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“What’s happened?” I asked her.
Odan eyed her with a frown and reported, “They’ve put down stakes not twenty miles out.”
My heart thumped faster. “Then they’re in range.” I looked at Cian.
He nodded. “Harif and his people are already mobilizing.”
I looked from him to Devonay and back again. “What is it? What else aren’t you telling me?”
“They sent us a message,” Morlash said and dropped a rose on the table. The white petals had been dipped in blood, all the thorns stripped from its stem to make it harmless to the touch.
A bloody rose without its thorns.
My mouth went dry. “Nisang?”
“They have him.” Devonay’s fingers sprouted claws made of shadow that pierced the wood of the table.
“We don’t know that.” Hellion was calm. Too calm. “They just want to rattle us. Goad us into making a mistake.”
“Well, it’s fucking working!” Dev swept her arms over the table, marring all the magic. Shadows swirled around her, spinning like a tornado. Behind them, her skin paled, features sharpening into a more terrifying version of herself.
The lamps flickered and then hissed out.
“Devonay…” Cian’s word was a warning, even as the shadows swirled around her. She pulled them to her from every corner of the room, from every corner of the world, it seemed, fusing them to her body.
Everyone took a step back.
Everyone except for Cian. He reached into the swirling shadow. All it took was a hand on her shoulder from Cian, and the shadows fled. Flame sprouted in the lamps and the room brightened.
She swayed in place. “If they have him… If theytouchedhim…” Devonay trembled. Tears of blood traced down her face. “I want the bitch’s heart.”
“It’s yours,” Cian promised and scanned the room. “Any other requests?”
No one dared to speak.
“Good. Then you all have your assignments. We march now.”
I sent the silent order for the Silver Company to mobilize before ever leaving the war room. By the time I made it out to the courtyard, they were already there, lined up in two neat rows of ten, spears and shields at the ready.
I rode down the line of them and back, conveying the information they needed. Their purpose was to guard the ballista wagon against all threats, to guard me. When I sent silent word, we would retreat. I showed them the path to take through the pass, where was safe to step and where wasn’t, transmitting image after image, mind to mind, until I was sure I had covered every detail.
“Nevahn?”
I finished giving them the silent order to report to their posts and twisted in the saddle at the sound of Hellion’s voice. They stood at the top of a small set of stairs, even in height with me in my saddle.
I rode over to them. “No complementary nude images today?”
They snorted. “You’d complain I’m distracting you.”
“Youaredistracting me, Viceroy.” I grinned at them, but their expression remained serious, worried. “It’s not like you to doubt me.”
“I don’t doubt you. It’s just…” They let out a frustrated sigh before yanking me down to bite my bottom lip. “Don’t you dare die on us, Nevahn. I will come to the underworld to get you. You know that, don’t you?”
“I know,” I said gently. “The same goes for you. Keep him out of trouble.” I nodded to Cian, who came out the side door behind them.
“Always,” Hellion agreed.
Cian gripped the back of my neck and pulled me in, our bodies resting crown to crown. No kisses from him on the eve of battle, just a quiet command. “Fight smart.”
