come along, too. I figured this little trip would be good for the two of you after spending so much time apart.”
She springs into my arms, nearly knocking me over. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
Reign catches my gaze as I embrace her twisted sister and I can tell I’ve earned myself a few points with the gesture, though, I didn’t do it for her. Amaya would do anything for the ones she loves, and that deserves to be reciprocated. Somuch of her life revolves around Reign and the others that I think she forgets to make herself a priority sometimes.
“Thank you,” Reign silently mouths to me.
I wink and it makes her smile that sweet smile.
“Alright, I have to get back for a council meeting.” I turn my attention to Reign. “Care to join?”
“Actually, yes.”
Every once in a while, she sits in on them but most of the time she opts out, claiming the military talk goes right over her head. Military strategy isn’t always the focus, but it has been lately. Today will be more of a check in though, so she should be able to keep up.
Everyone is already positioned around the table when we walk in, including Damien whose eyes narrow on the two of us before he looks away, attempting to appear unbothered. There’s a slight feeling of satisfaction seeing his discomfort. It’s not that I would wish this on anyone, but I do my fair share of seeing them together so it’s only right we both suffer.
“Who would like to start?”
Jace puts his hand up and clears his throat. “We’ve begun intermixing the Dread Woods beasts with our military units. The witches plan to meet with the Dread Woods’ leader next week and begin creating replicas of the creatures for our units to train against. Akari, Zane, and Amaya have done solid research that our people have already begun studying. Any missing information will be filled in by their chosen council.”
“That’s good to hear.” I offer him a pleased nod. “I want them to feel welcomed so keep an eye on any brewing tension that might build over the next couple of weeks.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Next.”
Artemus looks uneasy which has me bracing myself for bad news.
“There’s still no information on how to find the lost island,” he reports. “We’re growing desperate. I think it’s time we reconsider trying the portals again.”
I shake my head. “No. Not yet. It’s too risky.”
“But—”
“That’s final,” I order in the tone he knows not to argue with.
“We’ll keep at it then.”
