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My silver one shattered beneath my hand as I erupted, filling her as a thunderous surge of bliss cascaded through me like lightning.
When it was over, we were both trembling. I stepped back, tugging her onto the bed, pulling her down on top of me. I stroked her silver hair, strands of silken moonlight flowing between my fingers.
She kissed my chest and then pushed herself up, propping her chin in the center of my ribs and wrapping her arms around my torso. “Tell me where you are. What you’re doing.”
“I’m probably sleeping in my bed in my cabin while Hawl bangs pots and pans around in the kitchen next door.” I smiled. “It’s amazing that I haven’t woken up already, actually. Hawl usually begins around four in the morning.”
“You brought Hawl with you?” Her eyes lit up with amusement.
“I had no choice, did I? Have you ever tried to stop a Bearkin from going to war?” I shook my head.
“War?” She looked stricken for a moment.
I rubbed her cheek with the back of my hand. “Of course. War is inevitable, isn’t it? You live in a land at war.”
“Just who else is with you?” she asked. “Besides Hawl.”
I understood what she really meant. “I’ve brought you a fleet. One hundred Siabra war ships.”
At first she seemed stunned. Then she shook her head. “One hundred ships won’t do us much good on the other side of the continent.”
I smiled. “We’ll be leaving the ships behind and marching over to you. It would have been nice if Pendrath was a western country, preferably with a coastal capital,” I teased. “But we’ll make do.”
I decided not to tell her I planned to go on ahead of the fleet and try to get to her as quickly as possible.
“And then what? When your soldiers finally get here, I mean.”
“Then you’ll tell your brother the truth,” I said. “About who and what you are. You’ll claim my soldiers as your own, and you’ll tell Arthur to withdraw his forces from your neighbor’s lands.”
She nodded slowly. “He won’t do so willingly.”
“Then the time for asking will be over,” I said. “Like it or not, you are an empress in your own right, Morgan. You’ll use that to sway him. If he won’t back down, you know what must be done.”
I wasn’t about to tell her to kill her own brother, but I didn’t see any way this war would end without Arthur Pendragon’s death. And to be honest, I was rather hoping to have that pleasure if it came down to it.
“And Tintagel and Lyonesse...”
“When they see that Pendrath seeks to withdraw, well, hopefully they’ll decide to allow you to surrender and cease fighting. You’ll have to make reparations, of course.”
“Kaye will do so,” she said. “With the help of the best advisors.”
“Of course. You can see a council set up before you leave.”
I’d spoken too quickly, without thinking. Now I felt her freeze.
“Leave?”
“It’s a long ways away. You don’t have to leave until you’re ready, of course. But... eventually? I’m hoping you’ll come back home with me.”
“I have two homes, Draven,” she said, her eyes sweeping over me. “I’m not sure that’s a choice that’s so simple to make.”
“I understand.” And I did. “I’ll stay with you in Pendrath for as long as it takes.”
“What about Myntra? Who have you left in charge?”
“In charge of that court of vipers? Why, the queen of vipers, of course.” I grinned. “Lyrastra.”
“Lyrastra! How is she?”
