Chapter 24 #2
I scrubbed my eyes as I stood and rounded my desk, drawing my shadows to me.
The door opened before I reached it and I stepped out into the corridor, careful to keep my shadows under control as the guard there stood to attention.
“Find the wolven males, Chase and Morden, and bring them to the war room,” I said as I passed him and did not wait for him to respond.
Shadow and starlight wrapped around me, and I stepped out of it on the other side and pushed the heavy door of the war room open, glad my sister had been safely shut inside it when Kalyn had come to visit.
Jenavyr and Riordan hastily broke apart, moving to opposite sides of the three-dimensional map of Lucia in the centre of the room.
The vampire’s lips flattened as he scowled at the Stygian Isles, even though the Shadow Court had no markers there.
I frowned at him and then at my sister as she diligently studied the seelie high king’s palace, her cheeks flushed as she idly picked at the wooden rim of the map.
They had been fighting again.
“What did you come up with in my absence?” I glanced from one to the other as I rounded the map and halted between them on the other side of it, close to the Shadow Court.
I wish I had not asked when they immediately began bickering.
“We should move the fifth and third legions north to Wraith Wood as you planned, but move the second and fourth towards the northern borders, keeping them close to Falkyr,” Riordan said, pointing to his preferred positions on the map. “The first legion should be moved to Belkarthen and—”
“The first legion should remain at Falkyr. Take your second legion south and the fourth with it. The fourth can protect the shores, acting as support for the fleet there,” Jenavyr snapped.
As I had expected.
The first legion was under her command, and Riordan had been a fool to suggest moving it to Belkarthen, away from the frontlines of whatever came at us. My sister would not leave my side, no matter what the vampire thought was best for her.
“The second legion is posted here,” he bit out, flashing a hint of fangs. “This is our garrison.”
“Shared with the first.” She leaned over the table, emerging claws pressing into the map.
I scolded her with a pointed look at them and she released the map, huffing as she stalked away from us.
“The first legion is traditionally located at the garrison at Belkarthen.” The vampire was pushing his luck.
She whirled on him, inky black branching from her eyes. “Because the palace was there, but now the palace is here! Do not think I do not know why you want me moved there. You want the glory for yourself. But I will not let you have it. Falkyr is mine to defend.”
“Falkyr is mine to defend, actually,” I put in and casually moved the legion markers, ignoring the black look she shot at me.
“You cannot defend it alone. The first legion belongs here.”
“As does the second. I believe I did post them here long before Riordan commanded them.” I set the markers for both the first and second legions in the north, near Falkyr.
Her lips flattened, but she did not dare argue with me.
“I assume you can share a garrison without killing each other?” I looked between them.
Neither looked as if they could.
“There will be no infighting. If there is infighting, both of you will be removed from Falkyr and the third and fourth legions will be posted here. Do I make myself clear?” I reached for their respective markers.
Shadows snapped at my fingers.
Jenavyr looked nothing short of mortified as she stiffened.
“Temper,” I chided, purring the word at her as her shadows hastily dissipated.
“It is his fault.” She flung her arm towards Riordan, pointing at him. “He… He’s…”
“Handsome? Charming? Absolutely swoon-worthy?” Riordan grinned at her.
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, her clawed fingertips clutching the long sleeves of her navy blouse. “That is what you are. You are ugh.”
“Ugh is not a word. It is a noise. By the Great Mother… Saphi has been a bad influence on you,” I muttered and finished my work. “There. This will keep both the western border along Wraith Wood and the eastern shore near Falkyr safe.”
Vyr’s gaze charted the pieces I had moved into position, and I thought she would be pleased that I had placed her marker at Falkyr, but she looked disappointed.
Not at the position of her legion, I realised when she spoke.
“But you are leaving Belkarthen so exposed,” she whispered.
“The fleet will be positioned there, and the fifth legion will be stationed just south of it. They will easily reach it should it come under attack.” I kept my tone gentle, hoping it would soothe her fears about my strategy.
“I do not think it will come under attack though. Belkarthen is not the priority right now. It is not a target. If war comes to our borders, it will come to Falkyr or through Wraith Wood.”
She did not look convinced about that, but did not get a chance to issue whatever rebuttal wanted to leave her lips because Chase and Morden stepped into the room.
And both of the males looked too grave to have good news for me.
Chase shoved his fingers through his messy dark blond hair, heaving a sigh as he approached the map.
“We finished speaking with all the older wolves in the pack, and we checked the files in my uncle’s office, and that spell you mentioned…
we asked around about that too. Some of the wolves mentioned the trips the Harpers took to the nearest fae town, and that the witch who came to check our pack for males or females fated to the Hunt pack wolves after my father challenged Lucas’s father wasn’t the only one who visited our territory.
You were right about that. There was another witch who visited much later. ”
“When?” I thought about that spell I had studied and how it had been cast with love, with warmth and a deep need to protect.
“After Saphira’s parents were killed, while I was keeping her company, I encouraged her to think about them and tell me of them.
I had wanted to alleviate her pain with more comforting and happier memories.
Saphira mentioned a visit to a zoo in a city, and later this seelie who took her mentioned seeing her there. ”
Chase’s pale eyebrows met hard. “Uncle did take her with them on a business trip to Vancouver once, when she was a pup.”
“And a seelie… the steward of the Summer Court… had found her there. He had been looking for her specifically.” I tried to recall what Saphira had said about the trip. “The Harpers cut the trip short, did they not?”