“They are still a threat to us,” I reminded him, lest he had forgotten about the slavery and the attacks.
Then again, perhaps he was only testing me. Eryx had always been difficult to read.
His carefully guarded nod gave nothing away.
“They are. Their lastgiftcould easily be seen as a declaration of war.”
I had thought the same more than once. There were no good options. No Visionary to guide us on our way.
I met Eryx’s eyes, seeing those things reflected in the gaze that wasn’t quite as hard as it had been when I walked in.
I needed allies, more so with Nevara gone, and my Lord General had always been just that. Looking back, I wasn’t sure of the exact moment I had stopped consulting him. When the monsters and the Unseelie became overwhelming, when there hadn’t been time to discuss decisions.
“What would be your recommendation, going forward?” The words came through gritted teeth, but I did manage to say them.
For the first time, Eryx’s chilly facade cracked, the smallest bit. He raised a single eyebrow like he knew how the words had pained me.
“I wouldn’t begin to formulate a plan without all of the facts, My King. Otherwise, people might get hurt.”
It was as close as he would come to demanding information. Or to giving a reprimand.
“Then you will have therelevantfacts,” I allowed, unwilling to promise him something I would ultimately refuse to deliver.
There would always be secrets, especially where my wife was concerned, but he wasn’t wrong about the risks of forging ahead in the dark, nor about the consequences of having done that already.
His anger didn’t quite subside, but it did shift to the side, allowing for something closer to practicality. It was enough for my purposes.
So I told him what I knew of Everly’s uncle, the threats to the queen. We didn’t discuss the most obvious issue in the room, the fact that however he had felt about the order to kill on sight, he still despised the Unseelie, the Skaldwings in particular.
The fact that I still despised them, too.
When I was finished, he looked down at the map of the borders, making a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat as he pushed the pieces around.
“If we reroute the patrols along?—”
But I never got to hear what it was because blind panic flooded the bond. I held up my hand to stop the Lord General, already feeling for the pull toward Everly’s mana.
What is it?I demanded.
The ring didn’t burn. She wasn’t in danger, but the panic only intensified.
It’s Nevara. She’s?—.
She is what, Morta Mea?
I felt as she tried to shield her thoughts, but the answer came through anyway, distant and faraway. Unmistakable all the same.
Dying.
Chapter 31
Everly
Ihad never seen Amias panic.
I hadn’t even known he was capable of it until he was letting out a stream of curses that would make my sister proud, repeating them like a cross between a mantra and a prayer while he channeled his mana directly into Nevara’s rapidly deteriorating body.
None of us spoke.
