To save Atheria.
“So,” Kade said, looking around at the group. “That brings us back to what we should handle first.”
Each person brought something slightly different to the table. Whether it was a desire to protect a certain village, or training the new army, or growing the necessary food to feed everyone, the requirements of what we needed to do kept expanding at a dizzying rate. No one could agree on what our highest priorities should be.
“We need to take back Ellevail,” Kalliah said again, for the third time in the last ten minutes. “We need to find Leif. Plus, Andras needs to die, preferably a heinous death.”
Ian and Storm simultaneously let out exasperated sighs. Storm turned to Kalliah. “How do you expect us to do that when we haven’t even trained anyone yet? We need time to prepare and cultivate an army. We can’t go in there as a ragtag group of misfits hoping for the best.” He spoke like a true strategist. Calculated. “Andras will die, but we need to try to minimize our losses in the process.”
“I agree it needs to be done sooner rather than later. Nothing good can happen by evil living in our home, but Storm is right.” Ian passed a glass of water to Kalliah. “Training the army has to be our first priority, and unfortunately, that takes time.” He reached for Kalliah’s hand. “We will ensure Leif is safe. We all want that, but we can’t storm Ellevail without a solid plan.”
“If this were any of you, we’d be breaking down the gates,” Kalliah said. Her voice squeaked, but she clenched her jaw, anguish melting into fury. “I can’t believe we aren’t making him a priority after he sacrificed himself to buy us time to escape.”
I leaned forward, reaching for my friend’s hand. “Kalliah?—”
“No.” She abruptly rose from her chair. With a shaky breath, she turned, heading toward the front door. “I’ll help elsewhere. Just let me know when you decide our friend’s life is important again.”
I collapsed back into the chair, closing my eyes. “She’s right,” I whispered.
“Yes, she is,” Ian said, rubbing his forehead. “But it doesn’t change the fact that we have zero eyes inside Ellevail right now. There’s no way of knowing where he is or what situation we’d be walking into. It’s a fool’s errand until we can do this effectively.”
Kade’s shadows wrapped around my legs, crawling all the way up toward my waist, as if they knew I needed comfort. Wehad no clue whether Leif was okay, and as much as it pained me, it was killing Kalliah.
“It’s the same reason you couldn’t return for me, Little Rebel.”
I jerked my head toward him and examined the compassion and warmth lining his features.
“So, training it is,” I sighed. We had farmers, builders, remote village Fae, and young men and women arriving daily now. None of them were soldiers or knew how to do more than a few defensive moves. “At least for you all,” I finished.
Storm and Ian exchanged a look. “For us?” Storm questioned.
Raya snickered, smiling for the first time since we’d sat down. She’d remained unusually quiet throughout this discussion. I could only wonder what she was thinking and feeling right now. She’d been excluded from any type of strategic planning sessions for so long, it must be surreal for her to finally sit at the table and be able to fully participate in the conversation.
“I need to find the journal,” I announced. “It feels like the missing piece to this puzzle—maybe it will contain information about the dagger too. Vivienne wouldn’t have allowed the journal to remain hidden for so long if it wasn’t important.”
I knew the dagger had a part to play, I just hoped it would be enough.
Ian scowled at me and his eyes darkened. “The only problem is that we don’t know where the journal is located.” He stood and started pacing among the tables. Every few steps I could have sworn his entire body twitched. Almost like a spasm. “And even if we did know where it was hidden, we'd be leaving our people here while we went gallivanting around Brookmere.”
“I do know where it is though.” I swallowed hard as all eyes fixated on me. “The Southern Forest,” I whispered, almost wishing Ian wouldn’t hear and react the way I knew he would.
“Absolutely not,” Ian growled, his glare practically shooting daggers in my direction.
Jax frowned, ignoring Ian’s outburst. “The home to that terrifying flying creature… What did you call it, a strox?”
I nodded. “The very same.”
Slapping his hand on his knee, Jax looked Kade straight in the eye. “Count me out. You all have fun with the nightmare beasts.” Kade cocked a brow at Jax. “What? I’ve had my fair share of evil creatures to deal with while you were gone. I’m just saying.”
“Scaredy cat,” Storm teased, and Jax hissed in response.
“Your taunts don’t even bother me anymore. I’ll take them over flying creatures.” He overexaggerated a shiver and then bowed his head at Ian. “Except you of course, Captain.”
“I'm needed for training the army.” Storm kicked Jax’s leg under the table. “Youare going.”
Jax’s mouth hung open for a moment before closing it and furrowing his brows. “I’m telling William to pack me mead,” He grumbled. “Lots of mead.”
“So we split up.” Kade rose and stood next to where Ian now paced. “I will take Lana to find the journal with Jax. Meanwhile, Ian, Storm, and Raya will stay here and start training the army.”
