“I’m serious,” I said, my voice cold as ice. “Here are my rules that all must follow. And by follow, I mean obey, if they don’t wantmeburning them from the inside out. No killing, no gang-swarming. And ifanyone, and I meananyone, lays a hand on my cat or my imp, I will obliterate them and use their many pieces to fashion myself another blade, then consume their very soul. Understood?”
They instantly sobered, their laughter fading on the wind.
“Understood?” I repeated.
“Understood, Princess,” they both said, like the good little soldiers they were.
“Go.” I jerked my chin toward the barracks and watched as they marched away, already shouting for volunteers.
Then I turned to find Calder, Varz, Gorr, and Rathiel hovering behind me.
“Varz. Take two squads and sweep the entire outpost for anything that might be dangerous. They had a dragon here. I want to know what else they had up their sleeves. Traps, hidden weapon caches, bombs. Flag whatever you find, but don’t touch anything.”
He gave me a single nod, then clicked his fingers for Gorr to follow. Calder grinned at me, saluted, then followed suit.
Only then did I turn to Rathiel. “Walk with me?”
He fell in beside me and matched my stride. I wanted to reach for his hand but decided against it at the last moment. Showing affection felt indulgent right now. Duty needed to come first. I needed to inspect the outpost, keep my soldiers in line, and keep proving to them I was worth following. Lovey-dovey moments with Rathiel wouldn’t help my position.
We cut toward the western side we hadn’t cleared yet. From the looks of it, it’d survived better than the eastern and northern sides, protected by the natural rocky outcrops. I spotted a door but didn’t open it. Not yet.
Instead, my eyes gravitated toward the dozen bodies scattered nearby. At the sight of them, magic immediately swelled in my chest—a hot, promising pressure that begged to be released. It took effort to pull it back.
“Lily?” Rathiel asked.
I shook off the temptation—or pretended to—and crouched beside a burly netheron with a crescent scar over his scalp. “I want to resurrect them,” I said flatly.
He blinked. “What? Why?”
“They died protecting this outpost. But I want to bring them back. They’ll know I returned their lives to them, that I’m the stronger option, and they’ll fight for me.”
Rathiel didn’t say a word.
The netheron’s soul called to me, and my power itched to answer. I reached out and rested my palm on his breastplate. And just like before, my magic responded, pooling under my hand and sliding inside the hellspawn.
Much like the dead brimlord, the netheron twitched in response to my power. I smiled.
“It won’t take much. One nudge, and they’ll wake. One command, and they’ll fall in line.”
“Lily,” Rathiel said.
“I can do it,” I whispered.
“Lily, look at me.” His voice was quieter now, raw around the edges.
I finally looked at him.
“Do you not remember what happened last night? Raising your army exhausted you to the point of—” his voice broke.
My nightmare sprang to mind, like an unwelcome shadow darkening my thoughts. The memory of the darkness piercing my throat and sinking into me should have stopped me. But it didn’t. What did anightmarematter compared to this? This was my chance to build an unstoppable army. I’d pay any price for that.
“There’s less of them,” I pressed. “And I won’t need to build new bodies.” Just…fill in the holes. “So I’d expend less magic than last time.”
Rathiel didn’t answer. Just looked at me, worry in his eyes. Then he turned back toward the heart of the outpost and started walking.
I released my hold on the netheron and rose, my fingers tingling with the unspent magic. It still hummed under my skin, reluctant to quiet. I flexed my hand once, then followed after Rathiel.
When he didn’t immediately say anything, I sighed and took in all our people. Mephisar had switched perches and now laydraped along the highest intact wall, one eye open, and smoke curling out of his nostrils. He looked almost bored. Varz, Calder, and Gorr stood amongst a smallish group of hellspawn, and Varz was issuing orders, while Korrak and Rathgor handled the barracks.
