Chapter 19
The Resistance
Eloise
The one called Lord Thane embraces Damien and then Warbill.
He approaches me next, stopping a few inches from me with his arms held wide in invitation.
I don’t know the man, but I move into the friendly embrace without hesitation.
Lady Tempest is a confidante and a good friend to me, and she’s best friends with Damien’s mother.
If this is her mate, he must be a worthy shade.
“Allow me to introduce you all to Percival. He’s one of our newest umbrae, a former citizen of Zephrine,” Thane says.
“Call me Percy,” the man says—a boy, really. I get the sense from his demeanor that he’s closer to a teenager than an adult.
Percy secures the door behind us, and Thane gestures for us to follow him deeper into the building.
“We train in secret and move via a network of tunnels that connect our buildings. Unfortunately, as a coastal community, we can’t build underground because of the flooding risk, but we’ve made use of interstitial space.”
“Interstitial space?” I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t know what that means, and I wonder if it involves magic.
Lord Thane smiles kindly. “When we designed the capital of our territory, we had streets that ran between the backs of buildings, places for deliveries and refuse removal.”
I immediately picture an alleyway in Richmond.
“We built over those streets.” He opens the door, and I see what he means.
We are standing on a stone road, but it’s completely boxed in, like a warehouse, with no windows and no doors.
Lamps burn at regular intervals. This isn’t like an alley; it’s like Night Haven, a completely secured world existing in a place between places.
“To make sure the silver coats wouldn’t find us, we limited access points.
The ones that do exist are well protected, with gateways like this where we can pick off intruders. ”
Damien points at a slit in the wall. “Arrows?”
Lord Thane raises his chin proudly. “They’re watching us. Although I presume they’ve recognized you by now and are sending word—”
“Eloise!” Tempest rushes through a door at the end of the passageway and swings me into a violent hug. “Damien!”
“Aunt Tempest. Thank the goddess.” Damien embraces her with a kiss to her cheek.
“Is that…?” Tempest’s gaze sweeps to our third.
“Warbill, my lady.”
She hugs us each in turn. “Thank the goddess you made it here safely. Word has reached us that the silver coats have been excessively cruel in their zest to find you.”
“They have been. Thankfully, Eloise kept us disguised the entire time,” Damien says.
“Come, I’ll give you the tour. Lord Undaku and Lord Prandle are leading exercises in the training facility, but I’m sure Lady Odette and Lady Eudora will want to join us for a meal. You must be hungry and exhausted.”
“They’re all here?” I ask, surprised the leaders from the Borderlands and Zephrine would abandon their people in such difficult times.
Tempest pauses her steps, her expression losing some of its characteristic optimism. “If they weren’t here, they’d be dead. Even Thane and I must hide here.” That’s why the Palace of Dawn looks abandoned. The lord and lady of Aendor are as much fugitives as we are.
Our eyes catch and hold, and the pain I see in the older woman’s gaze is heartbreaking. What must she have endured since last we saw her at the Harvest Festival?
“Tempest,” Damien says softly, breaking the unspoken conversation passing between us. “You mentioned a meal. We are famished, but also, our rabble beasts and saddlebags are still tied up in front of the Maiden’s Voyage. They’ll need tending.”
Percy raises a hand. “I’ll do it. We have a secured stable as well. I’ll have the bags brought to your rooms.”
“Thank you, Percy,” Thane says.
The young umbrae hastens toward the door we entered through.
Tempest gestures deeper into the compound. “This way.”
As if headed for a royal ball, Thane hooks his elbow into hers as they lead us through another guarded gateway and into a training facility the size of two football fields.
There’s a sparring arena, an obstacle course, a strength training corner, and an entire section for weapons training.
But the most exciting part to us is the men.
Thousands of men. And they are warriors.
“How many?” Damien asks.
“Seven thousand ready to fight,” Thane says. “We gain more every day from the villages, but it takes time to rebuild their strength and train them. Most are starving farmers or shopkeepers who have never held a sword.”
I see the disappointment on Damien’s face, but it’s Warbill who speaks. “Seven thousand is a lot. But we’ve heard New Stygarde has fifteen thousand, some of them the barely grown children of the villagers. Dark elf magic makes them puppets for Nevina.”
“I’m afraid you’ve heard correctly. We don’t know the exact number, but that is the estimate our spies report. They can no longer fit them all in the castle dormitories. They have them in tents on the grounds.”
My stomach roils at the reminder of what New Stygarde is doing with shade children.
I need to talk to Damien about my visit with Maeve.
I’ve held off because we haven’t been alone in days.
Some decisions we have to weigh in private.
Some abilities I’m not ready to share openly, even with Warbill, and this is one of them.
“As much as I’d love to finish this tour, I have to rest,” I announce, inviting Tempest’s concerned perusal. “Using my magic these last few days to disguise all three of us has drained my reserves.”
She places her hand on her cheek. “Damien, you should have reminded me that Eloise’s magic is what saw you across Tenebris.”
Damien’s eyes meet mine, and an entire unspoken conversation passes between us. “I believe the fatigue of traveling has made me careless. Would it be possible for the two of us to rest before the remainder of this tour?”
“Of course,” Thane says. “We’ve prepared a room for the two of you, and one for Warbill as well.”
“Make mine among the other soldiers,” Warbill says solemnly. “I plan to train.”
Thane nods. “Welcome, umbrae. We are grateful to have you. Come with me, and I’ll show you to the barracks. Tempest can take these two to their room.”
I hug Warbill goodbye, and we part ways. “Thank you for making this journey with us,” I tell him.
“You’re welcome, my queen. I’m sure you’d never have made it without me to lighten the mood. Would have slit your own throat with no one to talk to but this one.” He points his thumb at Damien.
Damien gives a slow eye roll. “Don’t strain something reliving your glory days.”
Warbill directs a lewd gesture his way, and then he and Thane disappear through a door in the east corner of the facility.
“I’ll show you to your room.” Tempest leads Damien and me through a network of passageways to a building that must once have been part of an inn. The rooms are opulent suites, with full bathrooms and sitting and dining areas, along with a king-size bed.
“I’ll have your bags sent up. We can speak at breakfast about next steps. We need your leadership, Damien. Now more than ever.” She hugs each of us and then departs.
The door is barely closed behind her when I turn to Damien. “We need to talk.”
“I’ve sensed as much since we left the caravan.”
“I wanted to wait until we were alone.”
His scowl turns into a rippling darkness that courses under his skin and curls off the edges of his form. He prowls toward me until we’re toe-to-toe. I’d be intimidated if I didn’t know with all my heart that he’d never hurt me. “Then talk.”
“We need more soldiers. As big as the resistance is, even with the mountain dwellers, we won’t have enough, not with elf magic involved.”
In a flash, he grips my neck. Not to choke me, but to keep me in place.
I lift my chin, holding his diamond-hard gaze.
He strokes his thumb from the hollow of my throat to the tip of my jaw.
“Do not ask for my permission to return to Jaqual, little bird. Don’t you know that I will give up my crown and let this kingdom fall into chaos before I will ever hand you over to him. ”
“I thought you said it was my choice?” I raise an eyebrow, knowing that I’m goading him, but loving the possessive heat I see in his eyes.
“It is your choice. It will always be your choice,” he says through his teeth as if he resents every syllable. “But I will never give you my blessing. Had you stayed with him, I’m not sure I could have survived it.” His shadows wrap around me like cool ribbons, binding me, threading us together.
I place my hands on his neck, feeling his pulse.
“Don’t you know that you can’t ever trade me or give me away?
” I tangle my fingers in his hair, grown long during our adventures.
“I don’t stop being yours because I’m in a different building, Damien, or on a different world.
I will always be your mate at any distance. ”
He bends his neck and brushes his lips over mine. “I’d much rather we be in the same space at the same time,” he says in that low, gritty drawl that always reminds me of the shiff of a just-lit match. “The exact same space, at the exact same time.”
He kisses me possessively, and a deep, carnal need rises within me to match what I taste on his lips. It’s been over a week since we’ve been alone. A week of road filth and the smell of rabble beast. A week of barely serviceable beds. A week of Warbill within hearing distance.
“Those are some filthy thoughts I feel along our bond, Damien. Do you need a bath?” I take his hand and pull him toward the bathroom.
“I thought you wanted to talk,” he mutters.
“It can wait.”
“Thank fuck.”
I figure out the tub, which is harder than it should be. There’s a lever that opens a foot-wide spout, and hot water pours in, filling the basin in seconds. It takes more effort to slide it back into place, but by then, Damien is at my side and places his hand on mine to help me.