Draven and Nadir exchanged another look, their fingers tightening on their arms. Draven’s weight then shifted, and he gave her a full once over.
“Explain.”
“—It’s all right! I’m here! I found my way!”
The noise of Ash’s voice cutting through the silent crowd made Aydra’s nostrils flare. She’d hoped to leave him behind so that she would not have to deal with him that day. Aydra met Lex’s eyes over her shoulder and raised a short brow.
Lex gave her a nod. “Yes ma’am.”
Ash pushed his way through the people, and as soon as his feet hit the edge of the crowd, Lex grabbed his throat in her hand.
“—what—” Ash’s hands grabbed hers, and he struggled for air.
“Does the darkness around us mean nothing to you?” Lex hissed. “Do you think we walked all this way beneath moons so that we could be given away by some idiot Dreamer captain?”
His feet lifted off the ground.
“You will keep your mouth shut unless spoken to today,” Lex continued. “Do you understand?”
Ash’s head nodded voraciously. And Lex released him at an instant.
His knees hit the dirt. He started coughing and holding his throat, recovering from the ordeal. Lex straightened her shirt and turned back to the others.
“Your plan, my Queen,” she said to Aydra.
Aydra wrapped her arms around her chest and turned back to the raised brow faces of Nadir and Draven. She stepped closer to them and began pointing at the map as she spoke.
“Nadir, your people will go around this side beneath the waters, ambushing them from the ships side. You’ll take their boats first. They’ve weapons on them. You’ll need to make sure they are not manned by the time the Venari ambush on shore. Balandria, you’ll lead a stealth company to take out the centuries. Draven, your wind can discombobulate the guards, throw them off so that they are confused about what is happening—”
“And what will you do?” Balandria said, cutting her off.
Aydra met her eyes, and the raven landed on her shoulder.
“The sun breaks in less than an hour,” Aydra continued. “We should get going.”
Nadir took two slow steps towards her. “If my men die because of your plan, I’m taking your castle.”
“If your men die, it is because they do not know how to handle their weapons, not because of my plan,” she replied. “And you don’t have to threaten me to take the castle. It’s not mine.”
A quirk of a smile rose on his lips, and he clapped her shoulder upon passing her. “All right, you heard the Sun Queen,” he called to his people. “Take your side of the dunes. Come in from the reef. Pluck the bastards out of our waters one at a time—” he paused and leaned back down to her “Are we keeping the ships?” he asked in her ear.
“Yes, let’s keep the ships—”
“Why would you keep the ships?” interjected Ash.
Aydra paused to stare at him a moment. “Weapons. Supplies. We need to know what these people are capable of.”
Ash shifted the weight on his feet, but said nothing more. Nadir said something else to his people that Aydra didn’t catch. They started to move out all around them. The Venari people remained, still watching Aydra and Draven.
Draven’s jaw was taut as he stared at her. Balandria leaned in and whispered in his ear, to which Draven gave a nod.
“My company come with me,” Balandria said to them. She paused and gave Aydra a full once over. “The rest of you stay with your king.”
The Venari people all moved then, embracing each other as they separated into their companies. Aydra gave Draven’s silent figure a once over and then turned away from him. “We will meet you on the hill,” she muttered before walking away from them.
Lex and Ash followed Aydra through the forest to the hill at the edge of the tree line. The moons light was bright enough she could see the forest floor, but she had the raven fly in front of them anyway. She could just see fires down below on the beach, the silhouettes of men walking up and across the high dunes.
“Wait for my signal,” Aydra told Lex as she stared down at their true enemy. “Charge with the Venari company.”
