Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Water splashes as Draven slams his arms down into the river to catch the fish that swam past. It shoots out of reach right before he can grab it.
On the riverbank, Galen chuckles and casts a glance at Draven over his shoulder while he continues towards the rest of us with the fish that he himself caught.
“Amateur,” Galen calls to Draven, a smile on his face.
Straightening in the water, Draven turns towards the riverbank and gives his best friend a dark look that is completely ruined by the smile that threatens to spill across his lips. “I could always just fry the entire river with lightning.”
“You could. But it would just prove that your reflexes really are worse than mine.”
Draven’s eyes glitter in the golden light from the spheres floating between the trees. “Wanna come down here and say that to my face?”
“Not to mention that a lightning strike would probably kill all other marine life in the river too,” Lyra adds.
She is also standing in the river, her eyes scanning the clear water as she searches for another fish.
All three dragon shifters have stripped down to their underwear so that their armor doesn’t get wet while they try to catch fish in the slow-moving river.
There is no direct sunlight down here in the dryads’ underground forest, but the air is warm.
And so is the water, from what Lyra has said.
Apart from us and the glowing orbs in the air, the lush green forest around us is peaceful and still.
Galen laughs and wiggles his eyebrows at Draven. “When she comes in and urges you to act responsibly, you know you’ve lost.”
Still standing knee-deep in the river, Draven mutters under his breath, but amusement tugs at his lips as well. “I still dispute your claim that your reflexes are better than mine.”
“And yet…” Galen drops his newest prize on the pile of ice next to Isera before turning back to smirk at Draven. “I’m the one who keeps catching all the fish.”
“That’s just because you always aim for all the grandfather fish who swim so slowly that even Orion could’ve caught them.”
“Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night. I’ve simply developed excellent reflexes because I’ve spent two hundred years in close proximity to that,” he points at Lyra, “absolute maniac who keeps jumping off cliffs and shifting mid-air right in front of me.”
Draven tips his head to the side. “Good point.”
“For the record,” Orion interrupts. “I could catch fish if I wanted to. I simply choose not to.”
Everyone turns towards the Unseelie King, who is standing on the grass halfway between me and Isera.
I continue my work while I turn to glance at him as well.
My knife thuds steadily against the flat piece of wood before me as I continue gutting and chopping the fish without looking at it.
On my other side, Alistair is frying the freshly cut fish with his fire magic.
Orion keeps his chin raised as he looks back at us all.
“Remind me again what it is that you are actually contributing with here?” Draven says, and arches an eyebrow at him.
“My presence is contribution enough.” His black and silver eyes gleam as he flashes us a devilish smile. “You’re welcome.”
In the water, Lyra rolls her eyes while Draven looks like he is contemplating whether to shoot a lightning bolt at the Unseelie King or maybe to create a rain cloud right above his head. Galen straightens after dropping off his fish on the pile of ice and then starts back towards the water.
“And besides,” Orion continues. “I’m not the only one who isn’t doing anything.” Twisting slightly, he looks over at Isera, who is standing two steps to his right. “What are you contributing with, little viper?”
Isera just points down at the pile of ice that the fish is resting on.
“I’ve gotta agree with squeamy on this one, ice lady,” Alistair calls while moving the flame in his palm around the fish before him. “You could probably catch more fish than Draven.”
“Squeamy?” Orion demands, looking completely outraged. “Is that supposed to be a nickname?”
“I am perfectly capable of catching fish,” Draven huffs from the water.
“I’ve already done my job,” Isera replies to Alistair’s comment. Arching a dark eyebrow, she gives him a knowing look while I swear a smile lurks at the corner of her lips. “Just focus on yours, Flambé.”
Alistair’s mouth drops open. “Flambé?”
She shrugs, her silver and blue eyes gleaming. “You keep giving everyone else ridiculous nicknames. You could use one of your own. And you do excel at pouring alcohol over things and setting them on fire.”
A laugh bursts out of me. While still continuing to cut the fish before me, I laugh so hard that my shoulders shake. Alistair just shakes his head at the both of us and then shoots a glance down at the dagger that keeps flying across my makeshift cutting board.
“Careful with the knife, Soulstealer,” he says.
“Nah, she’s good,” Lyra calls from the water while stalking a fish. “Just look at how her hands move. She’s a pro.”
Galen meets my eyes from over his shoulder while he walks back into the river. “You are actually surprisingly good at that.”
“I used to be a fish cutter,” I explain with a casual shrug. “I’ve literally been doing this exact thing almost every day of my life.”
To my right, Orion scrunches his nose. “This is why I decimate anyone who even thinks of taking my crown. I would die before I ever touched a dead fish, let alone—”
“Here,” Isera suddenly calls.
Since I’m assuming that she’s talking to me, I turn towards her.
A dead fish smacks into the side of Orion’s face.
The riverbank goes utterly silent.
I gape at the Unseelie King as the dead fish falls down from his cheek to hit his shoulder before landing on the grass right next to his fancy shoes.
For a moment, no one moves. No one even breathes. I swear the river itself stops flowing.
Then Orion slowly turns towards Isera.
“Sorry.” She flashes him a completely unapologetic smile dripping with challenge. “My hand slipped.”
In a flash, Orion has closed the distance between them. With a firm grip on her collar, he slowly draws her face closer to his. “Your hand slipped?”
She summons a shard of ice and presses it against his throat before he can pull her all the way to him. Their lips are so close that they’re almost touching.
Another villainous smile slides across Isera’s mouth as she replies, “Yes.”
“If there is so much as one single stain on my clothes from that fish, I will make you spend the rest of the night washing it out.”
“You seem to spend a lot of time fantasizing about taking your clothes off around me. Desperate much?”
“Let’s not forget who cuddled whom in that cave.”
Heat flushes Isera’s cheeks for a second as she presses out, “I did not cuddle you!”
“No? So you’re saying that you didn’t wake up with your arms around me and your cheek snuggled into my chest?”
“That was only to prevent hypothermia!”
“Sure.” His eyes gleam with devilish light. “Just admit that you want to fuck me.”
“You’re the one who couldn’t keep control of his cock when I climbed onto your lap while stealing the dragon steel back there in your court.”
“You’re the one who got down on your knees and offered to suck my cock for all eternity.”
“In order to trick you into a bargain and then trap you in it so that you have to obey my will. Which I managed to do anyway.” With the shard of ice still against his throat, she rises up on her toes and slants her lips over his. “You belong to me now, pretty boy. Don’t forget it.”
“A bargain that I’m becoming increasingly certain is based on a lie. And once I prove that, the deal will revert and I will win our bargain by default.” He slides his tongue along his bottom lip, only a breath away from hers. “And then you will belong to me, little viper.”
From the river, Lyra suddenly calls in a cheerful voice, “Why don’t you just fuck each other and release all of this tension between you?”
Orion and Isera practically leap apart. Brushing his hands down his embroidered shirt, he turns away from Isera and tries to appear unaffected while she draws her eyebrows down in a scowl and moves to pick up the fish she threw.
“What?” Lyra laughs, and her orange eyes glitter as she flicks a glance towards Alistair. “A nice fuck is good for the soul.”
His cheeks flush bright red, and he almost drops the fish. Snapping his gaze down to it, he clears his throat while the flame in his hand gets inexplicably larger.
“Azaroth’s flame,” Draven mutters from the river. “It really is like being surrounded by children. At this point, summer will be over before we get this done.”
“I don’t mind,” I call back to him. A teasing smile spreads across my lips as I deliberately rake my gaze up and down his body. “I’m enjoying the view.”
Draven, who is still standing knee-deep in the water in only his underwear, slides his gaze to me.
Drops of water run down his skin, and his muscles shift with every move he makes.
My grin widens. At long last, that smile that he has been holding back spreads across his handsome face.
Shaking his head at me, he gives me a look that lets me know exactly what we will be doing the moment we’re alone again.
He was right, though.
Catching enough fish for all seven of us took longer than we had expected. It was only once Isera’s patience ran out and she froze part of the river that we could finish our task more efficiently.
Once dinner is finally ready, we can start focusing on what we actually need to discuss.
How to get Lavendera.
But just as I suspected, figuring out how to save someone who doesn’t want to be saved is not easy.
“If she won’t come willingly, we’ll just knock her out,” Isera says, and shoots an impatient look at Orion, who yet again pointed out our target’s unwillingness to be saved. “The important part is how we get to her. If she’s not trailing the Icehearts themselves, she’s followed by elite guards.”
“We can handle the guards,” Draven says. “As long as Bane and Jessina aren’t there. So what we need is a way to draw them out while leaving Lavendera behind.”
Sitting on the grass next to him, I swallow another piece of fried fish, which tastes surprisingly good, and then tap my fingers against my thigh in thought. “Do they always bring Lavendera with them when they leave?”
“No. She doesn’t leave the Ice Palace that often, so my guess is that they only bring her when they need her to control someone with dragon steel.”
“Alright,” Isera picks up, shifting her gaze between Draven and the rest of us. “So what about the Purple Clan?”
“What about them?” Galen asks from where he is sitting next to Lyra.
“We need to create some kind of problem that the Icehearts need to fly out and handle. Artemesia said that she was willing to help us earlier. What if we ask her to create some kind of problem close to her clan’s homeland?
It would force the Icehearts to fly out there, but since they’re not controlling her with dragon steel the way they’re controlling Tanaka, there would be no reason for them to bring Lavendera. ”
Silence falls over the deep forest as we all consider her suggestion. For a while, only the gentle rippling of the river disturbs the quiet.
“I don’t think it will be enough,” I admit, and flick an apologetic look in Isera’s direction.
“Jessina and Bane have outsmarted us time and again. Even if they fly out, we won’t just be able to stroll into the Ice Palace and take Lavendera.
She’s too important. Without her, they can’t use dragon steel.
So they’ll make sure she’s thoroughly guarded. ”
Isera sucks her teeth and then nods in acknowledgment.
“What if we just overwhelm their senses?” Lyra says.
Raising her eyebrows, she looks from face to face.
“It’s what I do when I need to get away with something I shouldn’t be doing.
Create enough chaos in the same place at the same time, and no one will notice what I’m doing in the middle of all of that. ”
“Smart,” Alistair agrees with an impressed nod.
Draven just arches an eyebrow at her. “Done that a lot in the barracks, have you?”
She just gives him a sheepish grin that is most definitely a yes.
“Okay, so what if after the Icehearts have left,” I begin, nudging the conversation back on track, “we make it seem like all of the other clans are attacking Frostfell?”
“How?” Galen asks. “They have patrols all across the grasslands outside the city. If there’s a legion of dragons flying towards them, the scouts would know.”
I shift my gaze to Draven. “The commander in charge of all those scouts, do you know who it is?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “His name is Ferver Osteria.”
“Do you know where he lives?”
“Yes.” Confusion pulls at his brows. “Why?”
A smirk slides home on my lips as I explain what I had in mind.
The others nod in approval.
“We still need to actually locate Lavendera, though,” Alistair reminds us. “She might be strolling through the city or hiding in a bedroom while going through one of her crazy-pants moments, for all we know.”
“The elite guards who are responsible for watching her will know where she is,” Draven replies. “Even the ones who aren’t actively watching her. So as long as we get to one of them, we’ll know her current location.”
Isera nods, her intelligent eyes full of schemes. “That just leaves one problem. How do we get her out of the city without being seen?”
Silence falls over our group again. I eat some more fried fish while I ponder the problem. If Lavendera turns out to be inside the Ice Palace, we can’t just walk inside and get her. Everyone in there knows exactly what we look like and that we’re traitors who should be captured or killed on sight.
To my surprise, the one who offers a solution is Orion.
Up until now, he has just been sitting there on the grass, eating his fish while scowling down at the unrefined manner in which he is forced to dine. But now, he stretches his legs out before him and crosses his ankles. A sly smile curves his lips.
“Leave that to me.”