I could understand his reservations as a person looking at the situation from the outside. Vox was young in years, but living in Fortaare, under his father’s rule, had given him experience far beyond others his age.
Shaking his head, Zier slumped back into his office chair. “I understand what you’re trying to do, and unofficially, you have my support. But I won’t risk my people in a coup that can’t possibly work without an army far bigger than any of us could raise. Feodore Vylan not only holds the Dawn Army in the palm of his hand, but most of the Upper Six Lines. We would be battling against a national army filled with our kin, and the private armies of people with far more magic than most of us possess. It’s suicide.”
Lierick pressed. “Is it not better to die fighting than bending the knee to a dictator?”
Zier huffed, shaking his head. “Said like a boy who doesn’t know what it’s like to fight every day for survival. The LowerLines are powerless, and most are starving. You’re asking them to walk into their own graves.”
The silence around the room was heavy, until Lierick replied solemnly, “We have a plan, Baron. More than that, our success is written in the stars. I promise you that. But I’m not looking to bolster an army today. All we want is to be able to run supplies through your woods to the borders at the Dragon’s Tooth, and a few of your locals to move the goods.” The Dragon’s Tooth was a small triangle where all three borders connected, right at the head of the Dragonspire Mountains. “If you aren’t willing to risk even that, I’d ask you just look the other way,” Lierick added.
His square jaw flexing, Zier was silent for a moment longer. Finally, he nodded. “If you can get the goods to the shores of my Barony, we can get them to the Dragon’s Tooth.”
“Thank you,” Lierick said softly. He reached out a hand, and Zier took it. I could almost feel the bands of fate wrap around us as the agreement was sealed.
Then Zier reached toward me too, and I hesitantly placed a hand in his. It was rough and calloused, his fingers long and strong like an archer, encompassing mine completely. I looked up into those dark brown eyes. “Thank you,” I repeated.
He frowned and released my hand. The skin of my palm tingled, and I wanted to wipe it on the leg of my pants, or shake it out or something, but I also didn’t want to offend the man who’d just given us a way to help my friends.
Zier stared down at me. He was quite tall and broad, and reminded me of an oak tree—unmovable and protecting those who sheltered beneath its boughs.
Then he smiled. “Dangerous indeed,” he chuckled in a low voice, and I tried not to swoon. Clearing his throat, he indicated the chairs. “Please, have a seat and we’ll talk through logistics before the arrival banquet. After that, there’ll be too many eyes and ears for this kind of conversation.”
I cleared my throat and sat down in the hand-carved wooden chair on the other side of his desk. Lierick pulled his own seat closer to mine, and I felt grounded by his presence. What the hell was wrong with me?
As they spoke around me, I tried to push down the frisson of attraction that buzzed through my veins. I had Vox and Hayle, so why was I suddenly as horny as a stable boy who’d just discovered greasing his palm with lard?
Shaking my head, I concentrated on the conversation around me. Lierick was not for me, and Zier Tarrin was really,reallyoff limits.
And that was that.
We slipped back out of the manor house an hour later with a promise from the Baron and a coordinated dropzone in a hidden cove at the south end of Eaglehoth. In the hour we were gone, dozens more people had arrived in the square, and several boats floated just off shore at the Port of Eaglehoth.
“Avalon!”
I turned, looking for the source of the voice. It couldn’t be, right? There wouldn’t have been time for…
“Avalon!” The crowds down by the docks parted, and a smiling face I knew as well as my own appeared.
“Bach?” Just over his shoulder was another face, a near-perfect reflection of mine. “Kian?” I whispered their names. It felt like forever since I’d seen them. My brothers. “Bach! Kian!” I began to run. I’d missed them so much.
I dodged around people, Braxus on my heels, hearing Lierick call out, but he could catch up. Bach ran to me, his arms out wide, and as I leaped into them, I had to choke back tears.Wrapping my arms tightly around Bach’s neck, I breathed in the scent of him. The scent of home.
“I’ve missed youso much.”
I was snatched from Bach’s arms as Kian gathered me into his own. He held me less tightly than my middle brother; instead, he held me like I was precious. He always had. Like he knew how close he’d come to losing me. “We’ve missed you too, Avalon. Rewill isn’t the same without you.” He pulled back, and I could see him taking stock of me. Assessing me for injuries, both mental and physical.
I squeezed him close once more. “I’m okay, Ki. I promise. I have so much to tell you, though.”
Kian’s gaze moved over my shoulder, and I realized Lierick stood behind me. I stepped out of Kian’s grip and moved to the side. “Kian, Bach, this is Lierick. My… friend from Boellium. Lierick, these are my brothers, Bach and Kian Halhed, Heirs to the Ninth Line.”
Bach was giving me a shit-eating expression. “Friend, huh?” he muttered from the side of his mouth, and I kicked his shin.
“Stop,” I hissed. All at once, I was a kid again, wrestling with Bach while he hid me from Father. They’d always made hiding seem like something fun, rather than a life-or-death course of action. “I didn’t think you’d be here. I thought it would take too long to get from Rewill to Eaglehoth.”
Kian raised an eyebrow, one corner of his mouth turning up. “We were personally invited by the Third Line. We came aboard their ship, as their guests.”
Hayle Taeme, that sweet bastard.I was going to kiss him until he saw stars, the next time I saw him.
I shoved Bach in the direction of the tent where he had to register. “You have to get registered there. I don’t want you to miss out.” I hesitated, then hugged him once more. “It’s so good to see you.”
