6. Gracie
Gracie
I’d never seen anything like it.
The platforms outside of Stark Flight’s castle had transformed overnight into something so…deliberate? I wasn’t sure if that was the correct word, but I’d never seen a group of people move in such a purposeful manner, the energy palpable.
Soldiers moved in every direction, and yet nothing felt scattered.
Supply crates were checked, stacked, and secured with the efficiency of people who had done this enough times for the motions to become automatic.
Commands were passed down a line and followed before the echo of them faded, each unit filing toward the rail carts in sequence, loading gear and falling into position.
I stood at the entrance of the Stark Flight castle and tried to take it all in.
This was what a military looked like when they actually moved. After seeing other territories’ forces while traveling, I’d known Ivan’s forces were lacking—but if this was what most militaries looked like when they were actually trying? I felt more hopeful than even before.
When I woke up this morning, well rested and feeling even better than yesterday, I had wondered what today would bring—but my men had known, and now they were in the thick of it.
Ravik stood next to Alpha Waylon and his commanders at the center of a cluster of soldiers, dressed in tactical gear.
The dark uniforms my men wore fit them like a second skin—dark, practical, no ornamentation—and Ravik exuded the authority to match.
Soldiers hung on his and Waylon’s every word, taking note of their assignments.
Thornar stood only a few feet away talking to a group of three men near the cart line. He was grinning and had one of the soldiers laughing, but his gaze was assessing and calculating, not resting long enough on anyone to be considered relaxed.
Then there was Basir, who stood next to me, arms crossed as he watched the operation take shape.
He hadn’t said anything, but I could feel his caution in anticipation of the war and particularly in anticipation of returning to Grimfur Skulk territory.
I reached out to touch his arm and he snapped his gaze down to mine, the tension in his frame releasing slightly.
“Let’s get you to our cart,” he said, pulling me against him as we made our way toward the rail line.
A few minutes later Ravik and Thornar joined us, ready to descend through the trees.
The cart moved in careful increments through the canopy until the salt air hit us and the glint of water appeared below.
When we reached the waterline, boats were already waiting, loaded and ready, engines idling.
Bishu was there to greet us, wearing tactical gear similar to my own.
Three women ranging in apparent age from late twenties to early forties stood behind her—her daughters, if I had to guess. Maybe even her granddaughters.
“You look rested,” Bishu said in greeting. “I hope you slept well.”
“I did,” I said, offering her a thankful smile. Two of my mates had moved ahead to the boat to talk to the soldiers, but Thornar stood by my side.
“The boat will take you to the mainland,” Bishu said, noticing where my attention had strayed. “There are vehicles waiting there. We’ll follow in the secondary group.”
After saying our goodbyes, we loaded onto the boat and began to cross the water surrounding the Stark Flight’s capital city.
On our way in on the aerial tram, I hadn’t been able to get a good idea of what it would be like on ground level.
Now I stared up in wonder as we passed under the tree’s roots and past the cliffs of the coastline, making our way to the place where the land sloped down to the water.
While the crossing to shore was brief, I loved it, and I could tell my mates were amused by my awe of being on the water.
“First thing we do after this is travel. There is so much to see, little flame,” Thornar promised, his eyes warming at the thought.
I heard Ravik say something under his breath, but when I looked at him, he just offered me a heated look and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. I savored the warmth of his frame and pressed my nose against his chest to breathe him in.
It was a bit weird, probably, but he just held me closer.
It wasn’t until we pulled up to the dock and saw the convoy assembled and waiting that it truly started to set in. Vehicles were lined up, spanning as far down the road as I could see, ready to be filled with soldiers.
We were actually doing this.
After we loaded into the car, I took one last look back at the trees rising out of the water behind us, the canopy of Stark Flight disappearing into the morning light.
***
The camp had gone up faster than I thought possible.
By the time the convoy pulled off the road in the evening, soldiers had already begun to disembark and move through the trees.
I had known we planned to stop halfway through the territory for the night, but I hadn’t considered we would be camping.
It wasn’t something I’d experienced before.
“We could try to find somewhere—” Ravik began, but I shook my head and offered a small smile.
“I’ve never been camping before, but I’m excited to try it.” Especially if it meant staying in a tent with my three mates.
“I think Thornar and Basir are by our tent.” He nodded to the left where a dark red tent was being set up.
It didn’t look like the other tents, nearly the size of a bedroom with thick walls and what appeared to be flooring.
Once the center post went up, furniture was moved in, including fold-out cots that looked a lot like beds.
“Should work.” Thornar shrugged. “Want to take a look?”
I nodded and stepped forward, looking curiously through the tent flaps and offering nods of greeting to the soldiers who were setting everything up.
The floor was made of dark wood panels that snapped together in sections, lifting the tent off the bare ground.
Three cots had been pushed together along the back wall so that they functioned like a single bed, dressed with a thin but sturdy blanket.
A small folding table sat to one side with a lantern on it, casting the interior in a warm amber glow.
The walls muffled the sounds of camp outside, and the ceiling rose high enough at the center that no one would have to duck down.
“Cozy.” I turned to my mates to find them watching me, a thread of concern running through our bond. “Seriously, it looks great.”
“Not perfect but…” Basir trailed off, his brows furrowed in frustration. I knew it probably wasn’t the time to mention that I had lived in worse quarters only a few weeks ago. Back in Ivan’s compound, I would have considered this a night of luxury.
For the next hour, we took the time to collect ourselves, changing into more comfortable clothes for the evening. My tactical clothes sat folded on a chair as I slipped into a deep blue cotton dress and my boots. When my stomach rumbled, I realized it was probably time to eat something.
The fire closest to us crackled vibrantly, woodsmoke curling up into the darkening sky.
Soldiers were gathered around it, eating from a spread of food laid out on a table nearby.
As we began to eat, I sat comfortably between Basir and Ravik, listening as Thornar told a story that brought the soldiers around him to laughter.
I was, as always, mesmerized by his ease and confidence, something I hoped to pick up from him after a time.
The tree line pressed in dense and dark at the edges of the clearing, heavy air carrying the smell of wet clay and pine—nothing like the salt and open water we’d left behind in the morning.
I’d fallen asleep once or twice during the ride here, but I remembered Thornar’s hand finding mine somewhere around midday, his thumb rubbing over my skin in a soft rhythmic pattern.
Ravik’s eyes found mine in the rearview mirror as he offered me a tiny, barely-there smile at being caught checking in on me.
Basir sat beside me the entire drive, a warm, steady presence.
Now that we’d made it to our resting place for the night, halfway to the border and surrounded by soldiers, the tension grew. It made me consider everything to come, including my part in this war.
“What is my role in this?” I asked about thirty minutes later. The question came out more quietly than I’d intended, but all my mates heard it.
“What do you mean? Your role in the war?” Ravik asked.
“We haven’t finalized anything yet,” Thornar assured me.
“I know,” I said. “I’m asking where you see me.
I don’t want to be useless. I want to actually help.
I know I don’t have formal training, but—” I stopped, not knowing where to go next.
What could I offer? When it came to diplomatic efforts, I’d managed to learn fast. By the end of our travels, I’d somewhat grasped what I was supposed to be doing.
But a social learning curve was different than a physical or tactical one.
“We know,” Basir said quietly. His certainty settled me, making me relax a little.
Thornar leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and looked at me with an expression that was more serious than usual. “You know your part in this—you’re going to stop Ivan. Everything else can be ironed out once we’re with all the allies. But I promise you, little flame, you are far from useless.”
Ravik nodded in agreement. “You’re the most important part of this, Gracie.”
It wasn’t a full answer, but it was enough for tonight and more than enough for me to think on.
As the night wound down naturally, we settled back and eventually made our way to the tent.
Ravik’s hand pressed gently against my back as we walked, and as I looked up at him I caught a glance of a moon in the sky.
Bright and unhesitating above the tree line, it was only a sliver, the stars around it sparkling brilliant as if Astaruun were looking down on us even from here.
Eleven days.
At the end of those days, we would face more than a simple war. It would be a divine one.
I was the reason for all of this.. The four of us had changed everyone’s fate—our bond scar, our mate bond, and our choice to bring Ivan to justice.
Standing here under this moon with my mates, it didn’t feel like a burden to recognize the weight of that.