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Ryze sighed exaggeratedly. "Do your omegas have filthy minds too?" he asked Cavan.
Cavan grinned and glanced at me. "I hope so."
"There's no one to find you if I kill you and bury you out here," Ryze growled.
"You'd have to get past my guards first," Cavan pointed out.
"Our guard contingents are evenly matched," Ryze said. "But I have Vayne, which tips the odds in my favour."
"As fascinating as this conversation is," Vayne said, "I'd like to be somewhere not so open if whoever, or whatever, killed Dalyth decides to try again."
"It's good to see someone from the Winter Court has some sense," Cavan said. "I was starting to wonder." He gave me a look that suggested he didn't consider me part of the Winter Court. Presumably because of my mother, he thought of me as a Summer Court Fae. That was a conversation for another day.
He stood and offered me his hand.
I took it and stood, but released it the moment I was upright. Partly because I didn't want to create more conflict, and partly because the heat his touch sent through me made me want to pin him to a tree myself. That wouldn't go unnoticed.
"I have sense," Tavian protested. He pushed himself to his feet. "Right now my sense of smell is almost overwhelmed by the intoxicating scent of alphas. Maybe you can relax a little." He nodded toward Jezalyn to include her too.
Now he mentioned it, the scent was strong. Two alphas competing with each other and one protecting her omega. My own scent flared in response.
Ryze groaned. "Let's get out of here before we end up with an impromptu orgy in the middle of the forest." He adjusted the front of his pants.
"You sayimpromptu orgylike it's a bad thing," Tavian said.
"It's the middle of the forest thing that would be a bad thing," Ryze told him. "And as Vayne reminded us, we are somewhat out in the open."
"Yes we are," Cavan said in a way that made us all look at him. "Unless something has taken place that we're not aware of, then this always happens outside."
"And from the sky," Vayne added. "All the more reason to get inside."
Cavan nodded and turned to Dalyth's remains. He instructed a couple of his guards to remove her head and pack it carefully, then incinerate the rest of her. His expression was tight. Not exactly grief. More like annoyance with a dose of caution. What happened to her could have happened to any of us.
I made a note not to get in Hycanthe's way. Right now, she was standing with Jezalyn's arms around her, staring at what was left of Dalyth. Her eyes were wide and glossy. If somehow she did this, she definitely didn't do it on purpose.
I stepped over to them. "Are you all right?" I asked as gently as I could.
"What do you think?" Hycanthe asked. She exhaled a ragged breath. "I'm sorry. I just…"
"Khala understands," Jezalyn said. "We all know it wasn't you." She looked over at me meaningfully.
I wasn't sure we did know that, but I nodded anyway. "Of course we do," I said. "Whoever is on the other side of the portal took advantage of the moment. That's all. Dalyth was being obnoxious."
She deserved to get thrown against a tree, but did she deserve to die like that? I didn't have the answer. Or maybe I did and didn't want to admit to being bloodthirsty. After what she did to Zared, I couldn't bring myself to regret her death.
"Did your magic get stronger again?" I asked.
"I felt like I could have ripped the tree out by its roots," Hycanthe said. "I almost did, and then… What hit her? It looked like lightning."
"Lightning does seem to be their method," I said. "Lightning and wind." And strange visions of unknown Fae.
"You think the Court of Shadows is responsible, don't you?" Jezalyn asked.
I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to shut out the chopping sound as Dalyth's head was removed from her shoulders by a sword.
"Cavan thinks it is," I said finally. "I don't think the rest of us know what to believe. They’d have to exist, for one thing. For another, they’d have to have a grudge against one of us. For all we know, they were after Dalyth and now it will stop."
"I wish I could believe that," Jezalyn said.
