Gods above. I don't think this is a dream anymore. I think it's all fucking real. I burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation around me. "Why are we having this discussion during sex?"
"Because it's the only time you ever listen to me."
"I have to think about it, Rex," I say, softly. "I love you, but this was never in my life plan. What would happen with my army?"
"They'd carry on as they are now, with you at the helm. They'd just be on a permanent contract here. We can negotiate the money."
"Talk finances to me in bedonemore time and I'll kill you," I warn, and he laughs out loud. I like that I can make him laugh despite the horrors around us.
"Better marry me before you do, sweetheart,” he purrs, his tongue running over his white teeth in an arrogant grin. "That'd be onehellof an inheritance." I’m laughing as he flips me over, two huge hands pushing down on my lower back as he fucks me until we are both utterly spent.
And as the blissful, sated hum of tiredness settles into my veins, we get three hours of sleep for the first time in several days. I decide I'll try to sleep an extra two hours whilst Rexxan leaves to give a speech to tens of thousands of people who have gathered to hear him talk. I want to listen, but I am justsotired. My efforts are futile, though, because no sleep finds me. I lie in that bed for two hours and do nothing except consider Rexxan's proposal.
It's insane.
It's ridiculous.
I should say no.
But for some reason, it's on my mind. I begin to list my reasons for and against, but after I add my seventeenth reason on the left of the page, I just stare blankly at the right side of the list, unsure what to write.
"Commander?" Comes a voice, out in the hallway.
"Cetresar?" I open the door.
"Whilst the King is preoccupied, I thought you should see this."
I take the scout's report off him, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. As I scan the messy black ink scrawled across the crumpled paper, my heart leaps into my mouth. "They think they've seen him? Kelen?"
"With a good level of confidence, Commander, and he won't be moving particularly fast over the next week."
"Just call me Renna," I murmur, distractedly. He's right. They've spotted him stranded on a mountain that protrudes from the floodwater. Unless he's got a boat, he's a sitting duck, waiting for me to play with him.
I’m wide awake now, adrenaline coursing through my veins. Ilivefor the hunt. I dismiss the guard, tearing a map out of a book and spreading it over the desk in Rexxan’s study. I push a pin in the location Kelen had been seen, a pin in where I am now, and shade anywhere that is flooded with a graphite stick. My mind whirrs, starting to plan a route to him.
Onyx and Stellan join me after an hour, both of them looking exhausted.
"So,” says Stellan, standing and cracking his tattooed knuckles.
"So what?" Asks Onyx, trying to write something down. His e's are all backward, he doesn't know the difference between b and d, and he's spelled everything wrong, but I appreciate the effort.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's get the fucker before he gets any closer to the south!"
I hum, crossing my legs. "I mean...I'm completely on board...but I feel like we should get confirmation from Rexxan."
"We don't need it. Let's head out."
I'm tempted to leave, but I don't. Rexxan and I are working so hard on our communication. I can't lay waste to that now. "Stell, we work for him. We have to wait for him to approve the mission," I tell him, making my decision. "I'll send for him now, tell him it's urgent. I suggest you two wash, sleep, eat, and be ready to leave at short notice."
They give me a salute and leave, and I write up an extensive plan complete with distances, timescales, latitudes, and longitudes, drawing a route with the compass and ruler.
"They saw him?" Says Rexxan, bursting through the door with five scrolls in his arms. I've never met a more busy person than him.
"Apparently so."
"Then I'll send an army,” he says, stacking his papers on a shelf.
I shake my head, pointing at the pin in the map. “We'd have to cross the floodwater to get there. It'll take days to get the army into boats, and even then, the mountain pass is single file. This isn't a job for an army."
