“Lana would never hurt anyone,” Jeren whispers.
“Not intentionally, but she’s powerful. More powerful than even we know. She hasn’t reached her full potential. I don’t think she will until—”
“Until we mate as a circle,” Ceredes fills in.
“Maybe. She’s strong. So strong. And mating will only solidify it. But I can sense a space in her, an area that’s dark and—” I try to find the right word. “Waiting.”
“Waiting for the joining?” Jeren asks.
I shake my head gently, unsure if I should say the rest. But I do. My brothers need to know, and I trust the circle far above anything else. “No, not exactly, though I suspect that’s part of it. This presence, for want of a better word, is dormant, but waiting to beunleashed.”
“I like it.” Jeren smirks.
“I don’t know if mating will unlock that potential or if there’s something else. I can’t tell. But I know that when it does happen, she might be even more dangerous than she was when the circle first formed.”
“She wasn’t dangerous,” Ceredes grits.
“She was out of control. She still is sometimes. Today? The anger? That came from the locked part of her, the dark spot I can’t visit, can’t see.I’m concerned. Her power is already strong. If she taps into a deeper, darker well of it…” I don’t want to worry them needlessly, but Lana is on a hair trigger. The dueling ring is the last place she needs to be.
“So, she has to lose.” Admitting it verges on physical pain for Ceredes.
“Yes.It doesn’t mean anything. This way, Ilwen will have her day in the spotlight and we can move on with preparing for war.” I swallow the bitter taste in my mouth.
Jeren sighs as Ceredes seethes in silence.
There’s nothing to be done except continue down our path. We have to stay with the fleet until we’re ready to fight. When we’re strong enough, that’s when we can take on the Sentients and buck the council. We aren’t there yet.
“When will we be ready?” Jeren’s voice grows sleepier.
“The Pillars will let us know.” At least I hope that’s the case. As it is now, Lana is dancing on the edge of a power that may rival that of the last circle or perhaps beat it.
“May the circle never break.” It’s all I have, and I send that thought, prayer, wish—whatever it is—out into the dark, cold universe.
18
Lana
“You’ve mastered it.” Onin inspects my bandage on a wound along Jeren’s arm.
I clap. “You’re saved!”
Jeren watches me with stoicism.
“Oh, does it hurt really bad.” I stop my celebration.
He smirks. “I can handle it.”
“I know.”
“Let’s move on from first aid to healing.” Onin gestures toward Jeren’s arm as he crosses his lower pair of arms in front of him. “Remove the bandage and knit his skin back together.”
“I can’t do that.” I plop down on the metal stool beside Jeren.
“You can.” He leans over and kisses below my ear, sending a shiver through me.
Onin clears his throat. “You need to focus on the wound.”
“I’m focused.” I’m not. Not even a little. If I get a moment of silence, my mind inevitably wanders to a million things that scare me, worry me, or confuse me. The duel, mating with my Alphas, our future with the fleet, the way Jeren’s jaw has just a dusting of black stubble that makes me wonder what it would feel like between my thi—
