A grin cracked across the mage’s face, and they clapped their hands together. “I believe you have dragons nearby. We’re going to need those.”
With the secret of the dragons exposed, Madan and Whelan decided that flying where they were visible was no longer an issue. As such, they flew straight over Central Province on their journey to the western side of the Keonis Mountains. If anyonesaw them, he couldn’t tell, nor would he care if they had. What would they do? Send soldiers after them?
Good. Let Valenul be confused about where to put their forces. It opened up Eastwood for the invasion that would be happening within nights.
After successfully convincing Ehrun’s eastern troops to march out and rendezvous with Azriel, led by Ahn and Ygret, Madan felt considerably more confident as they landed at the location of the western troops. Things were going well, after all, and while he still couldn’t stomach looking at Ehrun for longer than a few seconds, he was grateful the bastard was doing all he could to make amends.
Not that Madan could ever fully forgive him.
“You forgave Azriel,” Brutis pointed out as Madan swung down from his back to yet another massive crowd of hostile dhemons.
Following suit from Oria, Whelan cast the massive gray dragon a glare. “I haven’t.”
Madan sighed. Of course he hadn’t. Though Whelan continued to respect Azriel and follow the orders given, he had yet to acknowledge Azriel’s lack of self-control the night he’d tried to kill Madan. Not that Madan blamed Whelan. Had the roles been reversed, he probably wouldn’t have had the same restraint as his partner.
After all, he’d stabbed Azriel and left him for dead for far less.
“Can we please just get through this without bringing that up?” Madan looked to Ehrun, who’d already begun his speech to the gathered dhemons.
“If he hadn’t tried to kill you,” Whelan grumbled back, “then this would be a non-issue.”
A flash of a memory whipped through Madan’s mind—one that didn’t belong to him. In fact, it was an image of him pinned to the ground with Azriel above him, hand wrapped aroundhis throat. Along with it came a wave of gut-wrenching, vomit-inducing fear and panic. It punched Madan so hard in the gut that he had to focus not to double over from the pain of it all.
“If Ieverforgive him for trying to take you from me,” Whelan continued, “then he is fortunate,indeed.I’m only still here foryou.”
Didn’t Madan know it? Whelan had asked for them to leave once before. Only once, but it stuck out in his mind nonetheless. Particularly since Madan had seriously considered it.
But he couldn’t leave Azriel. Not after everything they’d been through. Not after knowing just how much his brother was fighting a darkness he couldn’t control. Not after seeing how much Ehrun had changed once the ritual had been forced upon him.
“I know,” he acknowledged after a long moment of silence between them.
With that, they refocused on the task at hand: helping Ehrun convince the dhemons before them to join. The previous camp had been so successful that he hadn’t needed to call on the blood oaths he’d collected from all of his followers. This camp, however, appeared far less inclined to follow a half-dhemon King.
“We have the dragons,” one dhemon was saying from the midst of the crowd. “I say we raze the Valley and start over.”
A pained expression pulled Ehrun’s face taut. “Killing innocents is not the answer.”
“You are not the King we swore an oath to,” said another.
“King Ehrun would call for the blood of them all,” called a third. “They kill our people like cattle. Let us return the favor!”
Madan stepped in beside him. “We are trying to minimize casualties on both sides so we can start an era ofpeace.”
“Fuck you, leech!”
“Who let a vampire speak for them?”
“Kill him!” The cry had the crowd surging forward.
In an instant, Whelan stood before him, sword in hand. He hoisted the blade and snarled, “Try to touch him and you’ll have no need for the ritual, for I’ll deliver you to Keon myself.”
Several sneered back responses that Madan couldn’t make out over the sudden ringing in his ears from the dump of adrenaline. This wasn’t what he’d expected when they landed. He took a step back and ran smack into something—someone.
Looking up, he found Ehrun standing behind him with a familiar rage etched into his features. But for once, the hate kindling there wasn’t directed at Madan. It was shot straight out at the dhemons who were now beginning to clamor forth.
“Enough!” the mighty dhemon roared, bringing the mob to a halt as the oaths woven into their blood seized control. All at once, the dhemons froze, their bodies responding to the command even as their faces contorted with fury at having been stopped. Ehrun put a heavy hand on Madan’s shoulder and addressed them again, continuing to use the same commanding tone. “Each of you is here because you and I once believed the same thing: vampires are a plague to the Valley and should be eradicated.”
A quiet murmur of agreement. Theyhadgathered under Ehrun’s banner while seeking precisely that confirmation.
