“I spoke briefly with one,” Aydra affirmed.
“And he said?” asked Hagen, arms crossing over his chest.
“He said ‘Long live King Aeron of Mathis, ruler of Man’,” Aydra repeated.
Hagen stared at her expectantly. “What else?”
“There was nothing else,” she replied. “He spat at me and I cut his throat.”
A brow raised on Hagen’s face, and he settled back into his chair. “All right. So you learned nothing—”
“A great deal more from this encounter did she learn than she realizes,” cued in the Nitesh.
Silence enveloped the room, and they all stared at the golden-gazed woman sitting at the end of the table.
“You know them?” Aydra asked.
The Nitesh sat up in her chair, and her eyes darted around them. “Man is a race born across our seas, not made of the land as we but rather of shared blood of each other, a long way from here. If they have discovered our lands, they will not stop.”
Aydra met Draven’s bewildered gaze, and she squeezed his hand as the wash of worry ran through her.
“What do you propose we do about this?” Hagen asked then. “Why should our people be concerned if they are simply on the shores?”
Aydra’s gaze flickered around the table, meeting the eyes of Nadir and Dorian before turning back to Hagen. “We do not ask you to bring your soldiers down here until we know more. We will find out more the next they arrive… what they want, how many they are, why they have come to our land. You have my word. But we thought you should know the situation. If they come onto our shores here at Magnice, and their intention is revealed that they intend to take our land, we only have our Belwarks and a few Dreamers companies to defend our kingdom. If they break past us, they are likely to be in your realms within just a few months,” she continued with an eye on Hagen.
“We can only do so much from our side,” Draven added. “All we ask right now is that you think about sending aid should we need it. Supplies. Weapons. Possibly Belwark patrols since you are the closest,” he said with a look towards Rhaif.
Mutters between races filled the air. Aydra glanced at Draven, and he squeezed her hand again.
A few moments passed, and she watched Hagen sit back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. “All right, Sun Queen. You’ve got your supplies should you need them.”
“We will see what we can spare for the Venari,” announced Councilwoman Reid. “Perhaps a Dreamer company or two.”
Aydra’s chest swelled, and she leaned forward at the table as Nyssa grabbed her arm. Eyes flickered to the Nitesh at the end of the table, and she straightened up from speaking with her guard.
“This not the fight of our Martyrs. Not yet,” she told them plainly. Her hands stretched together above the table, and she sighed. “However… should you need supplies… we will send with Honest traders.”
Breath returned to Aydra’s lungs. She met Dorian’s proud gaze, and he smiled at her across the table.
“All this talk of war has me starving,” announced Hagen as he stood. “Where is this grand food the king promised us?”
As the rest of the people stood around them, Aydra’s chest continued to flutter. She turned slowly to Draven, unable to keep the smile from her face. His jaw twitched as he fought a grin, and his hair fell over his face as he winked at her.
She wanted to him to fuck her on the table right then as the exhilaration of moment swam through her, but she settled for the grand kiss he gave her upon standing.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
THE NIGHT OF the meeting consisted of joyous laughter and promises from the Blackhands, excited about the possibility of spilling the blood of strangers. She and Draven laughed with them, retiring only when everyone else had broken off into their bedding partners.
Aydra didn’t want to rise the next morning, too comfortable in Draven’s arms to move upon the sun rising. But she knew she had to. She would need to get Lex out of bed, find out where her siblings were, gather everyone before their guests left for the day.
“Stay,” he muttered as she moved.
“We can’t,” she argued. “We have to get up. You need to find Balandria.”
Draven groaned as he sat up and rubbed his face in his hands. “For someone who skives off Queen duties on the regular, you certainly do make yourself responsible for people waking.”
“I do not know where my youngers ended up last night. I have to find them. And Lex will have who knows in her bed.”
