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“Most fell to his service. Those who resisted took refuge in the repository at Divination Point,” Bo explained. He’d told us this on the isle with Valen and Elise, but I wanted it again. Every bleeding detail mattered. “He wants access to the repository, but I don’t know why. I do know the star seers had kept him at bay, at least when I was here. The two ladies of the court had still stood against him.”
We’d need to go there. We’d need to know why Davorin wanted in so badly. Then, we’d claim whatever he wanted for ourselves.
“Where is the place he’d most likely keep Princess Eryka?”
He studied the map, focused on the lower areas of the court. “Here.” He pointed to the thick base of the mount which led to Divination Point. “His harem is kept in the royal botanical house.”
“Harem?” Hagen’s eyes flashed with something dark, a kind of feral anger.
Bo nodded. “The women he takes are claimed as his. The two ladies were kept there. I don’t know where else he would put the princess. I’d assume he’d want her by Celeste and Iris as leverage.”
I scoffed. The entire set up sounded like the King Eli who once ruled New Timoran. Doubtless, Eli and his raiders were influenced by Davorin’s hateful glamour. The raiders were fierce against women. Now, knowing what I did about the bastard behind the dark, fated wars of the lands, it was no surprise.
But to know Eryka might be among his chosen bodies sat heavy in my gut.
Eryka knew how to fight, she wasn’t truly afraid of much, but she was still one of those innocent souls in my eyes. A genuine heart, one who loved a young prince to the point she stepped away from her court and traveled Eastern seas, all to seek out her arrow in the dark.
If Davorin took her to access points in the Court of Stars, Eryka would fight. She’d fight until he tried to break her the same as he tried to break Saga. I didn’t know how we’d find the star princess, but it wouldn’t be untouched.
“How many guards stand watch over the botanical house?” I asked.
“There are four at every corner.” Bo described the arrangement, what he knew of their rotation, and the place the trolls had the best chance to dig without being seen.
“We all know what to do.” I spoke, facing the warriors. A deep, echoing rumble responded as word traveled down the line. “Stand at the ready.” I clapped a hand on Dunker’s low shoulder. “You’ll stand watch here, yes?”
The thick-skulled troll nodded, his floppy ears waved like wings on the side of his head. “Keep ‘em living.”
“Good. When the walls fall, be ready to fight.” My fingers twitched when I pressed a hand against the damp soil wall. Saga was more skilled at this than me. I held rapport with many fae, but glamour of an isle? We were still getting acquainted.
Heat thrummed in my palm, the tips of my fingers, up along the inked raven on my throat and chest. I imagined what I would have the land do for us, a way for it to aid us in the fight. Saga told me it was a give and pull, a plea more than a command.
Help us. I felt foolish, and the heat pulled away from my hand.
Hells, focus.
Surround him, I tried again.Hide them from sight. Help us take back what he stole.
I thought of the plan Niklas and Kase had worked out with their experience smuggling and slipping through cracks unseen.
A few murmurs filled the musty space when the rumble of cracking soil and snapping roots took over. A gentle roll of soil like a wave on the sea parted a new corridor. Faster than a troll could dig, wide enough two warriors could stand shoulder to shoulder.
I pulled my hand away, laughing softly. By the hells, it worked. The land . . . answered me.
Rune clapped my shoulder, smiling I was certain for the first time in weeks. “Our king of the isles. We all know it without question.”
“You questioned before? How, pray tell, did my leadership qualities and, you know, the fact that a dark battle lord wants my head leave any doubt?”
Rune chuckled. “Thought Saga might eventually come to her senses and pick someone less chatty.”
“Get in position, you bastard.” I shoved him aside, grinning when Rune laughed. Like he used to when one finally cracked through his steely exterior. “My friends, we’re about to watch his world burn.”
Blood fae drifted into the cavern and marched down the newly opened tunnel, creating a long rope of blades and axes. I rolled the map and tucked it away.
“Bo.” I waited until the tracker held my stare. “Lead the way.”
Dunker remained with the blood fae, while Hodag led the rest of us deeper beneath the soil of the Court of Stars. Our small group was made of Hagen, Stieg, Bo, Rune, Niklas, Junie, and me.
Saga would be close to the border by now. I shook out my hands, I quickened my pace, I moved and shifted all to keep my mind focused and my thoughts from scattering to all the ways our swift plans could crack like thin ice. We had little time to prepare. We did not have every answer. Doubtless, there were a thousand ways Davorin could see through our defenses and take the upper hand.
