Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Neve
Two weeks of bloodbaths and they finally had gained ground.
They managed to destroy the trebuchets.
Neve thought the humans would have turned tail when their war machines had been destroyed, but they kept fighting, attempting to press forward. He stared at the map in his tent like it would provide him with the answers he needed.
Olwen scratched the left side of his shaved head. He leaned over the table, pushing the braids from the crown of his head away from his face. “Something isn’t right,” he muttered underneath his breath.
“What is it?” Neve asked, crossing his arms. Flyka stood to his right, moving through a flow of stretches, her ears perked, the only thing that gave away that she was listening to the conversation.
His friend pointed to the mountain range that ran behind the town for Mizar.
“Why are they attacking along this border? They could have gone for the orchards, and yet, they haven’t made a single move east.” Olwen pushed away from the table and wiped a hand down his face. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Perhaps they thought to corner us against the mountains with their overwhelming numbers,” he offered.
Olwen teetered his head back and forth. “Perhaps, but I still think there’s something larger at play.”
Neve glanced at Flyka. “Have your saloes spies given you any information?”
Olwen scoffed. “Spies are not trustworthy. They play with lies and information.”
Flyka arched a brow. “You weren’t complaining when my valles started the fires that led to the destruction of the trebuchets. Don’t be so judgmental.”
“She only complied because you held her family as ransom. She will betray you the moment your leverage is gone.”
“I don’t need loyalty, just obedience.” Flyka finished her last stretch and looked toward the entrance of the tent.
The flap lifted, and a stunning halfling stepped inside, a sway to her hips.
Neve schooled his expression as the halfling sauntered inside, wearing nothing but a translucent gown that hugged her body in all the right places.
She was petite, her ears not quite as pointed as his, and had lovely periwinkle skin.
His Haunt cleared her throat, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. “I’ll come back later.” Flyka practically ran from the tent.
The halfling padded over the fur rug bare-footed and bowed low before him. Neve gazed impassively at the valles despite how her bosom just about fell out of her dress. She planned on something more than food, it seemed.
“Rise,” he said in resignation.
She straightened with a small smile and held out a steaming goblet of wine to him. “For you, lae reillov,” she all but purred, batting her lashes.
“Set it on the table.”
The halfling did as she was told, once again bending slowly to show off the graceful line of her bare back. Neve glanced away, locking eyes with Olwen, whose attention was on him, not the valles.
“Anything else?” she asked, her voice a little too throaty.
“That is all,” Neve said.
He caught the way her cheeks heated in embarrassment at the quick dismissal.
“As you wish, Reillov.” She stiffly walked to the entrance but paused to peer over her shoulder at him.
“If you change your mind, send for Jaiix.” She slipped outside, her voice soft as she spoke with one of his guards.
Her tinkling laugh filled the air and trailed off when she walked away.
Neve ran a hand through his inky hair, thankful the valles was gone. The last thing he needed was another female messing with his head. All he wanted was his backstabbing mate. That was confusing enough.
Silence settled in the tent. It wasn’t unsettling, but he could almost feel Olwen’s gaze crawling over him.
“What?” he bit out, scowling at his commander.
“You hardly looked at her.”
“I’m not interested.” He sighed irritably.
“Clearly.”
“Am I supposed to be?”
Olwen smirked. “You tell me.”
Neve clenched his teeth. “I am a mated male.”
“To a traitorous saloes. No one would begrudge you a little companionship.”
“Do I look like a dishonorable vallos to you? Despite what Lia,” he stuttered over her name and corrected his words, “the queen did, I made vows.”
“Vows are one thing, but a bond is another.”
He stiffened and fiddled with one of the crystals marking the human’s movements on the map.
It was just vows. That was all it could be.
Neve would not have been so stupid to bond himself to her.
He hadn’t even connected with her physically yet.
It should not be possible, and yet . . .
she was not fading from his mind, despite everything she had done.
Liar, liar.
His friend flopped into the nearest chair, the wood groaning underneath his muscular bulk. “I was just checking if you were in there.”
“In where?” He narrowed his eyes at his friend’s playful smile. “You sent her here? The halfling? Why?”
“It’s been a little over three months since your attack,” his friend said softly, losing all humor.
“I’ve watched you drift further and further away.
Not once have you looked at another valles since you laid eyes on Dahlia—even when you despised her at first. Have you claimed her? Did you complete the bond?”
“No, I have not taken her.” He picked up the goblet of warm wine and tossed it back, the rich spice filling his senses and warming his belly. A secret regret and blessing.
“But?”
Much to his ever-loving shame, Neve needed Lia with a desire that did not make sense.
Every time he closed his eyes, all he imagined was rose gold-hair running through his fingers.
Impossibly soft star-sprinkled skin and dancing human eyes.
Pink lips that he wanted to devour. But it was more than her curvy human body.
It was the way she showed kindness, how she attacked a problem, and her inner strength.
“She haunts me,” he gritted out. His fingers tightened around the goblet. All he wanted to do was throw it. She was a traitor. Lia tried to kill him. To destroy his kingdom. He needed to hate her. Neve had to. He was at war not just with the saloes but himself.
“What will you do when we find her?” Olwen asked.
He set down the goblet, his hands shaking. “Punishment.” It was automatic.
Olwen snorted. “How do you propose you do that when you’re bonded to her?”
The hackles at the back of his neck rose at the insinuation that might be all too true. “We are not bonded. How could we be?” While they had not connected their bodies, he feared somehow their souls already were. He had allowed himself to love her and that was bad enough.
His friend tsked and crossed his arms, his biceps bulging. “I thought we made a promise when we were children never to lie to one another. If you can’t admit it to me, how do you think you will handle it when you see her again?”
“She could be dead.”
Olwen laughed and stood from the chair. “You don’t believe that.”
He didn’t. Neve would know if she left the world. Wouldn’t he?
“She must pay.” She had to pay for her crimes. For making him believe that she cared. For making him care. For wrapping herself around his hearts and then breaking them.
“Yes, she does. Just make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Love is tricky.”
“I do not love her.” Another lie.
“Keep telling yourself that.” Olwen chuckled and walked to the entrance of the tent. “Maybe you’ll start believing it.”
Neve glared at the tent flap long after his friend had left, breathing hard.
Olwen was wrong. He had to be wrong.
He couldn’t afford to love her. Could not be bound to a devious human.
It would be too tragic.
Neve would not survive such an event.
They both wouldn’t.