77. RE #3
“Did you? You know I found them, right? All of them! Found their bodies staked through the heart at the bottom of the sea!”
Saxon’s eyes widened, his face blanching with panic and regret, as if he truly hadn’t known or hadn’t expected that to happen.
“If you knew I had to survive, then why the fuck did you leave them where they would be so easy for me to find?” Without waiting for an answer, Remic spun and exited the tent.
Saxon let out a long sigh, then left the tent as well.
“Damn,” Roirdan said under his breath. “That was rough to witness.”
“I was not aware of his backstory,” Weston said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“He showed up at the castle grounds after the attack at the northern border, glamoured as a soldier. I’m the one who receives all incoming troops into the castle, so when I sensed him at the gates, I knew exactly what he was.
He told me he wanted to fight for the queen in whatever was about to happen.
I thought it was just part of his summons, or that maybe the fates had sent him for a reason we did not yet know. ”
“To be in the right place at the right time,” Auren said, piecing things together for all of us.
Weston gestured toward her shirt, to the wounds that had been beneath it. “He did save you from Skadi’s first swipe, which ultimately gave you enough warning to not get the full brunt of the second.”
I immediately felt the darkness in me stir at the thought of Auren being harmed.
Roirdan crossed his arms, clearly perplexed. “So, who is he here for?”
I pushed out a breath. “Me, believe it or not.”
“No fucking way. You have a Dionach? Aren’t you supposed to be an ‘all powerful High Lord’ or something—”
Auren smacked his arm. “You’re just jealous because you don’t have one.”
“I don’t need one,” Roirdan said, shoving his elbow into her. “I’m way too powerful as it is.”
Auren snorted.
The mood in the tent shifted, and thank the gods for it because I was starting to get overwhelmed.
“So powerful that I had to commune with the gods to save you,” Auren reminded him. “You might as well call me your Dionach.”
“While I am eternally grateful for that, I can’t have someone as small as you protecting me. It’s simply not logical.”
Silas chuckled, earning a look from Auren.
She crossed her arms. “Oh, so you’re on his side of this?”
He shrugged. “He has a point.”
Roirdan suddenly noticed Breck’s freshly-inked shroud and pointed at it. “How did you get that wicked thing?”
“Saving her,” Breck answered with a grin, knowingly adding fuel to the playful fire they had all started against Auren.
Roirdan feigned surprise. “Well, would you look at that!”
“Okay, when did everyone decide I was incapable? I’m stronger than all of you put together.” She jabbed her fingers into Roirdan’s and Silas’s chests.
“That you are, darling.” I took her by the shoulders and pulled her to me. “You’ll be saving all of us, come the end of tomorrow.”
The moment the words left my mouth, the lightheartedness sobered right up, and everyone snapped back into the reality we were facing. We were on the precipice of war, and time was ticking.
I cleared my throat and turned to Weston. “Will you be joining us too, then?”
“I serve the queen, as I am her Dionach. Wherever she goes, I go.”
The queen, who had clung to the corner of the tent to witness the entirety of this rough reunion, stepped forward and joined the conversation.
“We must return to the castle to settle some things. Now that we know what we know . . .” She glanced at Auren.
“I need to be sure no one else is compromised before this war begins.”
Auren nodded. “I’m so sorry for what has happened.”
“As am I,” she replied. “I will have my men retrieve my husband’s body, and your brother’s. If you want to have him buried—”
“Yes,” Auren said without letting the queen finish. “I want to bury him myself. On our land. Next to my parents.”
She lifted her eyes to me, but I knew it wasn’t permission she was searching for. She was considering the timing, the war, the possibility of what might happen before we’re able to make it back to the human realm for a burial.
“When this war is over, it will be the first thing we do,” I said to both Auren and the queen.
“I’ll make the necessary preparations and do what I can until then,” Corrine replied.
“Thank you.”
The queen offered us a solemn smile, then turned and nodded to Folquin, who took to her side. She dipped her head toward me as she and my spy linked arms. “You haven’t seen the last of us yet, High Lord.”
The two of them vanished, and Weston stepped in front of Auren. “It’s a bit easier to leave this time, knowing you’re in good hands,” he said.
She tried to smile. “I hoped you would be staying . . .”
“You’ll see me again soon enough,” he assured her. And with one last nod to all of us, he disappeared.
“Time to meet with the rest of the Dionachs,” Roirdan announced.
Breck’s brows shot up. “There’s more?”
Roirdan chuckled. “A whole host of them.” He looked Breck over from head to toe. “Now, come on. Let’s find you a shirt.”