Chapter 60
Zane
Kaz had been keeping them company in their rooms quite a bit since returning to Nyr.
It was the same now as she and Zane discussed the best way to deal with her parents if Iyana was unable to ‘recover.’ She gave them their privacy at night, though, for which they were both grateful.
After the harrowing experience of being close to death—again—Zane and Talon cherished all the time they could spend touching the other’s skin.
Even now, they sat close together on an overstuffed sofa so that their sides were pressed together.
There was a knock at the door, and Zane glanced at Kaz and Tal. He couldn’t remember any of them ordering anything from the kitchens and it was an odd time of day for the king and queen to be sending them a summons.
“Come in,” Zane called.
The door opened to show Emmeric and Iyana—the latter looking a little worse for wear, dressed in linen lounge pants and what appeared to be one of Emmeric’s shirts.
But she was up and out of bed and seemed to have taken a bath, so this was a major improvement.
Em guided her into the room with a hand on her lower back, closing the door behind him.
They sat on another sofa opposite the three of them, but she wasn’t looking any of them in the eye, instead fidgeting with the hem of her tunic.
They sat in silence for a moment. Zane didn’t know what to say to the Aztia, but Talon apparently did not feel the same.
“What the fuck was that, Iyana?” He didn’t yell, but his anger was barely contained underneath the surface. Iyana winced and tucked in closer to Emmeric’s side. Em glared at his best friend, but Tal either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Why would you put yourself in that position? You knew it was a trap. Scuti told you himself! It was a fucking reckless move, and it would have been pointless if you’d have been captured.”
Zane had known that Talon was upset with her, but he hadn’t realized the other man was quite this angry.
He understood. They’d both hoped that Iyana wouldn’t come for them.
Obviously, they were happy to not be in the dungeon anymore, but they had spoken about it at length while there, and they had resolved to try to find their own escape.
That way, Iyana wouldn’t have to put herself in danger, and the stars never would have had the opportunity to capture her.
And then for her to offer herself in exchange for them?
Zane was touched by the gesture, but agreed with Talon that it was a reckless move.
“I’m sorry,” Iyana said quietly, finally peering up at them.
She blinked back tears, but her gaze was determined.
“It was reckless. I made a poor decision without running it by anyone else, and someone died because of my choices.” Iyana took a shuddering breath.
“I promise that I’ll make it up to you all in whatever way I can.
No more running off on my own; we’ll make decisions as a team from now on. ”
Emmeric squeezed her knee and smiled at her. They’d obviously had a long discussion about this, and he’d gotten past his own anger over the situation.
“Now,” Iyana continued, her voice a little stronger, “what do you need me to do?”
They’d been running in circles for the past week, trying to determine what their next move should be. It had been decided that they would bring the fight to the stars, but they still needed to think of the best strategy that would result in the least amount of lives lost.
“We left Istoria because we’d gotten news about the attack on Imothia,” said Zane. “Queen Camilia was extremely upset.”
“That’s an understatement,” Talon murmured.
“But she has promised to join the fight. Halim is readying their army as we speak, and they will join us here in Nyr, where it’s safest.”
Iyana nodded and looked toward Kaz. “What about your parents?”
The shifter frowned. “They’re being stubborn and taking your grief as a personal insult.”
Iyana ducked her head and began playing with her hem again.
“Believe me, sweetcheeks, I’ve called them out on their shit. They’re trying to find any excuse to avoid doing something they don’t want to do, but I’ve reminded them of their promise and they will fight with us when the time comes.”
“I’ll need to speak with them,” Iyana said. “I don’t know when or how it happened, but my magic can feel the wards around Nyr now, and they’re weakening. Honestly, I don’t think they’ll last more than another year.”
Kaz’s eyes opened wide, mirroring the shock that Zane felt.
While he’d known the wards had been in place since before the stars were banished, the fact that they were weakening so rapidly made him more nervous than before.
Nyr was a fantastic safe place that the stars could not enter, and if they lost that before they were able to win… the results could be catastrophic.
“I’ll arrange a meeting with them tonight,” Kaz promised.
“Do you think Yrza would help us?” asked Iyana.
Kaz shrugged. “I can ask her. It’d have to wait until the next full moon, which is about a week away. And the gods can be fickle; I can’t promise that she’ll help.”
“You’re a goddess and you’re fighting with us,” Talon pointed out.
She placed her hand on her chest in mock outrage, but grinned. “Am I not fickle?”
“The ficklest.” Tal returned her smile with one of his own.
“Can we please stop saying fickle,” Zane begged, rubbing at his temples. The stress of planning a war and coordinating between two other monarchies, who both had large personalities and egos, was beginning to eat away at him. Some of it eased as Tal ran a hand down his spine in silent support.
“We’ll need to move up our plans if the wards are failing.” Zane scrubbed his hands over his face. “We may not be able to wait for Istora to get here, and we’ll have to meet them on the road instead.”
“I’m not going to pretend like I know battle strategy,” Iyana said, “but I know that even with the might of three kingdoms behind us, we’re still going up against thousands of stars who all have magic.
We’re going to need more than only well-trained armies.
Hopefully Yrza will join us, but we may need to talk more about using the Lurra or Khollo’s Downfall. ”
The blood drained out of Zane’s face. “We still don’t know that much about the artifacts. And if the astmina is anything to go by, they’re all extremely dangerous. The fact that the clasp is still heavily wrapped in cloth and we’re all too scared to touch it should be more than telling.”
“We’re just saying it needs to be discussed as an option,” Emmeric said. “Do we still have the records from the library?”
Zane nodded. “I’ll do some more research.” He would rather avoid using the artifacts if at all possible, but he saw the merit in looking into them more. They would need as many arrows in their quiver as they could find.
“We need to find out more about the stars, too,” Iyana said, sighing. “We’re still not entirely sure what can actually kill them. And Altair”—her voice cracked with his name—“said that only the most powerful stars can teleport. He estimated only a hundred have the ability.”
“That’s good to know,” Talon said. “At least we know an entire army won’t be able to appear within a second’s notice. And we saw with Okab that they have limits on how many they can carry and how far they can go.”
“I’ll add it to my research list.”
When it seemed as though nobody else had anything more to add, Zane resolved to dedicate his time in the library.
Again. It felt like it had been forever since he’d read a book for enjoyment, and he was actually starting to tire of being in the library all the time.
That was something he never thought he’d say.
Talon clapped his hands together, startling Zane out of his thoughts. “Alright—Team Save Arinem on three. One, two, three, Team Sa—” He broke off when he realized nobody else was joining him and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, fuck all of you,” he mumbled.