“We lost lives in the Abyss.” Chastain worries his thumbnail between his teeth. “And we’ll lose more if we try to deal with the wyverns.”
“I’ll go.” Iridiel clip-clops over to us, a purple stain around his mouth from gorging on the slavers’ fruit stores.
“Youwantto go?” Gareth turns his head so fast his neck pops.
“Sure.” He keeps chewing, his jaws wagging. “I used to know a wyvern or two. Females.” His cerulean eyes glint.
“This isn’t a game, Iridiel.” Chastain glares at him. “These are real lives. I won’t gamble any more of my people unless we have an actual chance at success. It’s what Silmaran would want me to do.” The burden on him is evident. Because no matter his words, he wants to do something, anything, even if it’s rash, as long as it means Silmaran will be saved. His thumbnail is down to a bloody nub.
“I have a way with wyverns,” Iridiel persists. “Females, anyway.”
“And the males?” I ask.
He shakes his mane. “Them, not so much.”
“So, if it’s all males atop that mountain, we’re dead.” I take a piece of roasted meat offered by one of the miners. She passes a finely-jeweled silver plate as the others start singing a bawdy tune around the fire. Our own fighters join in.
“And your unicorn is only offering to go so he can get his basilisk wet. Doesn’t seem too solid.” Clotty eats a hunk of meat with none of the manners I remember from Byrn Varyndr. She hasn’t said much, but I can tell her time here has changed her. She’s still the same iron-spined matron, but now there’s a sorrow in her eyes. It’s silent, but I can see it. And she doesn’t waste time. Not when it comes to eating or planning or wielding a meat cleaver against my mate. I want to know what happened to her, how each step toward the mines played out, but now’s not the time. And more than that, I fear it. I fear her tears if the memories break her. I fear Clotty falling apart when she’s the only thing that’s held me together for so long. Glancing at Gareth, I squeeze his fingers. Now that I have him, Clotty can lean on me. I will be there for her. I have to be. She deserves it, just as she’s deserved my loyalty throughout this journey.
“You need a rest.” She studies me. “You’ve been quiet for a spell. Not like you at all, Lenetia—err, Beth.” She stands, her back cracking as she grabs another hunk of food from a passerby. Taking a piece of it in her mouth, she points the meaty bone at me. “In the morning, lass. That’s when we’ll head to the volcano. If Silmaran needs us, we’re going to help her.” Turning, she raises her voice. “Hey, you lot! Who fancies a trip to the volcano and then a smooth ride to Cranthum on the back of a winged beast?”
The singing stops, and the miners turn their faces to her.
It hits me then. She’s the leader here. That’s why she came out to meet Gareth, why the others held off when she told them to. Clotty survived the fire and came out finely forged on the other side.
My eyes well again as I stare at her. This time, it’s with pride.
“Well?” she asks again.
“Aye!” The stone man says it first, then a round of affirmative answers come from everyone else. Even the children who scurry around the fire, their clothes in tatters and their faces lean, shout their assent.
Iridiel snorts. “Looks like my basilisk is going to be marinating in some sweet, sweet wyvern pus—”
Gareth groans and pulls me from my seat before the unicorn can continue. “Let’s get some rest.” He leads me into the nearest villa and searches the destroyed rooms until he finds one with an intact bed.
I turn to him and wrap my arms around his waist as he leans against the door. “We did it.”
He rubs my back. “We did.”
“And now we get to ride wyverns.” It occurs to me he’d been mute during the second half of the group conversation. Maybe he was just silently agreeing? Surely, that’s the answer.
“Beth.” He sighs.
“Yes?” I press my ear to his heart.
“That wasn’t part of our arrangement.”
I tilt my head back and look up into his dark eyes. “What?”
“I agreed to bring you here to free Clotty. That’s what I’ve done. Now—”
“Now we have to help Silmaran.” I step back from his embrace. “What about her?”
His eyebrows flirt with each other in consternation. “What about our life in the winter realm?”
“We’ll go there after—”
“After.” He grimaces. “Always after. What about now? What about starting our life together, free from danger, together in the winter realm,now? Everything you’ve asked of me, I’ve done. And I don’t grudge you these things at all. I’ve enjoyed every minute spent with you. But I want to know why we can’t start our lives now. I have duties, a life, and a king who needs me—all in the winter realm you’ve promised me. Don’t you remember our pact, the agreement we made before we began all this?”
