Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
WOLFE
Morning arrived far too quickly.
I didn’t want to leave the bed, or tear myself away from the fantasy I’d created with my mage.
But duty called the moment the sun rose. The luxury of lying in bed together for hours or indulging in her had to wait.
The wait would be worth it.
For now, I had to become the leader again. The King.
I’d called a meeting first thing to discuss the plans for the next few days. And then onto war.
There was much to discuss.
The war room had never felt so full. Every seat around the long table was occupied by someone who had fought beside us through one trial after another.
The only absences were Elariya's mother, Grandmother, and Emabelle. They remained elsewhere in the manor, safely away from the discussions that would decide the fate of the realm.
Jonathan on the other hand had insisted on joining us.
Ordinarily, I would have turned him down, but I thought he deserved to know what came next. The situation had stolen six years from his life. It had nearly cost him his family. If anyone had earned a place at this table, it was him.
The Seer sat next to me. It was the first time that I’d summoned her and she’d sat at the table. She’d always stood.
“Let us begin,” I said, resting my hands flat on the table. “Going up against the Deathless will be unlike anything we’ve done before.” It was important they understood that.
They nodded.
I looked everyone in the eye, moving from one face to another. “Our army will gather outside Kazavania. From there we’ll breach the wards and enter the prison.” I looked at Kaem. He’d gone out with scouts yesterday. “What news have you got of the prison?”
The discomfort that settled in Kaem’s expression unnerved me. He’d not long returned from the scout. I’d hoped he’d waited to report his findings because he wanted to speak to the group. Now I considered that whatever he had to say would be bad—the kind of bad I didn’t like.
He exhaled deeply and rested a heavy arm on the table. “It’s not good. The Deathless have gathered their own army. A demon crossbreed I’ve never seen before.”
“Demon crossbreed?” Bastian asked, brows furrowed in confusion. I couldn’t imagine it myself.
"Yeah. Mutilations. No doubt the Necromancer’s doing.
These resembled Braxiels—the warrior class of demon—but they've been twisted into something else.
They're larger. Faster. And their mouths split almost to their ears, filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
We watched them feeding." He swallowed. "On what I believe were rebels. "
“Merciless gods,” Garrick rasped out.
“They ate them alive and when they finished feeding… there was nothing left to bury. We couldn’t get any closer without raising alarms.”
Fuck. This just kept getting worse by the minutes. “How many?” I clenched my jaw. “Give me an estimate of how many you saw.”
"Legions, Young Nightblade. And that was just the front of the fortress. The building sits nearly an eighth of a league beyond the barrier. That whole stretch was brimming with them. The moment we breach the barrier they’ll be all over us."
Elariya stiffened next to me.
which meant certain magic wouldn’t work on them
“Do not concern yourself with these fiends.” The Seer spoke up. “It was inevitable that the Deathless would arm themselves with adequate reinforcements.”
I agreed with her. “We’re strong enough to combat them,” I said, my voice firm, a mask to hide my worry for the losses we’d undoubtedly endure.
I had an army of six thousand warriors strong.
Half were Fae from the old blood lines like ours who could command the skies with their wings.
Two hundred of those were dragon riders I’d recently trained for a time like this.
The other warriors would be on horseback.
I worried about those the most. If those demons were as strong and fast as Kaem said, they would be attacked first.
Honestly… I wasn’t sure I had enough warriors.
“We need to breach the barrier and clear the path as quickly as possible. Then get into the fortress. From there, the Deathless are mine.” The Deathless were bound to the fortress just as surely as they were bound to the dead realm itself. We could enter. They could not leave.
“Wolfe you can’t go into that fortress on your own,” Alaric protested, staring me down from across the table.
“I am the strongest. Pyrion and I will go in. She shares my Deathwalkers now. That is possibly the one thing we have on our side.”
“But together—"
“No. It is my burden to carry, Alaric. You and the others must hold the line. No one goes inside. Just me.”
Elariya stared back at me with terror, holding her words in. I spared her a glance. That was all.
“Do you think they know we’re coming?” Garrick asked, cutting past the tension of my decision. He pressed his fingers together one by one, a nervous habit he’d had since we were kids.
“Of course they do,” Bastian replied. “It’s logical. It’s the last thing we could do. Even if they don’t know we’re aware of the impending eclipse.”
“Prince Maelor and Thayden have drifted beyond my sight,” the Seer said. “It’s likely they are in Kazavania. Mattieu has gone to the Rohlorien to oversee King Varis. To keep up appearances of his illness and make sure he dies.”
Those bastards.
“Can he be cured?” Jonathan asked. “King Varis.”
“Possibly, but the chances are slim. The poison has had weeks to take root.”
“I will join your army,” Jonathan declared. “I shall offer my blade and my honor.”
“Father, no,” Elariya gasped. “It’s far too dangerous. Haven’t you been listening?”
Jonathan stared back at his daughter, his shoulders set with a strong valor I had not witnessed in many humans. “I need to be there. If only to show there is some decency left in mankind. Prince Maelor and Thayden must be dealt with. I can at least do that.”
I could see exactly why my father liked him, and trusted him enough to bear the ring.
“Lord Grayson.” I gazed at him from across the table, taking in the determination in his eyes.
I appreciated it. He was the first person outside of Galaythia who’d offered to march with me.
That was not something I took for granted.
“I appreciate your intentions. But I cannot sanction such a thing. You would be killed instantly. I will not put my wife through that.”
Jonathan glanced at Elariya and frowned. “I have to do something.”
“Then tend to your king. You’d be best placed at King Varis’ side than out on a battlefield where you’ll have no chance. Sirril will accompany you to the Mortal realm with a potion and medical supplies. We will try to save the king.”
Jonathan blew out a breath and finally nodded. “Alright. If that will help, that is where I’ll be.”
“It is I who will march with the army,” Elariya said before I could even feel the relief of changing her father’s mind.
I knew this was coming. I’d felt it through the bond.
“No,” Jonathan spoke before I could. “You promised to be safe.”
“And I will. Father, I’m not the girl I used to be. I’m not the mage I used to be.”
“You are not going.” I spoke up, staring at my wife. One of the bravest people I knew. “This battle is above us.”
“That’s why the more power you have the better. I can’t wield a sword like any of you, but I have magic that no one here has. That has to count for something.”
Arielle looked proud.
“I’m inclined to agree,” the Seer said. “Elariya has her own dragon with unique powers. She has unique powers. Active time and air magic that would prove useful to all of you. And she is a mage. Instead of going to battle with one mage on your team, you’ll have two.
It would be a wise move.” She glanced at Elariya and gave her a soft smile, my wife appreciated.
“One can never know what may happen to change the tide. She may very well do that for you.”
That did not mean I approved. “Regardless of the magic she possesses, this mission is dangerous.”
“Wolfe—”
“No.”
“Lord of Shadows,” the Seer spoke again.
“I understand your reluctance. But her mission did not end with the quest to find the ring. Think about it. All that power she’s learned to harness.
All that skill. The ring was just the beginning.
It knew what was after it, knew you’d need the most powerful people if you hoped to defeat the Deathless. And it sent you to her.”
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t argue. No one else did either. Not even her father.
The most I could do was look at Elariya and take in her courage. It had grown so much over the last few months.
She was right. She wasn’t that girl anymore. While her heart, mind, body, and soul had remained pure and mine. Coming to the magical realm had changed who she was.
“We can’t know what’s going to happen. But we can prepare for it as best as possible.” Even her voice sounded different. She wasn’t afraid anymore. Afraid to fight.
I wished we could take a walk into the future to see what would become of us—just so I’d know she made it through. But the outcome of events like war was never certain.
“Okay.” I couldn’t even believe my own ears when I heard myself.
“I will prepare you all as best as possible with whatever enchantments I find helpful,” the Seer crooned then continued talking about what she hoped to do.
I heard none of it. All I thought about was Elariya.
Soon the meeting ended. The Seer departed and everyone else filed out of the room leaving Elariya and me alone.
I stood, looked down at her and extended my hand to take hers. She gazed up at me first with those vibrant hazel eyes, before placing her dainty hand into mine.
She rose and I brushed her cheeks. “There would be no point to my life if anything were to ever happen to you.” I searched her eyes and she leaned into my touch.
“Me neither, Wolfe Nightblade.” She straightened. “And you know, the best place I could ever be is at your side.”
“At the first sign of trouble…”
“Call for you?”
Sadly, I shook my head. “You leave. You flee. Leave us behind and use whatever magic you have to get to safety. You don’t look back. Not even for me. Promise me that.”
She froze, her eyes wide with panic.
“Ziyka, promise me. Or you can’t go.”
She thought for a moment then nodded.
“Good.” I pulled in a slow breath and took her hand again. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“Okay.”
A simple walk with my mate. Something normal and simple before the chaos began.