Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
When morning comes, my broken heart has pieced itself back together enough that I feel able to tackle another day.
Or rather, Draven has pieced it back together.
He held me close the entire night, and just feeling his warmth and his comforting strength made me believe once more that everything will be okay.
That we will be able to get through this. That we can do this.
I glance over at him where he is getting dressed. He is only wearing his pants and that tight black shirt that he wears underneath his armor, so every time he moves, I can see the muscles flex in his perfectly sculpted chest and back and arms.
Thanks to Orion’s very talented staff, my fighting leathers have just been delivered to our room, looking as good as new. I bite my lip, still watching Draven, as I reach for the hem of my short dark blue nightgown.
“Keep looking at me like that, and you’ll undo all of my efforts,” Draven says, sliding me a look from the corner of his eye.
I almost jump in surprise, not having realized that he could see me watching him. Quickly pulling myself together, I raise my eyebrows. “What efforts?”
“If you keep looking at me like that, all of these clothes I’ve just gone through the trouble of putting on are coming right back off again.”
A pleased laugh escapes my lips, and I wiggle my eyebrows at him.
He strides over to me and slides both hands into my hair. Tilting my head back with commanding moves, he kisses me so deeply that my heart flutters.
“Oh, you really are a menace, aren’t you?” he murmurs.
I smile against his mouth.
However, before I can reply, there is a knock on the door.
“Commander Ryat,” a male voice calls.
After one more kiss, this one much softer, both of us pull back.
Draven lets out a soft huff of amusement while turning towards the door, and he comments in a low voice to me, “Commander. I’m not a commander anymore.”
“You will always be a commander.” I wink and flash him a grin. “Just ask your bossy and domineering personality.”
He gives me a smile that promises delicious revenge before raising his voice to answer the messenger outside the door. “Yes?”
“I was sent to tell you that your friends Galen and Lyra have returned,” he replies. “And so has Diana Artemesia. Everyone is gathering in the war council room.”
“War council room?” I say softly to Draven, my eyebrows raised in surprise. “Orion has a war council room?”
“I’m honestly not surprised at all,” Draven says to me before calling to the messenger, “Where is that?”
“I can take you there right now, if you’re ready?” he replies.
Draven glances down at my body in the short silk nightgown before giving me a pointed look. “We’ll be right out.”
After quickly getting dressed, we follow the messenger to Orion’s war council room.
My heart patters nervously as we walk the final distance to the open doorway. I haven’t seen Orion since I accidentally witnessed his and Isera’s moment out there in Haldia’s garden, and I have no idea what state he will be in today.
The messenger sweeps his arm out, indicating the open door, and then returns the way we came.
I draw in a steadying breath as Draven and I cross the threshold and walk into the large meeting room.
A massive table takes up most of the floor space in the middle of the room.
The wall right across from the door sports large windows that look out over the imposing stone cliffs and gigantic waterfalls that frame the back portion of this city.
Rows of bookcases line the wall on our right, all filled with scrolls and leather tomes, while a huge map spans the entire wall on our left.
My stomach grumbles as the scent of food fills my lungs when I draw in a deep breath.
I quickly scan the table, noticing that an entire breakfast feast has been placed there.
Fried eggs and sausages, grilled fish, and herb-roasted potatoes are waiting on gleaming dishes on one side while fruit, cheese, and bread have been placed together on the other side.
“At last,” Orion declares. “I feared the food would get cold before you arrived.”
I snap my gaze to the Unseelie King, who is standing in front of the giant map on the wall, with his back to us. But when we walk inside, he at last turns around to face us.
As always, he is dressed in beautiful formal wear in dark blue, black, and silver, and he is also wearing his spiky black crown on his head.
Now, he also has an elegant black eyepatch across his left eye.
It has been decorated with gleaming silver thread in an intricate pattern, which somehow perfectly suits both his clothes and his entire personality.
The edges of the scar that now runs through his eyebrow peak up above and below the dark fabric.
My heart patters, and I barely dare to breathe.
But Orion just smirks at us the way he always does, and his remaining eye glints like normal when he says, “If you two are late because you decided to have a quick morning fuck, I will be very cross.”
“No fuck with me is ever quick.” Draven shoots him a smirk back and arches an eyebrow at him. “Just because you’re a quickshot doesn’t mean everyone is, princeling.”
Intense relief and gratitude flash across Orion’s face before he manages to hide it behind a villainous smile again. “Careful now, beast. Or I might spend this entire breakfast recounting my sexual prowess in excruciating detail.”
And that’s when I realize it. That’s when I realize that I am currently making the exact same mistake that a lot of the others made with me after I had been forced to make Draven hate me. I loathed the way they looked at me then. The way they acted around me.
And Orion is the same.
He doesn’t want our pity and our sad, sympathetic looks. He doesn’t want us to walk on eggshells around him. He wants us to treat him exactly the way we usually do. As if nothing has changed. So that is precisely what I will do.
“Please don’t,” Lyra chimes in from where she is practically bouncing on her feet next to the table.
“I’m starving, and I really don’t want to hear about your sex life while I’m eating sausages.
” Her orange eyes gleam with mischief as she shifts her gaze from Orion to Alistair. “Because I really like sausages.”
Alistair stumbles, his face going bright red.
I burst out laughing. I can’t help it. After everything that has happened and all the tension and worry inside me, the sheer absurdity of this conversation is just so incredible that I can’t stop myself from laughing.
And it looks like I’m not the only one.
From the opposite wall, Galen shakes his head and chuckles while Diana looks like she is suppressing a smile.
Next to them, Lavendera and the Dryad Queen are watching the exchange with light in their eyes.
Even Isera, who is leaning against the windowsill with her arms crossed, has clear amusement tugging at her lips.
“Well, let’s eat then,” Orion announces.
Boots scuff and chairs scrape as we all walk over to the table and sit down. For the first few minutes, we all just pile food onto our plates and eat in contented silence. I didn’t even realize how hungry I was until that first bite of fried eggs melts in my mouth.
A faint moan, which makes Draven cast me a glance from the corner of his eye, escapes my mouth.
Mabona’s tits, I feel like I haven’t eaten in ages.
The food tastes heavenly. Better than anything I have ever had.
Though I think it has less to do with the actual food and more to do with the company.
There is something special about sharing a meal with all of your friends and loved ones.
Pain suddenly stabs through my chest when I remember that not all of my loved ones are here. My parents aren’t.
That intense urge to use my magic flares up inside me again. My mind is begging me to do it. Just once. Just for a little while. To make that pain go away.
Gripping my fork hard, I fight desperately against it while the memory of what I did down in the dungeon last night flashes through my mind again.
I won’t lose control like that again. I can’t.
So I force that insistent voice back to the corners of my mind and, through sheer willpower, focus on the food before me and the people around me instead.
“So, what’s the verdict?” Draven asks into the companionable silence.
“The Blue Clan is with us,” Galen replies before looking to Lyra.
“So is the Orange Clan,” she confirms. A smile spreads across her lips as she adds, “Tanaka was actually really excited about it. Said that this uprising was a long time coming.”
With a small smile, Draven gives both of them a nod. Then he turns to Diana. “And the Brown Clan?”
“I had them,” Diana begins. Setting down her knife and fork, she arches an eyebrow and gives Draven a pointed look. “Then they got word that you killed Kander von Graf.”
Draven grimaces, but his voice is unapologetic as he says. “I had to. His memory magic is too dangerous.”
“I agree. But the Brown Clan was not happy. They liked Kander. And they said that if you can kill him just like that, you might wake up one day and just decide to kill them too.”
An annoyed groan slips from Draven’s lips, and he rubs a hand over his face. “So they won’t join?”
“No.”
“So stubborn. Always so fucking stubborn. They’re worse than their damned mountains.”
“But,” Diana continues, “they said that they won’t back the Icehearts either. They have no love for the Iceheart Dynasty, and they want to regain complete freedom and full control over their own clan.”
“But they don’t trust me either.”
“No. But they won’t fight against us in this war. No matter what the Icehearts threaten them with.” She shrugs, making her wavy brown hair ripple over her purple dragon scale armor. “At least their stubbornness goes both ways.”
“Yeah, there is that, I suppose.”