Chapter 30
THIRTY
BASH
I ran the tip of my finger over the sharp edge of the sword, relishing the prick of pain.
The second largest tent, surrounded by a contingent of guards, housed the camp’s armory. An assortment of weapons filled half a dozen shelves scattered throughout the tent. Knives, swords, daggers, bows, arrows, guns, and even something that resembled a bazooka—though Z had made it abundantly clear that I wasn’t allowed to play with it.
I glided my fingers across the blade once more, a frown touching my lips. I hadn’t been trained with weaponry like a lot of my brothers. Why would I, when I had magic?
But if the trials had taught me anything, it was that my magic was fickle and couldn’t be relied on.
Thus, here I was, attempting to decide what weapon to bring with me to battle. A gun? Maybe, though I didn’t know how to load and unload. I could, however, point and shoot. A dagger? Nah. I wasn’t the type of man to get up close and personal with my opponent.
My gaze kept drifting to the sword, lean and shiny and wickedly sharp.
Could I handle a sword?
Tentatively, I lunged forward, slicing through nothing but air, before pulling back. The weapon was light, and the copper handle fit in my hand like an extension of my arm. It would be weird to not rely on my magic, but?—
“What are you doing?”
I jumped about a foot in the air, almost dropping the sword and cutting my damn hand off in the process.
“Dammit, Dair,” I hissed, attempting to play it cool like I hadn’t almost made a kebab out of my body.
My mermaid brother smirked at me as he wheeled himself farther into the tent, his gaze flicking around rapidly as he took in the variety of weapons. I wondered if this was the first time he’d ever entered this particular tent. It certainly was mine.
Dair’s hands squeezed the wheels of his chair, his knuckles bleaching white.
“So I heard you guys are leaving,” he said.
It wasn’t a question.
“In just a bit,” I replied, mentally adding, After Lupe and Z finish fucking.
A tiny bit of jealousy pierced my chest at the reminder of what I’d almost walked in on when I went to check on them.
Z’s throaty groans…
Lupe’s growls…
Yeah. I would’ve given my right ass cheek to have joined in.
Okay. Maybe not my right ass cheek. It was probably my best feature. My left ass cheek? I swore the fucker was a little puffier than its counterpart.
Focus, Bash.
I lowered the sword back to the table and leaned against one of the pillars erecting the tent up.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked, studying Dair intently.
When it had become apparent that Dair wouldn’t be able to walk anytime soon, Z had ordered smooth, hard pathways to connect the majority of the tents together. Of course, the humans—in particular, that fucker Stefan—obliged without complaint. They would do anything to make her happy.
Now dozens of wooden pathways—all of them sanded down—wove through the camp. The humans created more every day.
I knew Dair was embarrassed to need such accommodations, but I also knew Z didn’t give a shit. She wanted her mate to feel comfortable in our temporary home, and I didn’t blame her. I hated to see my brother confined to his tent because it was difficult to traverse the rough terrain.
“You guys need to come back to us, you hear me?” Dair shakily ran a hand through his golden hair. “Z wouldn’t survive losing you. None of us would.”
Tension etched itself into his forehead, creating deep grooves.
I scoffed. “I have no intention of dying anytime soon, thank you very much.” I once again grabbed the sword and held it at the ready. “I’ll be taking this with me. It’s my stabby tool.”
Amusement quirked the corners of his lips. “You’re calling a sword a stabby tool now?”
“It’s a fitting name,” I argued, studying the supplies once more until I found what I was looking for.
A scabbard.
Now I just needed to figure out how the fuck to put it on…
Dair watched me fumble, making no move to help me, before saying, “Are you afraid to use your magic?”
The question took me by surprise. I fumbled the scabbard and cursed loudly when it fell to the floor.
I bent to pick it up. “Why would you say that?”
Dair nodded towards the weapon. “Because you’re using a stabby tool.”
I shrugged and finally hooked the damn thing around my waist. At least, I think I did. Were scabbards even supposed to go around the waist?
“My magic isn’t always reliable.” I shrugged nonchalantly, as if my heart wasn’t pounding abnormally fast in my chest. “Lilith’s trial for me taught me that.”
Sympathy darkened Dair’s eyes to a midnight-blue color. “Because your magic hurt her?”
I gritted my teeth and attempted to place my sword in the scabbard.
“We can’t always rely on our gifts.” Never in a million years did I think I would say those words.
I was a mage, for fuck’s sake, and we practically invented laziness. For as long as I could remember, I didn’t have to lift a finger to do anything because my magic did it for me. This new development was…strange, to put it mildly.
“At least your powers are useful.” A tiny bit of bitterness seeped into Dair’s voice, and the sound of it caused my head to snap up.
I locked gazes with him. “Don’t give in to your envy, brother. You’re better than that.”
I spun in a slow circle, giving the tent a final sweep, trying to decide if there was anything else I wanted to bring with me. I knew Lupe planned to take a couple of guns—unlike me, he was trained on how to use them—and Killian planned to use his powers of persuasion if we ran into any trouble. We also had over one hundred soldiers marching with us to liberate the human work camps.
But would it be enough?
“I wish I could practice my newest…gift.” Dair’s lip curled slightly.
I knew he was thinking about the one time he pulled the blood out of his enemy using water magic. It wasn’t something he could just practice on any random human.
I wagged my finger in his face with a frown. “Don’t do that.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Do what?”
“Act all mopey and shit because you think you’re not contributing.” I leveled him with my best glare. “You’re our conscience, Dair. Don’t forget that.”
Dair’s lips arched downwards slightly. “I think you’re talking about Z.”
“Nah.” I waved a hand in the air. “She’s our heart and the thing that holds us all together, but our conscience?” I snorted. “That has never been her role in our family, and we both know it. You’ve always been the one to help us differentiate right from wrong. You pull us back from the edge before we can fall over.”
I stepped forward to place a hand on his shoulder, squeezing once before releasing him. “You’re not weak just because you’re in a chair. Does it fucking suck? Of course. I wish I could kill your father a million times in a row. But this catastrophe has only ever proved how strong you really are. Z’s going to need that strength in the days to come.”
Dair’s lips parted, and I wasn’t sure if he intended to agree with me or argue. After a long moment of silence, he clamped his lips together and glared down at his lap, where his hands had formed tight fists. I watched him silently, waiting until he finally loosened his balled hands, his fingers spreading out on his thighs. His shoulders sagged downwards with the force of his sigh.
“I just wish…” Dair licked his lips but didn’t continue.
“That the universe didn’t constantly try to anal fuck us without any lube?” I finished for him, arching an eyebrow.
A timid smile flashed on his face for a fraction of a second. “Yeah. That sounds about right.”
“Trust me, I know. Once this whole ‘war’ thing is over, I’m going on vacation.”
“You’re going to be a king by then,” Dair pointed out.
“Then I’ll go on a kingly vacation.” I smirked. “Just you, me, our brothers, and our mate.”
Dair actually laughed out loud, his eyes glimmering with mirth. “Z’s not going to be able to walk straight for months after that vacation.”
“Her poor pussy,” I agreed with a sigh, but I couldn’t entirely smother my grin.
We were going to win this war. Of that I had no doubt.
Then we would grab a hold of our happily ever after with both hands and never let it go.