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“Where is it? I want to see!” cried the others.
Cian shrugged at me as if he didn’t have a choice and then pulled the hem of his blue and white robes down to show off the healing scar. The children let out united gasps of admiration.
“It went right through his heart,” said one, earning an elbow from another.
“Heart’s on the left side, dummy.”
“All right, brats. That’s enough,” came Odan’s familiar voice. He wandered out of the little yurt just beyond, a hand on his dagger. A smile twinkled in his eye that his face didn’t betray. “Get back to your training and quit harassing Lord Cian or else!”
The kids let out mock screams and scattered into the air.
“Odan!” I went to hug him.
He stiffened at the embrace before patting me on the back. “Good to know you’re alive, even if you can’t follow directions worth a damn.”
I stepped back. “When did you get here? How?”
“Hours ago, and I have wings, remember?” He flexed them as if to add emphasis. “Bad at directions or not, you three were difficult to track. I suppose that’s to your credit.” He gave Cian a sideways glance.
Cian shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I was unconscious.”
Odan snorted and shook his head. “At any rate, you’re on your feet, which means you can fly. We’ll get Nevahn and Hellion horses and we can be back at the castle by tomorrow.”
“We’re not going back to the castle,” I said. “At least not yet.”
Odan looked to Cian for an explanation.
“Nevahn has agreed to undergo the Shadow Rite. In exchange, we get the gargoyle legion.”
Odan leveled a long look at me before spitting a string of curses. “Do you even know what the rite is, Nevahn?”
I swallowed. “They explained that I’d be facing my worst fears in a dreamlike state.”
He smacked the side of my head. “What the hell were you thinking?”
I rubbed the sting. “I was thinking you need that legion. Without it, Ezulari falls. Brenna wins.”
He turned to Hellion, who’d strode up the road. “And you’re letting him? You should know better.”
Hellion sighed. “It’s Nevahn’s choice.”
Odan snorted. “And they sayIhave shit for brains. What’s that?” He nodded to the knife still in my hand.
The worried expression on Cian’s face fell away as I lifted the dreamsteel blade. It still needed a little polish, and the handle attached, but all the hard work was done, the smoky blue steel alloy recognizable even without the polish.
“This,” I said, handing it over for him to examine, “is Persuasion.”
He whistled, turning the unfinished blade over in his hands before passing it to Hellion, who gave it to Cian.
“It’s not finished,” I protested, but Cian took it anyway.
Smokey blue steel glinted as the Lord of Nightmares lifted the blade. “Beautiful,” he murmured, running a finger over the knife. “And the name… I like it. I like everything about it. Trian would be proud.”
My throat tightened as he held the blade back out to me. “Thank you.”
Cian stepped in, closing the distance between us, standing so close I could smell the lavender and rose soap on him. “I want you and Hellion to have dinner with me tonight.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “We’ve already had lots of dinners with you.”
