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“Which border?” Lyric questioned, scowling at my hands.
“The one with the Faelands.”
Chapter 23
Raven
“Neither Sersha nor Malcolm are in the traveling party,” Draven relayed, “though the emissaries are all wearing the Queen’s royal emblem and look more like soldiers than diplomats.”
Lyric punched a fist into her palm. “It’s too bad Queen Sucks-a-lot and her Ass-wart aren’t with them. I would really like to meet the lovely couple.”
“I would prefer it if you never came in contact with either of them,” I voiced, fortunate my anxiety had dialed back. “She’s a conniving snake who is not only unworthy of being in your presence, she simply can’t be trusted in any capacity.”
“But Ray-Ray, don’t you know the best part of playing with snakes is when you get to cut off their heads?”
Kree’s temporary portal crackled and Casimir stepped through. I caught a glimpse of Hugo leaning over Phalen before the portal closed behind him. My mate came to my side, tension bulging his muscles.
“Is Phalen okay?” I asked.
“Hugo assured me he’ll be fine. He’s resting, but we can visit and talk with him later.”
The boulder sitting on my chest shrank but failed to disappear completely. I wasn’t looking forward to apologizing. How does one make up for taking away another’s free will anyway?
Draven uncrossed his arms. “I’m going to leisurely walk Lyric and Kree back to Embour and enjoy delaying the assholes even further. As far as anyone knows, the three of us went for a long stroll so Lyric could get some fresh air and stretch her legs. Once we get settled, I’ll have Kree open a small portal so we can speak to the fae without having them inside our walls.”
Lyric’s brow furrowed. “You’re not letting the shitstains inside Embour?”
“No. Not unless they have anextremelycompelling reason like legitimately needing access to the Primus Crossing for an emergency. Even then, I’ll probably decline. It’s too coincidental. Besides, I’m not known for being kind to visitors when they attempt to cross our border unannounced.”
“Those dickturds tried to sneak into our territory?” her voice climbed, dagger hand on the hilt of the blade sheathed at her hip.
The front of the weapons belt was partially hidden by her belly, but she’d figured out how to make everything accessible on it. Her Shadow Blade nickname seemed apt.
“Almost. They anchored their boat just past Broad Bend, right at the boundary. They sat for a couple of hours on the upper deck, watching the river and the woods. When they began extending the gangway, Cash made himself visible.”
“Who’s Cash?” I inquired.
“The Shadow who came here to tell us what happened. He’s on one of our few cloaking teams. They were watching the boat in case it decided to cross. Cash had orders to secure the river and report any activity from the Faelands directly to Phalen as quickly and quietly as possible.”
Casimir took my hand. “They won’t get anywhere near you.”
“We won’t allow that to happen,” Draven seconded. “As an added precaution, I don’t want either of you anywhere near Embour until we’ve dealt with them.”
“So what should we do?” I asked the Shadow Lord.
“You two are going to Solar House.”
“Solar House?”
“You’ll love it,” Lyric insisted. “It’s a safe place away from Embour where no one will be able to sense you. Bonus is the fact it’s extremely well-protected and hardly anyone knows about it. You can’t reach it on foot, anyway, not once you get within a mile of it.”
“You want me to hide while you run interference?”
“Duh,” she ribbed.
“Trust us to handle the fae, at least for tonight,” Draven insisted. “We’ll send extra teams out to keep an eye on things in the area surrounding Solar House so you can relax. Can you agree to that much?”
The ingrained tendency to refuse assistance would be a hard habit to break. I didn’t want to be the fool who constantly fought the offer of a helping hand at every turn, not when I knew I would offer the same in return if given the chance. Besides, I wasn’t ready to face my enemies quite yet.
