Raine swallowed as he made himself listen again.
Maybe Elessia had been right in what she’d once told Merrick. This was bigger than just the people in this room. This was bigger than Raine. Than Frelina. Than… Solana and what had happened.
As Loche’s soldier cleared his throat, Raine vowed to himself that even if he could never promise Frelina all the things he hoped to—he would do whatever he could to make her world a little bit better, even if it was with the last breath he took in this realm.
“There have been several attacks in Ellow,” Loche’ssoldier said as silence fell across the group. “The… We had a ship come in this morning, Loche, and…” The birdlike mask dipped, and Raine’s skin pebbled.
“Tell me,” the regent forced out through gritted teeth.
“They destroyed the castle, regent. With some of your people inside.”
Raine was impressed that Loche didn’t stagger, even as his eyes filled with raw pain.
“How many?” he demanded as he cast first Zaddock a look, then Venko, who both seemed to understand his silent ask.
Venko walked over to Ardow and kissed his cheek, then picked up his cloak and joined Zaddock, who lingered by the door to listen to the final information before likely going to inform the council.
“A dozen townsfolk and two soldiers who tried to get them out.” The soldier wrung his hands. “The other attacks were in smaller villages. All in the night, and in each case, the houses and taverns just… caved in. As if the stone itself made it happen. No one died in those villages, but people are afraid.”
“The Oakgards’,” Merrick mumbled as he locked eyes with Lessia. “It’s what they did during the battle. It appears as if they can mold nature—stone and wood and water.”
Raine blew out a harsh breath. He’d heard of the earth wielders, as the Oakgards’ called themselves, from Kerym and Thissian’s travels. They were not only desperate then but truly dangerous.
“That’s not all,” one of the Fae males interrupted. “It’s happened in Vastala too. We didn’t think much of it—only that it might be accidents, bad builds… but it’s happened too frequently, too spread out.”
“When?” Iviry said as she shared a look with Loche, and Raine was glad to see that the two leaders shared common ground on this at least, even if the love that should have driven it appeared to have been pushed aside.
“In the past weeks, we’ve counted twelve so far.” The male looked to the human soldiers before continuing. “We agree it seems to be accelerating. With the destruction of the castle… it appears they’re scaling up.”
“They’re almost ready, then,” Kerym said.
“They must be trying to distract us—spread us out thin,” Merrick added.
Iviry turned to them, her eyes bouncing between Merrick and Kerym before finding Raine’s. “Seems a plausible tactic, since they can’t know how many of us they’ll face in battle. Especially now, with Rioner gone.”
Raine mumbled a low agreement before stating, “We can’t let them. We need to stay together.”
“But we also need to protect our people,” Loche snapped. “I will not leave them to die.”
“Neither will I.” Iviry stepped closer to the regent, another moment of understanding passing between them, one that had Iviry’s eyes round for a moment before she gained control over her features again.
“We should use this as a moment to bring the people together,” Lessia said quietly.
Even with her soft tone, all heads turned her way—some, like Loche’s soldiers with their eyes peeking through their masks, with fear in them; some, like Iviry’s men, with hesitation. But her little show earlier musthave instilled enough respect that they remained quiet while Lessia continued speaking.
“Use Raine’s eagles to warn the guards still on Ellow and Vastala and ask them to spread the word of what’s coming and how we must fight back. Then send delegations to all the harbors, and get anyone who can hold a weapon onto whatever ships and boats remain, bringing them to where we plan to fight. For the ones who can’t, leave a group of your soldiers—give them instructions for where to hide. But hopefully, having all the activity in the sea will draw them out.”
Merrick stared at Lessia as if she’d fucking invented liquor, and it wasn’t only Raine who looked away as he kissed her far too passionately for this setting, before shooting her a grin and adding, “Keep some ships behind, hidden so they can accompany the ones coming from Vastala and Ellow. If the Oakgards’ try anything while they’re traveling, they’ll be in for a wicked surprise.”
Loche looked from Lessia to Merrick, and his slow nod of agreement seemed to surprise Iviry, from the way her forehead twitched. Still, the latter quickly smoothed out the wrinkle between her fiery brows as she said “Agreed.” With a nod to her men, she added, “Go tell the others. Get ready. We’ll need to leave tomorrow.”
Venko followed the soldiers out after a quick look at Loche. Ardow seemed to hesitate, but then the man sprang from his seat, following his lover, with Amalise and Zaddock falling into step behind him.
“They’ll get the council informed,” Loche said when Frelina stared after them. “Then… I guess we need to deal with the prisoners tonight after all.”
He looked about as excited as Raine felt, but could anyone blame him?
Raine had heard from Kerym all about Loche’s mother being the shifter leader and what she’d said to him, and she didn’t seem like a woman someone wanted to try negotiating with.
