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“Always,” he returned.
The last of Kallus’s troops fled before us… and the Scourge.
Jaik, Caldren, Zehr and I gathered together in front of the gates. Camet wasn’t visible anymore; his golden helmet had apparently run back to his stolen throne room.
The gates did not open.
“They are not welcoming you as queen,” Zehr observed.
“We need to get defensible positions set up. Kallus will try again,” Jaik said. “And we need to heal our people.”
“We don’t have any magic.”
Branok shot a distinctly murderous look toward those sealed gates. “Give me time. I’ll take care of Camet.”
“Don’t assassinate anyone,” I said wearily. “We can deal with him later. But we do need to get inside and rally everyone we can to our cause. This is our chance to show Kallus our kingdom is not worth the cost.”
Branok shrugged and made no promises regarding withheld violence.
“I left some of my shifters holding a position that we can defend,” Caldren said. “Let's all move there for now. Camet’s not going to open the gates for us, and the last thing we want is to crack Rylow open for Kallus.”
“Is there room for my troops there?” Jaik asked.
“If they promise not to bully the prey,” Caldren returned.
“There are no more prey and predator shifters,” Jaik said. “None of us can shift now.”
“Well, you might have to make that clear to them,” I said. Though they had all just fought on the same side, tension rippled between them.
Now that the battle was over, I caught arguments that now threatened to simmer over into a second set of fights.
“We will,” Jaik said crisply, in the way that made me worry thatmaking it clearto Jaik was synonymous withmaking it hurt.
Zehr leaned close to me. “It’s time for me to go, Honor. But it was good to see you.”
The Scourge had already melted into the forest. I wasn’t sure if they were returning to their homes or continuing to harass Kallus’s troops. The Scourge terrified them.
“I’ve been worried about you.” I touched the cut that ran through one eyebrow, just beginning to heal, wishing I could heal him.
He took my wrist in his hand to stop my touch. “Have you? Why?”
As if the bastard hadn’t felt my worry. He just wanted me to say the words.
“You know why, Zehr.”
His gaze swept behind me. “Your men don’t want me here.”
“Perhaps not. But I do.”
His lips turned up at the edges. “It’s a bad idea, love.”
“It was a bad idea to give you a cursed kiss.”
His lips turned up more. “Yes. Quite bad.”
“It was a bad idea for you to turn Arren into Scourge.”
“I admit, it wasn’t my finest hour.”
