“Good to see you made it,” Dean commented, and there was a kindness about him that made me believe his words were sincere.
“Come,” Lyr said as she linked arms with me and led us all further into the space. “You look like you could all use a drink. I know I could.”
Locke glared at Lyr’s arm in mine. “We need more than a drink. Raine and Kade need some clothes, Kade needs to get patched up, and we need information.”
Lyr waved a hand and kept tugging me along. “Then what are you waiting for?”
Locke looked as though he wanted to strangle Lyr, but he didn’t say anything as the tiger shifter led us across the carpet to three ornate leather lounges surrounding a low oakwood table.
A male was sprawled on one of the couches, his long, feathery red wings splayed at his sides and a thick white bandage wrapped around his right bicep. He stood up at our arrival.
“Soren,” Kade said in greeting, and the male dipped his head.
“Well, I feel better knowing you look even worse than I do,” the male named Soren commented with a pained smile, and Kade grunted in response.
Lyr released my arm and moved to sit beside Soren, and Nic returned from one of the side rooms and passed me a bundle of clothing and a vial of glowing blue paste. I hadn’t even noticed the wraith leave.
I changed quickly and passed Locke back his shirt while Darian helped Kade lather his chest and scratches with blue paste. When Kade was dressed, he settled next to the rest of us on the lounges. Dean handed us each a goblet of wine, but I placed mine on the small table before me, not in the mood for a drink.
When I peered across from me, Lyr was staring at me intently. Her hand flicked out from where it had been resting against her side near her blades, and I reacted without thinking. A stream of fire shot from my mouth, incinerating the red feather she’d tossed into the air. I’d thought it was a blade aimed at Kade, and it was clear now that that was her intention. The feather turned to ash, and I promptly clamped my lips shut.
Soren whistled. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
Kade place a hand on my thigh as if to reassure me, and Asher outright grinned.
Lyr looked pleased as her intense stare remained on me, and I wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing.
“So it’s you,” Nic said, his voice like gravel as he folded his arms in front of his chest and stood with his feet apart.
Darian took a sip from his goblet. “What is?”
“When we saw the dragon launch into the sky, we weren’t sure if it was your Raine here or another of Locke’s outliers, one that we hadn’t seen before.” Lyr leaned back and crossed her legs. “There will be other monsters in the city who saw you, and it won’t take long before they figure out you weren’t an outlier.”
I remembered what Lyr had said when she’d helped me prepare for the Week of Orash. That by remaining human I could be a symbol of new hope for many of the monsters who wished to be human again. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d let her and those monsters down by changing. “Are you…disappointed that I turned?” I asked, my fingers fidgeting with my goblet.
Lyr shook her head and laughed. “The moment you used magic to save everyone in that ballroom during the Week of Orash, it was obvious you weren’t entirely human, but I’ll admit, I never expected you to become a dragon. In any case, you still lasted longer than any other human before turning into a monster, and right now, our biggest threat is Warrick and his outliers. You’ve fought against him twice now, and a dragon shifter might be just what we need.”
Asher folded his arms above his head. “Yeah, I’m not so sure the vampire is ourbiggestthreat.”
Lyr stared quizzically at the demon, but Darian was the one to say, “Things went rather poorly in the fae kingdom of Zalei. War is on our horizon.”
Nic, Dean, Soren, and Lyr all stiffened. “What do you mean, war?” Lyr asked.
“The fae think we assassinated their prince, and now they’re coming here to eliminate us once and for all,” Kade answered.
The tiger shifter tapped her long black nails on her leg, and she shared a look with Nic, Dean, and Soren before peering back at us. “Whydidyou go to the fae realm?” she asked carefully. “There are some who are saying you’ve sided with the fae. That you rescued a fae prisoner.”
My monsters tensed, but Darian answered, “We went to find a way to break the curse. And…we were hoping to defuse the risk of war between the monsters and the fae by returning Prince Azaren, who was tortured by Warrick. Unfortunately, things didn’t play out as we’d hoped.”
Lyr nodded slowly, and something like hope glinted in her eyes. “And did you find it? A way to break the curse?”
“No,” Locke answered sharply before I could speak. “But we believe the fae still have the information we seek.”
Disappointment flashed on Lyr’s face, but she smoothed her expression. “This all started because of King Adrien’s actions all those years ago,” she said, hatred in her eyes as she spoke of the late king. “I’ve always believed we needed to find a way to mend the relationship between our kind, but if the fae have declared war, all we can do is defend ourselves.”
Soren leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What if we gave them Warrick as a peace offering? We could say Warrick was the one who ordered you to try and assassinate Prince Azaren. You said Warrick was the one to torture the prince while he was here, so maybe that would appease his anger?”
Darian shook his head. “I doubt it. King Chalir’s soldiers found us with the prince, and he’s probably still seething that we escaped execution. The only other offering they’d possibly accept is King Adrien seeing as he murdered their late King Jazrec and betrayed Queen Izla. King Adrien was the one who started this whole mess, so he might have just been enough, but we all know he was slain all those years ago in the weeks after the curse was created. I heard the stories, as did everyone else. He was killed by some of his most trusted soldiers.”
