A familiar figure landed hard outside the blown out doors, her red wings folding as she stepped inside. Immainthe looked around until she spotted Rema and me, her six amber eyes filled with a combination of rage and sadness. The usually icy void ofher emotions roiled with heat, cracks appearing in the control, steam rising from the depths.
“It is done,” she said, coming to stand in front of us, her wings fluffing in agitation.
“What is?” I asked, looking at a male Neldre with soot covered blue wings that twisted hard away from the soldier who was trying to wrap the stump of what remained of his right lower arm. I looked away with a tight throat when the male started crying.
“The assault on our capital. With a little help from our new allies, we were able to subdue the Unity sent here,” Dhenea said, walking up behind Imma. Blood marred the left side of her face from a deep gash on her forehead, but other than that, they both looked okay, tired, but okay.
I tilted my head up at Rema with a frown. “How freaking long was I out?”
His jaw clenched, his eyes dilating as he looked at me. “Over an hour.”
Shit. I’d missed the whole fucking battle. That would teach me to tease Aga in the middle of a fight. I’d been blindsided and hadn’t gotten to help anyone else as a result.
“How’s Aga? Where is he? And Callie?” I asked, clutching at Rema’s arm.
He hugged me tight. “Aga is helping with the clean up in the Palace, and Callie is waiting for us there as well, she just landed.
Dhenea approached me, her golden hair matted with blood on the side she hadn’t shaved. The glyphs on her shaved side were smeared, and half covered in dirt and soot. “Your friend is a very talented pilot. She is very pushy though, I do believe Imma is still cross with her for yelling at her during the fighting. What was it she said to you, love?”
Immainthe’s scowl could have curdled milk. “She told me to get my flying, queenly ass the fuck out of her airspace.”
Rema started chuckling first, and even with my busted ribs and concussion, my laughter couldn’t be contained.
Rema flew us back up to the Palace while Immainthe and Dhenea stayed behind to organize people into cleaning crews, and to figure out how many civilians had died. Though it was looking like most of the Neldre people took to the air as soon as things got hot. Having wings made for excellent evacuation models.
Aga was waiting for us in the hollow doorway leading into the Great Hall, his arms crossed over his chest, and a scowl set in hard.
I flushed when his orange eyes glared at me. “I know, I know, I should have been paying better attention.”
His arms dropped at the same time his face softened, and then I was being plucked from Rema’s arms into a gentle hug. “No, Patty. I am a decorated veteran. I knew better than to let myself slip, even to play with you. It’s my fault,” he said, stepping back to hold me at arm’s length. His face grew hard. “But don’t thinkthat will get you out of me drilling until you collapse once we get onto the ship.”
I groaned, my head dropping back. “Fuck me.”
Rema chuckled, pulling me back against him. “You will survive. And I will join you, so you won’t be alone.”
I turned into him, tiptoeing to kiss his soft lips. “Thanks, husband. I appreciate that.”
His cheeks and ears pinked nicely, and I turned just in time to catch Aga’s eyeroll.
“Are you all done grab-assing? Get down here,”Callie’s voice barked across the links.
My smile stretched wide across my face. “Good god, I missed her crabbiness.”
“Coming, mother,”I answered her, snickering when Aga crossed his eyes, and turned to lead the way across the Great Hall.
The wide hall dipped down, coming to a square room with four tall archways that branched off in different directions.
Aga led us through the left archway that almost immediately started descending in a steep grade.
The red stone floors and walls here were burnt as well, as if a massive firefight had taken place, but there were no bodies.
Aga stopped right before a doorway, the stone doors having been blown off the hinges and lay beyond, scattered in pieces.
“Ugh. Prepare yourselves,” he said, his helmet drawing away from his head. His tone was so put out that I had to smile. Whatever or whoever it was, Aga did not like it.
We stepped through the doorway into a hanger. Gleaming silver fighter-like ships were arranged in neat rows, and there in the center, surrounded by a truly ragtag, dirty group of aliens, stood Callie.
My face split in a grin so wide it hurt my cheeks, tears pricking in my eyes. My throat closed tight when she turned to face us.
