Agreed.Loche didn’t look his way again, but his fingers curled by his side, ready for the sword that hung there.If you have any brilliant ideas for how to keep the council alive, though, please jump in. If these bastards don’t, Lessia will surely rip our heads off, if Frelina is injured.
Raine bared his teeth at just the thought, and heknew his eyes flared as one of the half-Fae before them stumbled back.
Get them to talk.Raine turned his head to Iviry for a second.And don’t come after me, but your soon-to-be wife is about to kill those guards for listening to you and not her. I know you want to keep her safe, but I think we might need her skills if we’re going to take all of them out.
Loche’s eyes hardened for a moment before he released a breath through his teeth and turned to Iviry, waving her forward.
“Just because I am female doesn’t mean you get to boss me around,” Iviry snarled under her breath, although it was loud enough for Raine to hear—probably on purpose, since she must have noticed their silent conversation. “We are equals, regent. And I won’t be having you trying to protect me just because I don’t have a cock.”
Loche’s jaw drew down for a moment before he caught himself, and Raine would have snickered at his next words if Frelina hadn’t let out an involuntary sound as the shifter pressed her neck farther down.
“I am trying to protect you because I care about you,” Loche hissed back, and the spots appearing on Iviry’s cheeks mirrored her fiery hair as she avoided his eyes. “You may not believe it, but I didn’t fucking notice any of this because I couldn’t stop staring into your beautiful damned blue eyes, and it pisses me off.”
It was Iviry’s turn to gape, but as the crowd went quiet, Raine forced a thought into both of the leaders’ minds.Absolutely adorable, but we’re about to be murdered, so please focus.
As the pair pulled themselves together, Raine caught Frelina’s eyes again, and when her gaze darted to herside, he realized they’d caught Frecco too. The Fae looked as if he’d taken the brunt of the beatings, with his broken nose and his head hanging between his shoulders.
You will be okay.Raine tried to soften the words in her mind, not to let in the fear and anger at that bastard keeping his hands on his… on her.I will make sure you’re okay.
I know.Frelina glared back at him as if this were his fault, and Raine frowned at her before she continued.You’re about to do something stupid. I can feel it. Raine? Raine!
Raine didn’t respond as Loche spoke again, his demanding tone floating across the three ships where all now stared at the group facing him, Iviry, Loche, and the two guards.
“You’re the… instigator, I presume?” The regent lazily flickered his eyes from the shifter in the front to the rest of the group.
If Raine hadn’t felt the worry in Loche’s mind, he’d actually have believed his bored expression.
“I am the leader,” the shifter snarled, the air around him flickering for a moment as if he was holding back a shift. Which, after a quick brush of his mind, Raine could confirm that he really was.
Watch out for that one,he warned both Loche and Iviry.He is furious and losing it.
Then he turned to Frelina again, staring at the gold in her eyes going in and out, as if she was picking up the thoughts and memories of the shifter holding on to her.
Be ready.Raine bore his eyes into hers.When it’s time, you fight like you did on that plateau.
He didn’t give her time to respond, and with those final words, Raine started to look intothe minds of the half-Fae instead, and he nearly scoffed when he was able to capture all of them within moments.
You absolute idiots,he purred into their minds.You didn’t think you’d get out of this alive, did you? You touched my girl, and as soon as you did that… you became dead males.
Raine blocked their terrified responses, and he was happy to find that there was no outward sign on any of the half-Fae that Raine now controlled their minds—and in turn their entire lives.
“The leader…” Loche tsked as he slipped a hand into Iviry’s, and while Raine knew it was to keep her beside him, it looked as if they were one—one leader, one force, one to unite their people. Just like Dedrick and the rest wanted.
“There is no other leader here but us,” Iviry filled in, her soft voice complementing Loche’s hard one so well that Raine wondered how he’d ever been surprised they were mates.
“Weare leading Havlands,” Iviry continued. “Weare taking care of our people.”
Loche nodded in sync with her words, his eyes flying out to the crowd, which watched their every movement. “Weare making sure you all live to see the next full moon. And we don’t appreciate when the prisoners we let walk turn against us, do we?”
“No.” Iviry put on a good show of appearing disappointed, even if Raine knew her well enough that her tight shoulders betrayed her apprehension. “We really don’t.”
“We don’t think it’s fair!” the shifter screamed. “Who is representing Korina? There is no shifter advocate. There is no halfling ruler!”
Loche’s low laugh floated overthe murmurs. “No shifter? No halfling? I am both those things. Half human. Half shifter. Iviry is Fae. We represent all people in Havlands.”
“That’s why we let you go. That’s why your treachery wasn’t punished.” Iviry seemed to struggle to keep her rage out of her own voice. “Because we believe we all belong together. Like Loche and I do. A world where human and Fae and shifter and halfling are all equal.”
“And we don’t believe in taking anything by force,” Loche snarled as he jerked his head to his council members being held against their will. “We were elected. And so shall all leaders be from now on. In Havlands. In Ellow. In Vastala. In Korina. Perhaps one day only one ruler will lead our entire nation, but for now, we are representing all.”
