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"He could stay here," I suggested. As far as I'd seen, no one had pressured Marius to come with us to the battle.
Lillian shrugged. "If he stays and no one comes to attack Grace House, he'll be very put out to have missed the fighting and glory."
Definitely bloodthirsty, I decided.
"I offered to come with you," she said and then grinned. "He nearly had a fit. So he must know I'll be safer here. And I don't really want to be anywhere near fighting, if I can help it."
"You will be safer here," I said, squeezing the back of her hand with mine.
"You could stay." She turned her hand to link our fingers. "You deserve shelter as much as any of us here."
Hywel had said the same when we arrived the night before. Conall had repeated the suggestion this morning when we woke, all tangled together. My mates had taken every opportunity in the rushed traveling to fill me up with strength andnéktaronce more. I knew it was partly because they hated to see me tired and drained.
But I suspected the possibility of my being able to gift thenéktaraway again—I couldn't call ithealingsomeone when I had so little to do with the actual effort—was weighing on all our minds.
Asterion might need me. And I needed to be strong and ready for him in that case.
"I don't look forward to…to being near Birsha again," I said.Seeing him. Facing him. Speaking to him."But I doneedto be there."
Lillian sighed and nodded. "Part of me is glad, just to know how far you've come."
The monsters we'd gathered were moving toward the door. I turned and gathered Lillian in a tight hug.
"We'll meet again in the future, and we'll have more to talk of than this war," I said in her ear, a version of the words she'd said to me herself months ago.
Lillian nodded against my shoulder. "Be…be careful. And remind Marius to do the same."
My men waited for me at the bottom of the stairs, their eyes searching my expression as I approached. They were waiting for me to balk, to turn tail, and in truth a part of me was waiting for that moment too.
"Hunter is waiting for us outside. They got word from Star Manor," Conall said.
My steps faltered, and Hywel caught me before I could go tumbling down the last few steps. He swung me around but didn't release me completely, just let my feet rest on the tiled floor and held me tight.
"Birsha has Asterion and the others at the mountain. Where we found Excalibur," Laszlo said, frowning. "We think he must still have Nimue. We don't know if he'll use her in that disgusting ceremony of his, or if he's trying to make her cast whatever spell it takes to keep the monsters he traps alive."
"But it's not far," I said, the only words that mattered to me in that moment. "That's not so far from here. NotPersia, at least."
"He must be trying to regain his foothold here. The edge of England and Wales would be close enough for a new London house," Conall said.
"I don't care what his plansare—I care about destroying them. When do we leave?" I asked.
"Stay here,blodyn bach," Hywel said.
I turned my glare on him but paused as I realized his eyes were glittering, lined with sleepless red. Conall had dark shadows under his eyes, and Laszlo's feathers were endlessly ruffled with anxiety. My mates had been laving attention upon me almost constantly, shoring up my strength. But they were tired, and they were worried.
"No," I said, as gently as I could.
Hywel let out a long sigh and nodded. "Very well. We leave now. Put this on."
It was a dark leather baldric, and Hywel didn't pass it to me so much as tenderly wrestle it over my head, drawing my arm through. Excalibur's jeweled hilt was already waiting, blade sheathed in a matching scabbard. It weighed me down, thumping against my hip as if to remind me what I'd just committed to. Facing Birsha once more. Fighting not for my freedom, but for Asterion's. My hand found its way to the hilt as if the metal called to my fingers, and my heart skipped unsteadily as I grabbed hold.
"We've already picked out three locations for safe camps," Conall said, grabbing onto my free hand. We marched to the door together in a small huddle, Hywel's hand resting at the back of my neck, Laszlo slipping my arm through his. "We'll have the mountain surrounded."
"Just get me to Asterion," I murmured.
"With our wings and claws,blodyn bach," Hywel vowed.
* * *
