37. Chapter 37 #2
Her mouth dropped open. “Absolutely not! It’s too dangerous. If she agrees to meet you, the Shadow King will be with her, with an army . You have to meet her somewhere safe, somewhere you can get away. Have her come to the stone circle.”
Orion would have told him it was a poor idea too. Cyrus brushed the strap across his chest that Orion had given him to stow a few hidden throwing blades. The feel of them brought back the ache of loss. He tried to push it down and focus back on the task at hand.
If he wanted to talk to Norah again, he’d have to compromise. And he did trust her, for the most part. “If she comes, she’ll come in good faith, army or no.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Don’t I?” He stood. “Sergen’s been treated well and shown comfortable quarters. And I like to think I know Norah, at least a little.”
“Still, meeting in the outer reaches is too dangerous.”
“I need to offer something too hard to refuse before she decides against it.”
“I don’t like it.” She crossed her arms.
Cyrus didn’t particularly like it either, but he didn’t know what other choice he had. And it could be a moot point; she might not be willing to meet at all.
He sent Ram with the second letter, then he waited again.
If Orion had been with him, they could have found a way into Mercia, catching the queen alone.
His chest tightened, and he sank back down onto the stump next to the fire.
No. If he had Orion… he’d never ask anything from him again, not even this. He’d give him lands to live freely, ships to leave, money to explore the world. Orion wouldn’t have accepted it from him, but it would’ve been his nonetheless.
Cyrus only wanted one thing from his friend now—for him to come back. For him to be alive.
He felt Essandra behind him, and she wrapped her arms around him. “What are you thinking about?” she whispered. “I can feel your sadness.”
But he couldn’t say it. If he spoke it, the emotion would come, emotion he couldn’t control. He only squeezed her arms in return.
She was warm, and he leaned back against her. He traced the lines of the markings on her skin from her wrist toward her elbow and stopped at a new one.
“What is this?” he asked.
“Why do you ask me questions you already know the answer to?”
“You’re still using dark magic.”
She said nothing.
“It’s dangerous,” he said.
She stepped around to face him eye to eye. “You’re the last person to be lecturing me on using dangerous power. At least I know what I’m doing, and I take measures to protect myself.”
He sighed. “Are you making progress?”
She hadn’t talked about her efforts to bring back her family in a while.
Essandra was an extremely private person, and he had felt he’d lost privileges to that private life quite a while ago.
But now… Now that they were together, now that they were one, it felt like his life too.
He just wasn’t sure if she saw it the same.
He worried that her silence answered that for him, until she finally said, “I think so.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m still chasing proxy alternatives, but I think I’m close.”
He wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but close sounded…
“Good,” he said with a nod. “That’s good.”
“Yes.”
He reached out and took her hand and pulled her fingers to his lips. “Would you tell me if you needed anything from me? If there was anything I could do?”
She drew in a long breath.
He stood and pulled her closer, tipping her chin up to him. “You would tell me?”
She nodded.
He smiled and lowered his lips to hers.
Then came the reply Cyrus had been waiting for.
“ We’re on our way back to you ,” Ram told him through the blood bond. “ Sergen and I both. And we have a letter from the queen. ”
“ What does it say? ”
“ I haven’t opened— ”
“ Open it ,” he said impatiently.
It took a moment for Ram to break the seal and read its contents. It was all Cyrus could do to keep from pushing into his mind and reading it himself.
“ She wants to meet ,” Ram said. “ In the western valley. ”
She wanted to meet. Cyrus let himself revel for a moment in the relief. Just for a moment. Then he nodded. “ Write her this— ”
“ I don’t have anything for a letter. Or a seal. ”
Cyrus swore. “ Then go back and tell her two days’ time. I’ll meet her in the valley in two days. ”
Two days was a good amount of time, but to prepare an army, it was nothing at all, which was the point. Still, Cyrus worked hastily to leave camp. He’d reach the valley before the queen. This would let him assess the terrain better, as well as watch her approach.
As he saddled his horse, Essandra moved beside him. “I have your armor,” she said.
He snorted. “I’m not wearing armor for this. It’s not necessary.”
“Mmm.” She pursed her lips into a smile.
Cyrus tightened the girth of the saddle and looped the strap.
“Cyrus,” she said, making him pause. “I know you’re inclined to show Mercia grace, and you think this queen will come in good faith.
But let me be very clear…” She put her hand on his arm, and her eyes flashed darker.
“If she doesn’t, if she tries to move against you and take advantage of your goodwill, I’ll kill her. ”
He pulled her closer. As he clasped the side of her neck, he thumbed her chin up.
She complied, dropping her head back and offering her lips, but her compliance wasn’t weakness, and under his palm, he felt the pulse of power.
There were few people in the world more powerful than Essandra, and, like him, she was a protective creature.
“I’d expect nothing less.” And he kissed her.