“Semantics,” he waves her off dismissively. “I’d bet on our girl taming this lot.”
His face doesn’t falter, but his posture is off. Like Ronyn knows that what he’s saying is complete and utter bullshit.
Fuck.
Elyssara gestures to them to take their seats, and just like that: the conclave begins.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The wars that shape the world begin
Long before the blades sink in
Elyssara does not sitbecause if she allows herself even one moment to soften, she fears the room will smell the uncertainty on her. So she paces.
Her gaze drags across the circle, measuring. Weighing every threat. Every ego. Every fracture waiting to split them apart. This battle will not be won with steel. It will be won by who bends and who breaks. It will be wonhere. Before a single blade is drawn.
The eyes that stare back at her are hard. Harsh. Waiting for her to make a mistake. She swallows, her throat dry and raw.
Ronyn and Seren sit to either side of her place, like shields between her and this fragile, half-formed alliance. Vren and Lara sneer at each other. Jax’s gaze bores into Marin like she can set her alight by sheer will. Teddy averts his gaze, something about him seems forlorn or broken. Seren ignores him entirely, which may explain the despair that emanates from his being.
Elyssara clears her throat, and a dozen gazes snap to her.
But another sound commands her attention—footfalls echo through the mouth of The Perils, overlapping and distorted.
One body.
Two.
No—three.
Elyssara palms her blade before her mind registers the movement.
The cavern full of monsters has mimicked the movement, and steel glints in the lanternlight like a dozen Stars made flesh. Proof they can all move against a common enemy. Or that they’re one wrong word away from turning on each other.
Teddy steps forward, his powerful frame filling the space between the main cavern and the tunnel of bones.
“Who are you?” he demands, voice booming through the tunnel, the shaft of his axe already firmly in his hands.
“Caev—I fucking live here. Who areyou?” Caev calls through the dark of the tunnel.
Teddy glances around, eyes landing on Lara, who gives him a curt nod in reply. Teddy steps back, letting his weapon fall slack at his sides. “Who’s with you?”
But no one gets a chance to answer.
Figures emerge from the darkness.
Elyssara goes still and tears instantly well in her eyes. “Revryn,” she breathes, and her legs move of their own accord.
She closes the space between them in five long strides, appearances be damned. Her body collides with his and she melts into the warmth of his embrace. The smoke and cedar aroma that floods her senses, and everything about it makes her feel safe.Home. And for a heartbeat, she lets herself believe she hasn’t already lost too much to ever feel it again.
“My girl,” he whispers affectionately, his burly arms unmoving, unwilling to let her go. “Oh I’ve missed you,” he breathes into her hair.
More arms. More warmth. More bodies join the embrace. Seren. Ronyn. Exactly how it used to be. Her people.Her family.
“Touching,” Marin complains, and a sharp exhale flies from her mouth when Saana jabs her in the ribs with her elbow.
Revryn presses a kiss to her head. “Darlin’, meet… my daughter,” Revryn says, emotion thick and broken in his throat.His daughter.The Venomshade for Thalmyr’s Starborn army.
