Orion moves his hand up to his face and slowly lifts up the elegant black and silver eyepatch that hides his missing eye.
Understanding floods Rin’s face. “Ah.” Squinting slightly, she appears to study his empty eye socket for a few seconds. Then she asks, “Is the eye, or even just parts of it, preserved somewhere?”
“No. Jessina froze it with her ice magic and then ground it to dust underneath her heel.”
Rin actually flinches. Quickly wiping that expression from her features, she instead says, “I’m sorry.”
Orion says nothing. I can almost see the tension rolling off his stiff shoulders as he just looks back at her, waiting for her to answer his question.
“If you still had the eye, or parts of it, even if it was damaged, I could reattach it and make it whole again,” Rin at last replies. “But I can’t create a completely new eye out of nothing when it has been separated from the body and destroyed entirely in this way.” Her face softens, and I can tell that she is sincere. “I really am sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Orion says with a casual smile while lowering the eyepatch again. “I just figured I’d ask.”
It’s not fine. And he didn’t just ask. The Unseelie King offeredRin an open-ended deal for whatever she wanted.Anythingshe wanted. Everyone knows that Orion Nightbane has never offered anyone a deal like that in his entire life. It must have been incredibly hard for him to lay his pride at her feet like that and then to have his last hope shattered.
Before Rin can say anything else, the other three clan leaders walk through the door and out onto the grass.
Diana sweeps suspicious green eyes over everyone, and a hint of worry pulses through me when her gaze lingers slightly too long on me. But then she just keeps walking over to the table and grabs a glass of wine. A man in blue dragon scale armor follows her but picks up a mug of ale instead. I study him.
Over the years, I haven’t really seen him all that much since I’ve been trapped in the Seelie Court, but I still know exactly who he is. Ejnare Amarok, the leader of the Blue Dragon Clan. His dark brown hair has been pulled back in a bun, and his turquoise eyes are sharp and clear as he discreetly scans us all while he straightens from the table again.
The final clan leader who walks through the door is not discreet with his stares. Severin Godblessed watches me through narrowed eyes as he takes up position on the other side of the garden. His braided red hair and tassel are now impeccable again, and his flowing golden robes have been straightened to perfection. It hides the fact that he is still wearing dragon steel.
“Welcome to the Unseelie Court,” Orion says, his smooth voice now once again dripping with that effortless power that he wears like a flowing cloak. “There hasn’t been this many dragon shifters in my realm for millennia. I hope you feel honored.”
Diana, who has been here before, rolls her eyes and takes a large gulp of wine while Ejnare frowns slightly. But Rin lets out an amused breath and almost smiles.
“First order of business,” Orion continues, and turns towards Severin. “That portable hourglass thing you made for Bane, I assume you made one for Jessina as well?”
“I did,” Severin replies.
“What hourglass thing?” Diana demands.
“Bane was wearing it on his belt,” Orion says.
“Jessina had one too,” Draven adds from where he is standing next to Galen. “It was secured to one of the spikes on her neck. I saw it while I was fighting her.”
“And it blocks magic of the mental kind,” Orion picks up. “Like mine.” His eye slides to me. “And Selena’s. Which will put us at a severe disadvantage if we’re to succeed in killing her.” He shifts his gaze back to Severin. “So you need to undo that magic.”
“I can’t,” he replies. After brushing his hands down his already smooth robes, he looks up at us again. “The Icehearts are not stupid. They made sure to specifically get me to make a shield that I can’t just dismantle from afar at any time. The only way to render the shield useless is to physically remove it from the person.”
A collective groan ripples through the garden. High above us, a pair of birds make loops while letting out inappropriately cheerful chirps. I shoot them a scowl before focusing on Severin again.
“Alright, can you make shields for us as well then?” I ask.
He narrows his eyes at me. “I can. But I won’t.”
“Let me guess. Because you don’t want to get involved?”
“Exactly.” There is a hard edge to his voice, and in his gaze too as he stares me down from across the grass. “The will of Azaroth is not to be trifled with. What will be will be. Our ancestor Theodora made a grave mistake when she got involved last time. She should never have helped the Icehearts. It is not our place to intervene. We have now learned that, through millennia of atonement and hard prayer.” He raises his chin. “The Gold Clan will not choose a side in this war. This time, we will do what we should have done last time. Nothing.”
I drag in a frustrated breath while anger courses through me.I have had enough lecturing from a stubborn religious pacifist for an entire lifetime now.
“Do you really think the world will be a better place if Jessina Iceheart slaughters half of the people in it?” I growl at him.
“It is not my place to have an opinion,” he snipes back. “Azaroth decides what is best for this world, and the Gold Clan bows to his wisdom.”
I feel like throwing something at him. I know that, in his mind, these arguments make perfect sense. His clan has been indoctrinated by their ancestors to think like this, just because Theodora panicked and realized that she made a mistake when she gave the Icehearts magic in order to help them. That event shaped the rest of the Gold Clan’s future and their entire mindset. I understand that they are paralyzed by regret because everything went to hell last time they tried to help and that they’re terrified of making the same mistake again. And I understand that Severin thinks that this is the right way to handle things. I understand all of that. But it still doesn’t change the fact that he is dead fucking wrong.
