Fallon gave him a once over, his gaze assessing. “Are you now? Strange way of showing it.”
Covath gave him a sneer before flicking a gaze Shea’s way. He stared at her for a long moment before his chest expanded. “We had thought your kind useless, prone to treachery and subterfuge. Your battle queen has forced us to reconsider that assumption.”
Fallon lifted an eyebrow, seeming unsurprised as his hands firmed on his reins pulling his warhorse up short when it would have tried to bite Covath. “Shea has that effect on people.”
“I am beginning to see that.” Covath didn’t sound pleased about it. He studied the two of them before gazing at the army stretched out behind Fallon. “My flock has had treaties with humans in the past. They’ve never held.”
“The world has changed in the centuries your kind have been gone,” Shea said. “It’s not what it once was.”
Covath stared off into the distance, his thoughts locked behind an inscrutable expression. “Ajari says you’re different. He has been quite insistent on it,” he told Shea. “He’s interested in seeing what else you’re capable of. He seems to think if it’s with you, then an alliance might benefit us both.”
Shea didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m honored to have his regard.”
Covath gave a small grunt. “Ajari is our guiding light. If he thinks this is possible, we will consider a temporary alliance. Be aware, we will judge you harshly, and at the first sign you’re not to be trusted, we will return to being enemies.”
Fallon inclined his head. “We would expect nothing less.”
Fallon lifted his leg over the horse, dismounting with a stiff gait. Shea noticed the pain he was masking, the tentative way he moved. Her gaze went to where she knew his wound was, expecting to see blood. There was nothing, but that didn’t reassure her.
Covath didn’t move, watching as Fallon approached him with slow steps. Fallon held out his dominant hand in the way of the Trateri. Covath looked at it with some confusion before he understood what Fallon wanted. With hesitation, Covath clasped it.
“I should warn you—if you break your word to us, even once, we’ll kill you all,” Fallon said, still clasping Covath’s forearm.
“I was just about to say the same,” Covath returned.
“Then we’re in agreement.” Fallon’s face was serious.
They released each other and stepped back.
Covath’s head tilted as he considered. “We are.” He turned to Shea. “Ajari says to tell you he will see you again. He has named you the Burning One. It is the first time he has bestowed such an honor on a human. Be sure you live up to it.”
Covath didn’t wait for a response, leaping into the air, his powerful wings taking him high within seconds.
Shea watched him go. “Is that it? Don’t you two need to discuss terms.”
Fallon shook his head. “We understand each other. The rest is just details. For a mythological, he is very similar to my generals.”
That was high praise coming from Fallon. Covath must have impressed him in some way, though Shea would have been hard-pressed to say how.
Orion stamped his foot, signaling his impatience.
“I suppose you need to go as well,” she told him.
Orion let out a snort that she guessed meant yes.
She let out a sigh and dismounted, her movements only slightly awkward. She patted him on the shoulder in thanks and stepped back. Orion turned his head to her and lipped her hair before he too galloped away, his wings opening to lift him gracefully into the sky’s embrace
Fallon shifted, turning to face her, his thoughts veiled. “I take it there’s no more need for my army’s presence in the Badlands.”
Her shoulders slumped, a brief touch of grief rising as she shook her head. “No, there’s nothing left there to trouble us. At least for now.”
The dark and the other old things that waited at the heart would eventually grow to be a problem again, but the immediate threat had been addressed.
His face tightened in understanding at what she left unsaid. He stepped closer, his big body oddly tentative as he reached out and brushed her hand with his.
“I’m sorry you had to be the one to do it,” he told her.
Shea looked away as her throat tightened and tears filled her eyes. For all the pain Griffin had caused, she’d loved him once. Perhaps it had been a pale imitation of what she shared with Fallon, but there was a history of shared memories and feelings. He was once a sweet boy, her partner in many of her adventures. She could mourn that person.
