“Iron is iron.” His voice was firm, and he looked around the room like he was trying to impart a lesson on all of us. I couldn’t help feeling like a child again under that stare. “A scrap or a sword will burn you just the same. It leaves nasty injuries behind, and should you get stabbed with it? It will slowly drain your magic. You won’t be able to heal with any trace of the iron in you. The wound will just keep burning in agony until it’s gone—and that won’t be quick, either. If you get stabbed, get the iron out as quickly as possible. Your magic will try to fight it, but it will only delay the agony if you don’t get it removed. Do not underestimate it just because it looks innocuous.”
“Then how do we fight against it?” Arien asked, looking to Titan. He could learn a lot from Titan, and I was glad to see he wasn’t too proud to do so. Asteria and I would need both Generals aligned for this. As well as for everything after. I had no idea how we’d handle ruling two different kingdoms, with two different power structures. But that was an issue we would have to figure out once the war was won.
“You don’t get hit,” Titan replied dryly. I could feel Asteria’s amusement and watched as she bit her lip in an attempt to smother her smile. “Treat it like the poison it is, and avoid taking a dose. I’m sure Cyrus will put iron in the hand of every man out there.”
“Unless, of course, we can take them by surprise.” Lord Beltane spoke up. Asteria’s cousin looked over at her now, and despite not having even properly met yet, I could see the awe in his eyes. Thelove. Knowing he’d been there at her birth, I couldn’t imagine how it must feel now, finally seeing her after all this time.
“If we can arrive before he expects us, we may be able to minimize the risk,” he continued, dark shoulder-length hair falling forward as he leaned over the map spread out on the table. “He wouldn’t dare give his men iron outside of battle.”
“He’s right,” Asteria breathed out in realization, looking over to me and then Titan before turning back to me. “Cyrus is too paranoid to trust them.” She bit her lip again, but this time in thought. Her head slowly tilted to the side. “He would want to ensure that they couldn’t attack him on behalf of his siblings. He sees nothing but potential traitors everywhere. He would plan for the smallest number of people to have iron in hand, even in battle.”
“In that case, the question of whether he’s had time to build those larger weapons becomes a dire one.” I mused aloud. Asteria nodded in confirmation. “We’ll go in first for a sweep over Evenfall in our beast forms. We can check for anything obvious and signal whether we see them or not.”
“Craft two battle plans?” Arien asked, looking from his twin to Titan for confirmation. His sky-blue eyes were clouded with worry, gold beams of sunlight shining through them. “One for if he does and one if he doesn’t?”
Titan nodded slowly, before cracking his muscular neck side to side. “Exactly. Our goal here is to take out Cyrus. If we bring him down, we can stop the rest of them easily enough. It’s the blood magic he’s using, in addition to the iron, that will prove to be the biggest issue. Blood magic was forbidden for a reason, and his power will be heightened.”
“How heightened?” Rhidian asked, and the silence that followed said more than enough.
Chapter Fifty-three
Arien
Hours and hourswere spent in Calix’s war room, hashing out the plans for attack. Ideas bounced back and forth as experienced warriors with years of experience and fresh blood with new ideas all contributed to the final plans.
I had to appreciate the immensity of what was happening here. There were representatives from nearly all the kingdoms around the table, working together toward a common goal. All except Dawn Kingdom.
King Tariq had sided with Cyrus, and his forces were brought with him to Dusk before we could get word to any of our relatives there. I could only hope the messages would be received, and welcomed. Uncle Dali was lord of Chryse, and had always been on our side when we needed him before.
We’d never asked him to betray his king before, however.
I knew he took great pride in his role. I also knew that chaos had already begun affecting Dawn and its rulers. I could only pray to Hyperion that Dali wasn’t similarly affected. I couldn’t imagine Aunt Elaner, one of the sweetest beings I knew, being corrupted. If nothing else, I had hope she would ensure our plea was heard. She always spoke up for me, even to my father.
Which was part of the reason Father didn’t allow them to visit us anymore.
Even without Dawn’s involvement, however, we had quite the force behind us for this. King Tieran would meet up with us outside Evenfall, bringing Sunset’s forces to bear. Prince Altan’s sister had apparently been working behind the scenes in Sunrise to turn more soldiers to our cause as well, and they were expected to link up with Tieran’s army before joining us.
Nithe and Vikal were able to give us an almost too vivid picture of the current situation in Dusk. It was hard to imagine such horrors actually being committed. It was a difficult concept to wrap my mind around. Despite the standard skirmishes we Fae all inevitably found ourselves in and our plans to overthrow my father, I’d grown up in a time of relative peace.
It was all an illusion, I realized now. An illusion that did nothing but make the Fae of this realm complacent. It allowed corruption to sink deep into the very bones of the realm.
Peace had proven as dangerous as a blade, and it cut just as deep.
We would all have to deal with the inevitable fallout from it now. I prayed to any gods I thought might hear me. The Blessed Trinity of Hyperion, Earendel, and Asteria. The god of war, Anann, and the god of death, Arawn.AndTartarus, I even prayed to Erebus. Begging them all to let us succeed in our quest to rout out the chaos that had infested our lands.
Cyrus was at the very root of that chaos.
While he was once but a small contributing factor to a slow decline, he was now the grand architect of its destruction.
Something was in the air. We could all feel it, evidenced by the shifting feet and fleeting looks, but no one said a word. The auspices of fate were always felt, but rarely did one recognize it for what it was.
It almost felt as if fate was sitting up and taking notice, watching us all with avid interest as its grand plan played out.
I shivered at the feeling. Such grand destinies were for storybooks, not real life. And yet, here we were. My twin sister had ascended her throne. The king and queen of two different kingdoms were mated. Humans were being rounded up and slaughtered for their blood to fuel a maniac’s magic. And the balance was perilously close to tipping to chaos forever.
Fear was a danger in battle. That was one of the first things I learned. One must always be in control, lest their fear rule them and see them dead on the battlefield. But it was next to impossible to not fear now.
This was a scale I had never considered in all my days. My twin sister was at the apex of it all, and I—Icouldn’tlose her. Not after we just found her. The very idea caused an ache in my chest, and Asteria’s eyes creased as she rubbed her own, as if she could feel the pain echoing through our blood.
