Page 188 of Season Warriors & Wolves

She looked at us both through the reflection in the mirror as I held her and smiled. “More than your lover?”

“You’re my lover. My missus. My mistress. My friend. You’re everything.”

I faded us at the high cliffs of Drava, watching Solaryan and Vrammetheni ships dock the shores. The meeting between kingdoms would be held out in the open sky as everyone had agreed. The mist had cleared off from the patch of land at Snow’s command, to allow all a safe approach.

Below us, a circle of chairs made of greystone gathered around to form a large circle with the Olympian crest engraved in its centre. Once, gods had sat on those chairs, now they lay empty for us to fill.

Moriko and Nia stepped out of a portal. The two stood hand in hand, and sat right by each other, next to where Drystan was already waiting along with his Crafter.

Macaria arrived next, followed by two of her sisters.

And last was Magnus, Cora and Caspian.

Tension was thick in the air, but Snow was calmer than I had anticipated. Though the look on her face made me slightly cautious. She looked battle ready—cruel smile, gleaming eyes and steady heartbeat.

“So it came to this after all,” Cora said, breaking the heavy silence accompanied by the crashing waves and the accusing stares.

“Unfortunately,” Moriko answered, holding a hand tightly on Nia’s arm. “This was unavoidable, it seems.”

My wife’s fingers curled, stopping right before they became a tight fist. I could see the words she wanted to say in the way she looked ahead.

I could have stopped him.

I was so close to stopping him.

This could have been stopped by me.

Except that she was wrong.

But she liked being wrong.

“Do I have permission to presume you have called us here to join you in battle?” Magnus asked.

“If I wanted your moral support, Your Majesty, I would have sent you a postcard,” Snow said, slanting a look at him.

Nia cleared her throat. “Our chances would be greater if we stopped Silas and Aurora before they spread across the continent.”

“What you are asking,” Magnus said, “is for me to abandon my city at the mercy of none and volunteer my troops to join yours. We already have lost Whitebridge. Silas’s troops are no more than half a day from my cities.”

“Die in Dardanes soil or die in Solaryan soil,” Snow said. “Choices are not lush, but fortunate for you, you still have the option.”

“He will send Aurora where he finds it easier to send her. The army is just a start,” he added.

He’d heard it from me, he needed to hear it from her now.

“His armies are a distraction,” Snow assured. “A means to separate us from joining against him. The forces he’s sent to Whitebridge or the Sayuri are nothing compared to those counted in the mainland camps. His plan is to keep you occupied for a few mere moments, perhaps even let you win, only to have you lower your guards for what will come next. And Aurora will be dealt with. She is not to be feared.”

“Dealt? How does one deal with a guardian?”

All eyes were on Snow when she said, “The same how they’ve dealt with her before. Using another guardian.” My wife’s hands were shaking. She would forever be made a weapon of the realm when she would admit her fate. “I will fight her like all my ancestors have.”

“As well as I,” I added. “We’ve created shields and magic and weapons against her and Silas’s other monsters.”

Cora spoke first, “But the sceptre lay at Silas’s hands. Do we even know how to control her?”

“Her kind was given the duty to control Aurora when need would rise,” Macaria spoke. “She can control her. I doubt Silas will be able to hold onto the power for long despite the machinery he’s made. Once she’s free from the bounds, Snowlin will be able to command her back to the sceptre.”

A lie. Snow wanted her dead.