“You think you know what you want, but you don’t. Not yet. So come and find me when you figure that out.”
Red blotches dot her cheeks, and a bitter laugh escapes her. “You know what? Fine. I just thought we could do it to pass the time, get whatever this is between us out of our systems. But you’re out of your mind if you think I’devercome back to you now. I know my worth.”
I level her with a look. “So do I.”
Her eyes widen fractionally, and her delicate throat bobs. Guilt wracks me because I know I’ve embarrassed her, know I probably just put the last nail in the coffin to this thing before it could even open in the first place, but I also know if I let her instigate this now, it won’t be right. And Ineedit to be right—for both of us. Because I think there could be something here, and I don’t want it to be ruined by letting her try toget me out of her system. Fuck that.
“You are the worst bad mistake I’m glad I never made,” she hisses.
“And you’re still the best mistake I can’t wait to make,” I retort with a smirk. “When you’re ready to admit it.”
Letting out a growl, she turns and stomps away, and as soon as she disappears from view, the amusement wipes off my face.
Fuck.
I hope I made the right decision. Because if I’m wrong, I just pushed her away for good, and that meansI’mgoing to be the one with regret.
CHAPTER 54
SLADE
It takes ten minutes onthe back of Argo to make it to the city’s army base.
At the bottom of Banded Mountain, you can spot the corners of a few of the buildings if you’re standing on the west tower of the castle. It’s a checkered collection of squares tucked in with the forest trees, walled up and meant to house a few thousand soldiers.
Right now, it’s about to house far more than that.
As I fly toward it, I see streams of soldiers marching in, this bird’s eye view making them look like a flowing river of black leather. Their progression is rife with curves and turns as thousands of men and women tread across the landscape, passing over the largest bridges and cutting past the castle, their sights set on the looming mountain.
This is the last of them to arrive, so Osrik and Ryatt will be here too. It’s taken three days for them to all filter in, and when the final troops pour past the entrance of the wall, the base is going to be crammed full. Normally, when I’ve called most of my army here, they’re only at the base for a short period of time. But with the situation as it is now, I cannot quickly discharge them to return to their homes.
That fact won’t be well received.
They’ve been gone for months, and they’ve been travelinghard. However, their arrival will be stained like the spill of bitter juice when they find out that war is looming and they can’t return home yet.
With the river of the army flowing in, I direct Argo to drop lower when we make it to the base’s wall. Shouts rise up from below, cheers from the soldiers who recognize Argo from the sky.
I don’t deserve their cheering.
Argo’s wings slice through the air, tucking between the limbs of the trees as he gets even lower. With a tug on his reins, he shifts to the right, heading for the building pitched with beams on all four sides, its roof a pinnacle of pine tar, the dark grain of the wood walls blending in with the trees around it.
As Argo begins to circle in his telltale sign of landing, the soldiers below move out of the way, just as the beast touches down, his talons sinking into the grass.
All around me, soldiers bow their heads as I unbuckle from the saddle and jump down. After giving Argo a pat on his hindquarters to let him know he can go off to hunt, I turn around, nodding at the crowd before I head for the building.
My boots tramp up the three sparse steps leading to the door, and as soon as I get inside, four heads swivel in my direction. Judd and Lu are sitting at the left of the table, Ryatt and Osrik at the right. Osrik’s long beard is even more unruly than usual, the hair on his head in much the same condition.
“You look like shit, Os,” I say in greeting.
He grunts, thick arms crossing in front of him. “Sorry I didn’t primp. Been busy draggingyourarmy across the continent through the freezing ass snow.”
I smirk as I take a seat next to him. “I appreciate it. Did you have any trouble?”
“Aside from the expected grumbles every now and then, and a few fights breaking out? No.”
“Good.” My eyes shift to Ryatt. His helmet is on the tabletop, though other than that, he’s still in full armor. “And you and Hojat got back fine?”
“Of course. Good thing too, because the frostbite running through the camps wasn’t pretty. We’ve lost too many fingers and toes,” he says, his tone dripping with displeasure.
