Chapter Twenty-One Allies
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ALLIES
When Reya came to and heard Omira, Thance, and Caelan talking, she didn’t dare move. She was on a bed, or at least part of her was, and the scent was familiar—hers. She was in her room at the Sea Breeze. Apparently, they all were.
Caelan’s words were near feral. “Is she all right?”
Her mouth tasted like bile. Omira picked up Reya’s legs and hurled them onto the bed without even a semblance of gentleness. Already, her skull was pounding. Stars, she was going to hurt in the morning.
“This thief is the saddest excuse for a Guardian this world has ever known. She’s a drunk, she smells foul, and she’s lucky I didn’t leave her to die.”
“What happened?”
“She blacked out shortly after you pulled your tongue out of her throat and left her to fend for herself.” When Caelan snarled, Omira snapped, “Don’t even try that with me.
I might not like her, but I’m still a female.
I didn’t think we had to have a conversation about making out with drunk people, Caelan. ”
“I stopped it.”
“Not soon enough,” Omira said. “What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t.”
“You think Thance and I are blind? There are so many things wrong with this, I don’t even know where to start.”
“Careful,” Caelan growled.
“Or what?” Omira shot back.
“That’s enough,” Thance said, taking command of the room.
Even through the whiskey fog of her mind, Reya understood now why Caelan had chosen Thance as his second and Omira his third.
Caelan’s and Omira’s temperaments were too much alike.
Where Caelan was raging fire and Omira was sharper than ice, Thance was solid stone.
He balanced them. Thance’s voice was quieter when he continued, but she could still hear every word.
“There are more important matters to address. I killed two more Dread Wolves inside the city tonight. There were more, but it was like they were… summoned away. I called for Caelan and we followed them to the edge of the Cleary, that’s why he wasn’t there.
There was something else waiting in the trees.
It turned and fled the moment it saw us. ”
Reya clung to consciousness, trying to keep her breathing even—not just because she was humiliated that she was in this situation at all, but because she wanted to keep listening. She could only hope Thance wasn’t poking around in her thoughts.
“Did you see what it was?” Omira asked.
“No. And I couldn’t hear its thoughts.”
Reya thought back to the night the Dread Wolves had first attacked her. Master wants it whole. She knew she had to tell the Alethians what she’d heard… in the morning.
“It could have been anything,” Caelan said.
“That is wishful thinking, and you know it,” Omira said. “This is exactly how it happened before. Dread Wolves do not organize like this. Something is giving them commands.”
Caelan was the first to break the painful silence that followed. “The Harbinger is dead.”
“Perhaps something has risen in his place,” Omira said.
“I’m far more concerned about how they keep finding her,” Thance said.
“Everyone in this city is at risk. One of us needs to get back out there. Few remember these creatures at all. Fewer still are those who have fought them and lived to tell about it. Our knowledge could be all that stands between them and the rest of the continent. We need to find where they are congregating and cut this threat off at the knees.”
“We don’t have the numbers, judging by how many Dread Wolves we’ve seen in the last few days alone,” Omira argued. “And we have no idea what we would be walking into.”
Caelan interrupted them. “Do not create problems where there are none. This proves nothing beyond that she is in danger from a threat we knew existed.”
“If we remove her to the Order, protecting her won’t be a problem,” Omira said.
“I’ve made my position on this clear,” Caelan warned.
“Really? Because it’s still a little foggy to me,” Omira said.
“This fool’s errand of yours has failed, Caelan.
There is no Kraken blood. You look worse every day.
You’re going to die, and when you do, we will be left without aid to fight the humans or withstand this new threat from the Ashlands.
The Fae will not fight with us, you proved that. We need the God Power.”
“What are you asking me to do?”
“I’m asking you to stop staring at her like she hung the moons for long enough to find some Kellstone to bind her, throw her over a horse, and take her with us.”
It took all Reya’s concentration to stay still, though she stood little chance of going anywhere or winning any kind of confrontation in her current state.
The low sound of warning Caelan made then might have been frightening to anyone else, but it was like a balm to Reya’s panic; she calmed in the knowledge he would neither betray nor allow someone else to betray her trust.
Even Thance sounded furious. “Omira.”
“It’s not just for our sake but for hers! She is going to get herself killed. If I hadn’t been there tonight, she might have. A few months with her own people, and she will see things the right way around.”
“She would never trust us again,” Thance said.
“She doesn’t trust us now!” Omira whisper-yelled.
“And why would she, sister? We have done nothing to gain that trust.”
“Nor would it work,” Caelan snapped. “You don’t know her. Neither of you do. She is stubborn even to the point of self-injury—if you try to force her, she will fight you that much harder. It has to be her choice.”
“And if she leaves this continent as she intends,” Omira started, “never to return?”
“We will endure,” Thance said. “As we have endured for thousands of years.”
Omira scoffed. “You always were the best of us, Thance. But this war will not be won with mercy and philosophy. We will receive only what we take—even the All-Gods-damned thief knows that.”
“You think I do not know the cost of war?” Thance’s voice took on a deadly tenor Reya hadn’t heard before. “You think I do not hear the screams of our people every time I close my eyes? That I do not feel a rage I can never sate? There is a difference between what is necessary and what is easy.”
They were all quiet for a long time. When Caelan finally spoke, he did so softly. “There are other magic-born on Ianess who might fight. Perhaps it is time we look to them.”
Omira made a disbelieving sound, and Reya could practically see the female rubbing her temples.
Even Thance sounded skeptical. “I’m almost afraid to ask where this idea came from.”
“It was her, actually,” Caelan said, like he’d surprised even himself.
“She thinks it is our pride that has doomed us. And I’m starting to wonder if she is right.
All these years, the Order of Light has devoted itself to protecting Sage-kind above all else.
And what has that accomplished? We are alone and without allies. ”
Omira scoffed. “You want us to build an alliance of magic-born creatures?”
“I want us to build an alliance of who is left,” Caelan said flatly.
“I never should have gone to the Fae. Safe behind their borders, they have no reason to fight with us. And the Sages who have escaped across the Heart Sea can walk openly in the streets without fear of persecution. They will not leave their safety and comfort unless we can prove that there is a viable path to victory here. But the magic-born here on this continent, they have every reason.”
“How do you propose to give such beings orders?” Omira demanded. “Stars, how do you even propose we get them in one place?”
That Caelan had no answer for. “I don’t know. But I can tell you this. The last thing she needs is someone else trying to control her. If you attempt to take her, you will have me to deal with.”
Omira sounded shocked. “After all our centuries of searching and exile, you would let her go, even when you know as well as us that thousands will die if she does? That we might never see Alethia again? What is the life of one thief weighed against all that remains of our people, Caelan?”
Reya felt the weight of his steps creak the floorboards as he crossed to the bed. “She is so much more than that.” Reya breathed in slowly through her nose, unable to stop her skin from pebbling when he laid her cloak over her. “She doesn’t believe it yet. When I’m gone, be sure to tell her that.”
“This isn’t over yet, Caelan,” Thance said. “We will continue to look for solutions.”
“I want your word that you will respect her choice,” Caelan said. “She has people to protect, too. And she’s doing it in the way she knows how.”
After a beat, Thance said, “You have it.”
“Your lust is getting in the way of your good sense,” Omira said, utter disbelief in every word.
Caelan’s tone was sharp as a blade. “Don’t.”
A chair scraped the floor. “I will help keep the thief alive. But don’t expect me to be pleasant about it.” The door to the room creaked open and slammed shut a moment later.
“Didn’t you miss us?” Thance asked blithely.
They were quiet for a moment, then Caelan said, “Every day.”
Reya slid her teeth over her bottom lip to keep from making a sound.
“I don’t pretend to know your reasons for pushing us away. And I can tell by the fog in your thoughts you don’t want to tell me. And that’s okay. For what it’s worth, I think you’re right about her.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she never speaks to me again,” Caelan said. “Just standing next to her is an exercise in self-restraint. She’s the most stubborn, infuriating creature I’ve ever encountered.”
Thance chuckled.
“What?” Caelan snapped.
“Something tells me she will. Now, why don’t you get some rest? You’re looking even worse than when I saw you this afternoon. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Already, sleep was pulling her under.
“Go back out on patrol. I’ll sit outside her door.”
Thance sighed. “Stubborn and infuriating seems to be a trend around here.”