10. Calista
10
CALISTA
Talon’s cape was a foot too long, so it completely covered my feet and the surrounding earth. I stood there, my arms hidden underneath the fabric, and watched the battle through the hazy smoke. It was hard to gauge the details, but they were in the distance and obscured by the dark clouds of smoke that flowed down from the tops of the trees and hit the earth. The canopy of the forest was still on fire, and it was slowly spreading. “How are we going to stop the fire?” Unless it rained, it would never stop.
In the line of trees, I saw more of the dead emerge from their crypts in the forest, walking out of the tree line to fight the enormous orcs because the Death King had commanded them to do so.
Then I heard a scream, a scream that came from everywhere all at once, that didn’t come from a living person, but the world around us. It was torturous, like a blade was slowly sinking into flesh until it finally hit bone.
A powerful wind came from the forest, a breeze so potent it knocked every soldier on the battlefield to their knees. The trees swayed with the speed, their trunks bowing forward—and then the fire was snuffed out.
It went dark, and the smoke drifted away.
I had a better view of the battle now that the smoke was gone. The Behemoths were running away from battle, running out of the forest, heading right toward Khazmuda and me, desperate to flee whatever terror was enough to scare them.
Khazmuda lowered his body over mine, like a bird perched on her hatchlings, and the Behemoths parted to run around the dragon, sprinting away like someone chased them.
I could see the army of the dead that Talon had conjured, skeletons with torn uniforms and armor, eyeless elves who had died and been buried in the cemetery in the forest. Without an enemy to fight, they remained, swaying slightly, like their weary bodies could barely hold up their weight.
Talon lifted his hand slightly and raised his voice. “I release you. Go be in peace.”
The dead immediately turned away from the battlefield and slowly walked into the tree line, returning to their earthy graves deep in the forest. Their progression was slow, shifting and swaying on broken bones. Some were even headless.
It was hard to watch, so I focused on Talon only, who stood with his sword still gripped in his palm, looking kingly even without his cape billowing in the breeze behind him. He looked unharmed, the Behemoths no match for his speed with the blade.
I lifted the front of the cape off my feet like the hem of a gown and ran to him, barefoot because my boots had been lost when General Titan had removed them. I maneuvered around the pile of bodies, both friend and foe, and made my way to him.
He turned to look at me, his gaze hardened by the battle he’d just fought. But there was a hint of gold there, a single speck in those dark eyes.
I made it to him, colliding with his chest but not setting him off-balance.
His arm immediately hooked around my waist, and he rested his lips at my hairline.
“Thank you.” He saved me. He saved the forest. He saved the elves. Single-handedly.
He gave no response, his fingers remaining deep in my hair like they belonged there.
“I need to check on my uncle.”
“Your uncle?” He pulled away to look at me.
“Yeah…long story.” I turned away and walked through the debris of battle, the fallen bodies of friend and foe, the blood that soaked into the ground, the blood that my bare feet had to touch.
It was nearly dawn, light coming into the sky and turning it blue and slightly purple. It made the world easier to see, for faces should have features rather than shadows. It didn’t take me long to cross paths with Queen Eldinar. Her beautiful white armor was covered in dirt and blood, and her beautiful blond hair had come loose from its braid. The battle was over, but she still wore that same look of rage.
I walked up to her. “Where is Ezra?”
“He’s with the healers. He’ll live.”
I inhaled a deep breath of relief. “I’m so happy to hear that.”
“Where is he?” For someone who just won a battle she was doomed to lose, she looked deeply pissed off.
“General Titan is dead.”
“Not him. You know of whom I speak.”
My heart had sprouted wings moments ago, and now it dropped into my stomach. “He—he saved us.”
“Here I stand.” Talon came from behind me, stepping forward to meet Queen Eldinar face-to-face, just slightly taller than her because she was a tall woman, possessing the height of a man and the rage of one too.
She stared him down like he was no different from the Behemoths we’d just fought. “The Death King.” She said every syllable with disdain, her eyes livid and wild, looking him over repeatedly like she couldn’t believe her misfortune to meet him in the flesh.
“Talon, this is Queen Eldinar?—”
“Do not speak for me.” Her eyes remained on Talon. “You seem to have forgotten you’re still a stranger in my lands. No relation to my husband will grant you power you did not earn. Just as I feared, the Behemoths marched on our lands because of you .” She finally turned to look at me, the sheer rage making her eyes wet. “My kin water the soil with their blood—because of you.”
The guilt and pain started to throb inside my chest. I’d been so relieved that General Titan was finally dead and the battle was over that I’d forgotten everything else. “I’m sorry?—”
“I don’t want your apology,” she snapped. “They burned our forest and killed my soldiers because you wouldn’t disappear. And now the Death King stands on my borders, bringing a darkness that will shroud the light forevermore?—”
“In case you missed what just happened, I saved your forest and your people,” Talon said calmly. “I have no ill will toward you, Queen Eldinar. But if you continue to speak to Calista this way, that could change.”
Just when it seemed like Queen Eldinar couldn’t look angrier, she did. “You came for her. Not for us.”
“Then she has a very powerful ally, so you should tread carefully.”
The situation was just as intense as it’d been on the battlefield minutes ago. “Queen Eldinar, I didn’t know that General Titan had tracked me north of the mountains and to the forest. I have no idea how he figured out where I am?—”
“Perhaps it was the bright-red dragon that accompanied you.” She turned back to me, her stare ice-cold. “A beacon of fire placed directly upon the forest that attracted the vermin to crawl from the dark?—”
“Interrupt her again and see what happens,” Talon said coldly.
Queen Eldinar turned her wrath on him. “Should I put my blade to your neck to silence your words?”
“I welcome you to try, Your Highness .”
“Stop.” I raised both of my palms. “The three of us are allies. No more threats.”
“We are not allies,” she said coldly. “The elves would never align with the evil you’ve brought here. You disturbed the dead when they’ve already served with their lives. You desecrated our holy ground, raised fathers and mothers to fight sightless alongside us, unleashed horrors that will never heal.” She started to shake. “How dare you?”
Talon held her gaze.
“How dare you break the ground of their slumber and pull them from their peace? How dare you dishonor the dead?” Her eyes started to water, from either rage or pain. “How dare you?”
Talon’s hard expression didn’t change. “You would all be dead if I hadn’t.”
“A fate we would have preferred.”
“Your people gave their lives to defend this forest,” he said calmly. “I’m sure they would give up their afterlives to do the same.”
“Do not put words in the mouths of the dead?—”
“Do not assume their bravery has died just because their flesh has rotted from the bone. I’m sorry that I disturbed your loved ones, but the forest would have fallen without their aid, and it would be scorched to ash as we speak. If there was another way, I would have chosen differently, but Khazmuda and I couldn’t have defeated their army alone. We can stand here and insult each other back and forth, but what’s done is done. I don’t expect your gratitude, nor do I care to receive it, but I do want peace.”
“Don’t pretend you won’t try to conquer us next, just the way you’ve conquered everyone else.”
“I have no desire to do that.”
“Lies.”
“I can see that Calista has great affection for your people. I would never hurt or enslave the people she cares so deeply for. You can blame her for the attack upon your forest, but then you must also blame her for the pardon I’ve just granted you.”
Her eyes sharpened to daggers, but she didn’t speak.
“You owe her your gratitude, Queen Eldinar.”
She stared at him for a moment longer before she withdrew her rage. “My people need me more than ever, to carry the dead to their final resting place, to tend to the injured who are now permanently disabled as a consequence of this battle.”
“I’m happy to serve in any capacity that I can?—”
“Do not enter our forest. Do not touch our kind. We will speak when this has been handled.” Queen Eldinar walked off before Talon could say another word.
I watched her go before I turned back to Talon.
He stood tall and proud and watched her walk away. He turned to me a moment later. “I know this is where you’re needed right now. Come find me whenever you’re finished.”
I wanted to ask him to stay or volunteer to go with him, but I felt obligated to remain with the people who had risked their lives because of my foolishness. After a long stare, I finally gave a nod.
He turned away and walked off, moving through the crowd of people until he was gone from my sight.
It took days for the dead to be buried and the wounded to be transported to Riviana Star. I helped in whatever way I could, taking orders from Commander Luxe or anyone who was in charge at that moment. Riddled with so much guilt, I had a hard time looking anyone in the eye, because none of this would have happened if I hadn’t come here.
I wasn’t sure how General Titan had even known I left the castle. Talon would never share that information with him.
Commander Luxe escorted me to the royal palace because my uncle had asked for me. I hadn’t seen him since General Titan had slammed the hilt of his blade into his skull and he passed out.
Instead of moving to the throne room, Commander Luxe guided me to a dining hall, a large white table carved out of marble in the sunlight from the open windows, a tall vase of long white flowers taking up the entire center of the table.
Ezra sat there, wearing his uniform and armor even though he still looked weak.
Commander Luxe silently excused himself.
My uncle’s eyes lit up when he saw me. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” He rose to his feet slowly, showing a slight grimace in his movements.
I stepped over to him and hugged him hard.
His arms circled me, and he returned the affection with the same enthusiasm.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as I pulled away.
“Still a bit out of it.” He slowly lowered himself back to the chair.
When he sat down, I could see that part of his head had been shaved, and now he had stitches keeping the skin of his skull together. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Calista.” He tapped the table with his palm to ask me to sit down.
I took a seat, seeing how pale his skin was.
“I’ll be fine, so don’t worry about me. The forest prevailed, just as I knew she would.”
My eyes dropped down to my hands on the table, the guilt too heavy.
“We lost a lot of people,” he said quietly. “But I know they would do it again to defend this forest.”
I had the distinct impression that he had no clue what had happened on the border after he passed out. He didn’t know why the enemy marched here. He didn’t know the Death King raised the fallen to fight for him. He didn’t know that Talon had come here for me…because we were more than I said we were.
“Don’t despair, Calista. Peace is a state of impermanence.”
“Have…you spent time with Queen Eldinar?” Perhaps she hadn’t returned home because she was busy overseeing the forest.
“Yes. She checks in with me throughout the day and is home every evening. Why?”
I wondered why she hadn’t told him. Maybe she wanted him to hear it from me, that it was a mistake to ever defend me. “The reason the Behemoths came to the forest is…because of me.”
“What do you mean, Calista?”
My eyes traveled elsewhere because I preferred to spare him these details. “General Titan was my captor at the Arid Sands. When the Death King took me away, the general decided to pursue me. He somehow followed me over the mountains…and traced me to this forest. He captured me in battle and pulled me away, but then the Death King arrived and slayed him in front of me.”
Ezra sat back in his chair and regarded me with eyes that didn’t blink, shocked by the tale. He said nothing, like he needed more than a few seconds to process what I’d said.
“I had no idea he was coming for me. I would have left if I’d known.”
Ezra dropped his gaze to the table, probably because my words were just too hard to accept. “Why did the Death King come to your aid?”
“Because…” I didn’t know how to describe the relationship. We weren’t friends. We weren’t lovers. We weren’t…anything that I could really explain. “It’s one of those situations where, you know, it’s complicated.”
His eyes lifted to look at me. “A man takes up his sword in battle for those he loves. His land and his people. Neither of those apply to him—so that only leaves you.”
I looked at the table again, a surge of emotion in my heart.
“Do you reciprocate those feelings?”
“I—I don’t know. It’s complicated…”
“Yes, you said that.”
“Because it is.”
His stare was locked on my face. “My wife didn’t mention any of this.”
“And I have a feeling she didn’t mention that he unleashed an army of the dead to win the war…the dead of the forest…those who had already fallen in battles of the past.” I felt terrible saying it out loud, being the one to deliver this news. But that was what Queen Eldinar wanted—for me to suffer the shame.
Ezra was quiet.
“We would have lost the battle otherwise.”
He was still quiet.
I raised my chin to meet his look, afraid of what he might say.
His stare was exactly as it was before. “Now I understand my wife’s distress.”
“I feel so horrible?—”
“I know you do, Calista. I can see it on your face.”
My eyes dropped down again.
“To disturb the peace of those who have already fallen…is a crime against nature. I see my wife’s stress from a new perspective. But the forest had to be protected at all costs, and if it were me buried in the ground, I would have gladly taken up my sword again to defend it. I don’t defend the Death King’s actions, but I won’t recriminate him either. The Realm of Caelum must be protected at any cost.”
My eyes lifted again to meet his.
“But I don’t have loved ones buried in the cemetery. However, my wife…she has her parents and her grandparents…generations of elves who came before her. For her, this is much more traumatic.”
“I feel so terrible. Your people granted me asylum, and this is how I repay your generosity.”
“You’re not responsible for the decisions of a maniac,” he snapped. “I’ve hated the Death King ever since he came to our lands, but I hate him far less for protecting you. Perhaps he’s not as evil as I thought.”
“He’s…more than he seems.”
A moment later, Queen Eldinar entered the dining hall, wearing dark-green breeches and a brown top, looking like the other elves rather than a queen in pristine white. Perhaps she was too busy serving to rule. She looked at Ezra with a hint of affection in her eyes—and looked at me like I was scum. She leaned down and kissed my uncle as her hand went to his shoulder.
I saw him melt for her, just the way Talon made me melt.
She took the seat beside him, across from me, her eyes vicious again.
I wish I could hold her stare with Talon’s confidence. “I told him everything?—”
“Good.”
I winced at the wrath in her voice. “How is everyone?”
“The healers continue to work on the wounded. The dead have been buried—and the disturbed graves have been made whole. We’re shaken and broken by the attack, but we’ve begun to heal.” Her hand moved to Ezra’s on the table.
His palm turned over to grip her fingers.
“Your friend remains on the border of the forest,” she said coldly. “It’s time that he returns to his own lands.”
I didn’t know what was next for Talon and me. Would we go our separate ways again? That seemed crazy after everything that had just happened. “I need to talk to him first. Could he come into the forest?—”
“How dare you ask.” Her hand remained on Ezra’s.
“With all due respect, he did save all of you?—”
“It’s only out of the respect I have for your uncle that you’re even allowed to be here, to still call this place your home. Don’t push my mercy—because there’s very little left. You can speak to him outside the border. If he crosses that line, I will duel him myself.”
Ezra turned to look at her like he might say something, but he seemed to change his mind and let the tense silence pass.
I rose from my chair and ignored the arrows ready to fire in her eyes. “Then I will speak to him outside the forest.”
I made the long journey to the border alone, his cape draped over my shoulder, and made it past the tree line just before sunset. The signs of battle were still visible in the red-stained dirt, in the trunks of felled trees that slowly decayed.
Khazmuda was visible in the distance, his enormous size and black scales distinct in comparison to the greenery around him. A campfire was between them, the flames growing brighter as the sun continued to set over the horizon.
Talon sat on a boulder and sharpened his knife, his head tilted down, a clear shadow over his jawline. Khazmuda noticed me first and must have told Talon, because Talon suddenly sheathed his knife and got to his feet, tall and strong like a mountain, and regarded me with that intense gaze.
I came closer to the campfire then extended the cape that he had offered me, the material that had cocooned me in safety, that had protected my naked body from the sight of anyone unworthy.
He didn’t look at the garment in my hands, his eyes on me.
I was nervous, my breaths uneven, my pulse painful in my neck.
He took the cape out of my hands and tossed it aside before he moved closer to me, his hands cupping my cheeks as he bent his neck down and kissed me, kissed me hard like we were alone in his bedchambers.
My body melted in his fire, and my arms hooked around his neck, my lips dissolving onto his like butter on warm bread. I rose on my tiptoes and pressed my entire body into his, wanting our bodies to merge and become one.
Khazmuda’s heavy thuds sounded as he moved away. Then he took flight, soaring into the sky and leaving us alone by the campfire.
Talon’s arms scooped under my ass, and he lifted me into him, holding me like I weighed nothing as he kissed me just as hard, carrying me to the tent on the other side of the campsite.
We made our way inside, a single bedroll in the middle, and he immediately pulled off my boots and my bottoms to get access to my bare skin. In a rush, we both undressed, our skin coming into contact as our bodies joined together in the bedroll. His hips squeezed between my thighs, and he tilted my hips as he moved over me, a mountain that blocked the sun. Then he slipped inside me, pushed through my tight lips, and felt the wetness that had been there since the moment my eyes had locked on to his.
He gave an appreciative moan as he sank until there was nowhere else to go.
I moaned louder than I meant to, his dick feeling so good inside me, like a piece of me had been restored.
His mouth dipped to mine, and he kissed me as he rocked into me, as he made love to me like he did on our last night together. His hand fisted my hair, and he brushed his nose against mine as he turned his head. Locked in a white-hot embrace, we moved together, our bodies slick with arousal, our heat hotter than the campfire that burned in the distance.
A pain burned in my chest, a fire of undying desperation lit deep inside. It was a pleasure so good it hurt, a longing that couldn’t be erased, no matter how close together we became. I felt his hair with my fingertips, felt the muscles of his back as I brought him close, but I still missed him like he was on the other side of the world.
Tears pricked my eyes because it hurt…everything hurt.
He kissed the corner of my eye as he rocked into me, hand deep in my hair. “I’m here, baby.”
My thighs squeezed his hips, my ankles locked together against his ass. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” He kissed me, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. “Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I won’t.” My nails scratched down his back.
“Promise me.” With his forehead to mine, he rocked into me harder, his pelvic bone right against my clit.
“I promise.” I cupped his neck and looked into his beautiful eyes, eyes that burned directly into my soul. “I never want to be apart from you again.”
The night was spent with us wrapped together, him on top or me on top of him, bouncing up and down while he guided my hips with his hands. Conversation wasn’t engaged in, just the most passionate lovemaking we’d ever had.
It was sometime early in the morning when I opened my eyes, expecting to find myself alone in the empty tent, the air cold because Talon wasn’t there to warm it with his fire. But my eyes focused on the muscular chest right against my face. My eyes lifted to his chin and the shadow on his jawline. Then his eyes…which were closed.
He was asleep.
His arm was hooked around my waist under the bedroll, my thigh over his hip, our bodies tangled together to become a single person. His chest rose and fell with his gentle breaths, his mind deep in the land of dreams.
I studied his face, seeing how handsome he looked when he was relaxed, how soft his mouth looked. I didn’t dare move, wanting to stare at him forever, to treasure the first time he’d truly dropped his guard.
I wanted to watch him forever, but I got tired again and slipped back under.
When I woke up the second time, he was awake, staring at me the way I’d been staring at him earlier.
My heart ached to see him there, to feel peace for the first time since we’d been together. I’d never felt safer than I did with him in that little tent, just the two of us.
He looked into my eyes for a while before his hand snaked into my hair, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead.
I could die right then and there…and be totally fine with it.
His lips moved to my neck then my shoulders and then my chest. Kissing me everywhere, worshipping my body like I was a goddess rather than damaged goods, making me feel like a virgin who had never been touched rather than a victim who had been violently raped repeatedly.
His mouth came back to mine, and he kissed me again.
“You slept with me…”
He pulled away slightly and brushed his nose against mine. “Because you’re my woman—and I sleep with my woman.”
An invisible hand grabbed my heart and squeezed, squeezed it so hard it burst. “Talon.” My hand cupped his face and felt the prickle of his shadow, saw the gold burn in his eyes like starlight.
His mouth moved to mine, and he kissed me hard as he rolled on top of me, his muscular legs separating mine. He tilted his hips, and his cock slid right into my folds, finding my entrance all on its own. He sank inside me as he kissed me, as he claimed my body in the name of his land. “Baby…”
When I woke up again, he was gone.
Judging by the light outside the tent, it was almost sunset. We’d spent the previous night making love and napping throughout the day. We drank water from his canteen but had no sustenance. I suspected his hunger had gotten the best of him and he’d left to satisfy his needs.
I dressed then stepped out of the tent.
The fire was going, and meat was cooking over the open flame. He was in his uniform and armor again, standing there and looking up at the stars above, his eyes focused on one spot in particular.
I approached him, my arms immediately crossing over my chest when I felt the cold.
He spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, so quiet I wasn’t sure if I actually heard it. “Forgive me.”
I stilled at his words, staring at the side of his face as he continued to look at the stars.
He finally looked away and turned to the fire, and that was when he noticed me. His eyes stilled and turned guarded momentarily, like everything we’d just shared was a distant memory. But then they softened, and he came toward me, his hand sliding into my hair as he dipped his head to kiss me.
My face rested against his chest, and I closed my eyes.
His lips brushed my forehead. “Are you hungry?”
I nodded.
“I found some things for you.” He opened his pack and displayed the fruits and vegetables he found in the wild. “I remember you got tired of the carnivorous diet pretty quickly.”
“Thank you.”
We sat together by the campfire, and he removed the meat from the spit and plated it for me before he did his own. Like old times, we sat together and ate in comfortable silence, the brilliant stars over our heads.
“Have you spoken to Khazmuda?” I asked.
“He’s close by.” He took another bite and chewed.
We fell back into silence, and once I was done with my meat, I munched on the berries he’d harvested for me.
He finished first then stared at me from across the campfire, arms on his knees, his cape returned to his uniform.
It made me realize we hadn’t really talked since he’d come to the forest. It’d been a couple of sentences here and there, but mostly kisses and heavy stares. Now that we’d come to this moment, I didn’t know what to say.
He didn’t seem to know either because he was quiet.
I finished my berries and set them aside.
“You must know that my ambitions haven’t changed, nor will they ever change.” His hands came together as he stared at me from where he sat on his log. “I have to finish this—and I hope you’ll finish it with me.”
“I told you I didn’t want to be apart from you again.”
“We say a lot of things in the heat of the moment.”
“I meant it,” I said quietly. “I still do.”
His eyes intensified as he stared, looking at me with a hardened expression. “Then it’s you and me—until the end.”
I nodded because that was what I wanted for the rest of my life. It didn’t matter what he’d done to me or my family, because my heart had finally surrendered to him. My father couldn’t protect me. My uncle couldn’t protect me. He was the only man I could truly count on. He was the only man who would give his life for mine.
“I need the dragons, Calista.” His tone changed when he called me by my name, the silent plea in his tone.
“I don’t know where they are, and that’s the truth.”
He stared at me with that unblinking stare. “Do the elves know?”
“Yes.”
He gave a subtle nod. “They don’t trust you.”
“No. They didn’t trust me when I arrived, and they trust me even less now.”
His hands came together and rested against his lips for a moment, his eyes on the fire. “But Inferno knows…”
“Yes,” I said. “They told him the location, and he left.”
“Ask him.”
“We’re no longer fused.”
“Why?”
“Because Queen Eldinar insisted on our separation before he departed. Didn’t want him to have the opportunity to tell me.”
“He still could have told you even if you weren’t fused.”
“Yes, but Inferno wanted to keep his word to the elves. He appreciates what they’ve done for his kind. They consider themselves the protectors of dragons and the Realm of Caelum.”
That last bit of information seemed to intrigue him because his eyes narrowed. “The gateway to the afterlife is in the forest?”
“Seems so.”
His eyes shifted away into the distance, and he turned quiet.
“Why does that matter to you?”
“It doesn’t,” he said. “Just helps me understand why they despise me so.”
“Why would that make them despise you?”
He turned his eyes back to me.
“I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us. We’re beyond that now.”
His eyes dropped back to the fire. “I wield the power of the dead…as you’ve seen.”
“So you are a god.”
“No,” he said with a sad smile. “But I know the god of the underworld quite well.”
Bumps formed on my arms. “How…?”
His eyes stayed on the fire a long time, so long it seemed like he wouldn’t answer. “That tale will have to be told another day, not on a night as beautiful as this.” He lifted his eyes and looked at me, his stare hard and possessive like usual.
“Inferno said he would ask the dragons to fight for our cause. If they said yes, he would return to me and share their answer. But it’s been almost a month, and I haven’t heard from him.”
“I wonder if he’s asked, or if he’s been waiting until he’s accepted into their society.”
“I don’t know.”
“We need to ask the elves for the location,” he said. “I see no other way.”
“You’ve seen the queen’s disdain for me…”
“But you said you have an uncle.”
I hesitated. “Yes, but he’s married to her.”
“Your uncle is the king?” he asked in slight surprise.
“He’s not the king. The crown isn’t transferred by marriage.”
“Then he’s still very powerful and influential. He could share that location with you—or convince the queen to do so.”
“I’ve seen his love for her. He would never betray her.”
“Blood is thicker than water.”
I looked at him across the fire, the man least likely to claim my heart, to pull it out of my body and squeeze it in his grasp. “I think love is just as thick.”
He continued to hold my gaze with the same confidence. “How do you want to proceed?”
“I—I’m not sure.”
“I have to do this, Calista. I can’t win this war without the dragons, and I can’t sit on my ass and wait for Inferno to come back when he may never return.”
“I understand.”
“Then you need to think of something.”
“I can ask.” I thought of the angry look in the queen’s eyes, the way she despised me down to the bone. “But I know how that will go. We need to offer them something in return, some kind of incentive?—”
“Like saving their forest from complete annihilation?” he asked sarcastically.
“The forest was attacked because of me, so I’m not sure how good of an argument that is.”
“It wasn’t your fault, baby. You aren’t responsible for his obsession.”
“How did General Titan even know?”
Now Talon bowed his head.
“Talon?”
“He left my employ many months ago. But I decided not to tell you so you wouldn’t worry. I ordered my men to find him and kill him, but he evaded capture. And then when you left me, I was so preoccupied with that that I forgot about him. He must have seen your dragon cross the mountains and followed you.”
The information settled like a stone on my shoulders. “I wish you had told me.”
“Would it have made a difference?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
We fell into silence, the fire crackling between us.
“I’ll ask my uncle to arrange a meeting with the queen on the border. Now that the dust has settled, it’s a better time to proposition her. We’ll talk to her and see what we can accomplish.”
He gave a nod in agreement. “Thank you.”
“You know I’m with you.”