Calypstra’s coal-lined eyes continued to stare daggers at me, as though she wanted to reach across the table and rip out my throat. What the fuck was her problem?
“So, is Thornley a good launching point then?” Hylos asked me.
“For what?” I asked.
“To take Oakhaven?”
Lumina huffed. “I said it was underpopulated. Never that it was a good route for a siege.”
My face contorted. “That would be a death sentence.” His forces would be cut off long before doing any damage. “Guardian’s Watch, the capital, is here.” I pointed to the city in the center of the map. Where my father’s castle stood. “This is the only way to take all of Oakhaven. You would be miles away from it. Not to mention this route would have you all landlocked. Which, I don’t know if you’re aware, but water is kind of your wholething. It would be a mistake,” I said, holding back that thefar better route would be through Gyldmare. But even that path would be a death sentence.
“That’s exactly what a foreign adversary would say,” Calypstra drawled, still scowling and suffering under the weight of whatever my presence was doing to her.
“What would you have us do, Elowyn?” he said, clenching his jaw.
I looked to Lumina, desperate for a reprieve. She was out of answers too. Morvyn only sipped his drink while Nixie and Raylik eyed one another.
“Well? We don’t have all day, tell us, oh wise one,” Hylos urged. He wasn’t thinking straight, far too upset after the last attack that nearly took him.
“I’d suggest you slow down. Maybe listen to your council.” I looked around the table at his inner circle of friends.
“Slow down?” He laughed mirthlessly, then took the chalice from Morvyn’s hand and finished it.
“Sure, we can share …” Morvyn said, blinking.
That wouldn’t help either.
“I am no child; you do not need to lecture me like one,” Hylos snapped.
“You’re acting like one. You need to think clearly if you truly wish to attack Oakhaven,” I said. Even though it was the last thing I wanted, and I would do everything in my power to stop him, it was the truth.
“Iamthinking clearly,” Hylos answered while pouring another drink.
“Is that what the drink is for? All that clear thinking you’re doing?” I rolled my eyes, then leaned over the map.
Hylos leaned in with me, filled drink in hand.
“Oakhaven has withstoodhundredsof attacks. It’s an island, its ruler at its heart, surrounded by land and militias buffering it from outsideassaults. The only way I’ve heard of it being taken was Byllard the Suppressor, who simply had the sheer numbers to overtake the castle.” I met his storm-blue eyes, “How many men do you have?”
“You dare ask him that? What, so you can run and tell your father the second you have a chance? Disloyalbitch,” Calypstra hissed.
“Shut the fuck up,” I sneered back at her. “I’m here because Hylos wants my counsel, and whatever issue you have with me you should leave at the door when you enter a royal meeting.”
Hylos rubbed a nervous thumb over the rim of the cup.
I continued, “I’llassumethe number is far less than the thousands of local militias Oakhaven has. Not to mention its great navy. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Are you ready to send your people straight to their deaths?”
“I am ready to do what isnecessary,” he said through gritted teeth. There was no reasoning with him. He was determined to do whatever it took to find his father. Even rushing into a war and sacrificing hundreds of sirens. That’s why I needed to take Arlo and get out of here.
“Thornley is a bad idea, Hylos,” was all I offered, then looked at his friends. “If you go there, youallwill die.”
The room fell mortally silent as I kept to myself how Oakhaven had been taken repeatedly throughout history. How my forebears seized it and how those before them did so as well.
The best way to take down any kingdom was from within.
Chapter 37
The war council went late into the night as we all tried to reason with Hylos. But he was insistent. After their holy holiday, he would attack Oakhaven through Thornely. It was final. Raylik and Nixie insisted on walking me back to my chambers, seemingly uneasy from the way Calypstra was acting toward me. It was clear: she despised me. But would she really hurt me? I had my suspicions that she’d drugged me, but Hylos said she wouldn’t have. But was she so cruel as to kill every single one of Hylos’s prisoners? And why would she of all people spare Arlo? None of it made sense.
