“When did you send that last scouting party?” Raziel asked softly.
“Two weeks ago.” I murmured quietly. “Six of my very best, they were supposed to observe this prince, not engage, then bring back a report. They would have followed my instructions to the letter. Whatever they ran into...” I scrubbed my face, wishing I could take that decision back.
I remembered their faces, remembered the sharp bite of rage when I received Zorander’s message there was a problem at the front gates and I’d seen what had been done to my men.
Fucking gods, had I unknowingly instigated a war?
“We need to get inside the Shadowlands. We have to get boots on the ground.” My words rang through the quiet before I was even aware I’d spoken. “I’ll go and assemble a team. Our advantage won’t last long, so we’d best strike now, before it’s too late.”
“Lyrae’s right.” Anaria lifted her head, once more the queen in charge of saving her kingdom.
“The entire realm is guarded by a ward fifty feet high.” Zephryn shoved his feet into boots. “So much magic…corrupt, stinking magic. You’ll never get through that, not without help.”
“The tracker who took my soldiers through…he’s likely dead now, too. I suppose the prince didn’t think enough of him to send his head back to me,” I muttered bitterly.
Anaria leaned back. “Then we need another tracker who knows how to get inside the Shadowlands. Someone clever with magic and familiar with the territory.”
“You’d have to enter by land, those cliffs are too high to climb.” Raz added thoughtfully. “Taking a small company for that first foray inside, no more than five or six. Lightly armed, able to move fast, to get the lay of the land.”
I winced.
That was the exact number I’d sent, and look how that had turned out.
“I’ll go myself with five of my Dreadwatch.” I pushed out of my chair. “I’ve hunted more dangerous enemies than this Prince of Shadows, or whatever the fuck he’s calling himself. Zeph can fly us down. We’ll be in and out in a day and put this business behind us.”
Fine.
They wanted a recon mission?
I’d give them recon. I’d bring back so much godsdamnedinformation their heads would spin. Then I’d return with a hundred of my soldiers and wipe that fucking realm clean of whatever rot infested the place.
“You didn’t see what I saw, Lyra.” Torin turned those unseeing eyes on me, and my heart pounded faster. “You’re not going in alone. That’s madness, after what happened to your soldiers.”
“I underestimated the bastard, and that’s on me. I won’t make that same mistake again.”
“I don’t doubt it. But getting past those wards is the real challenge,” she pointed out.
“However…I may have a solution. I have already sent Simon to Ashwicke as the queen’s messenger, and if this…person accepts Anaria’s offer, then you will have a guide through the wards, at least.” Torin spoke thoughtfully, making a concerted effort not to look my way. “We need someone who’s familiar with the southern border, who can get you in and out of the Shadowlands without detection.”
“I’m perfectly capable of handling this myself.” I kept myself from snapping the words out, outraged she’d call in outsiders to help.
Yes, I’d fucked up, but now this dark prince fucker had my full, undivided attention. Something he’d regret, the moment I had him at the end of my sword.
“Torin is right, the ward is your real problem.” Anaria dropped her voice. “I’m not sending you in there alone, Lyra, no matter how capable you might be. Losing you would be…” she sighed, “I learned long ago, sometimes you have to rely on others to get the job done.”
I looked between them, torn between arguing my case and the stony expression on their faces that made it perfectly clear this decision has already been made, and without my input.
As if she’d read my mind, Torin shifted guiltily in her chair. “I already sent Simon, so now we have to wait and see if the person I have in mind answers my summons…or not.”
“Fine, then. Whoever you call,” I warned, “they’d better godsdamned well be someone we can trust.”
5
LYRAE
Present day
Standing alone in the corridor, Torin’s words still echoed inside my head, like some doomsday prophecy.
