Some of the tension goes out of Draven’s shoulders, and he strokes my hair again while bending down to kiss the top of my head. “I’m okay. I promise.”
I can’t stop another small sob from escaping my lips. Keeping my eyes closed, I just remain like that, curled up on Draven’s lap with his strong arms around me and his calming scent of night mist and embers filling my lungs with every breath. I don’t even care that there are seven other people in this room right now, watching me break down and cry like this. When he holds me like this, it makes me feel as if everything is going to be okay. And I really need to feel that right now.
“She’s back to normal?” Isera asks from the other side of the room. “You were able to break von Graf’s memory magic with your own?”
“I did indeed. As promised,” Orion replies, sounding smug. “After all, I am very good at what I do.”
“So you can do that to us too, then?” Alistair asks. “If the same thing happens to us?”
There is a slight pause. I just keep my arms around Draven,breathing him in, while I try to force my heart to stop pounding and my mind to clear.
“No,” Orion admits slowly. “Selena is… uniquely suited for the kind of technique I used. I would not be able to replicate it on the rest of you.”
Alistair curses softly under his breath.
Silence descends on the room. I don’t want to leave Draven’s embrace, because then the real world will rush back in. And so will the pain and regret and the terrible, terrible craving for magic. But I force myself to pull my arms back and climb off his lap.
He reluctantly lets me go. However, before I can take a step back, he cups my cheeks and gives me an achingly gentle kiss.
“Are you okay?” he whispers against my lips, so softly that only I can hear.
With my forehead still resting on his, I nod. Because I don’t trust myself to speak right now. He would hear the lies in my voice.
“We still need to talk about what happened while I had that flame of hatred in my chest,” he whispers, and I can hear the pain in his voice at the reminder of what he did.
“I know,” I breathe back. “And we will. When all this is over.”
“So, what now?” Diana asks into the oppressive silence.
Pulling back from Draven, I straighten fully on the floor. His fingers trail down my arm as I take a step back. Running my gaze up and down his body, I quickly scan him for injuries. When I first barreled through the door, I was just so focused on holding him that I barely took in his appearance. I do now.
Relief washes through me when I find no visible injuries. He’s wearing a black shirt and a pair of soft dark pants rather than his armor, and his black hair is slightly messy. Though that might be more my fault than anything else. No traces of any wounds. Whatever Haldia did to heal him, she did well.
While shoving down the pain and regret and terrible cravingsthat still wreak havoc inside me, I force a smile to my lips. Then I turn to look at the rest of the room so that Draven won’t be able to see through my façade.
My eyebrows shoot up as I sweep my gaze through the rest of the room. “Where is Lavendera?”
“Not here,” Isera replies from where she is still leaning against the wall. As always, there is an unreadable expression on her face, but her gaze keeps shifting to Orion every few seconds. “The Dryad Queen took her back to their realm.”
“What? But they promised that they would help!”
“She said they’re coming back,” Alistair interjects with a shrug. “And we couldn’t exactly stop her. Since, you know, she’s a tree and all that.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Diana repeats. Suspicion shines in her green eyes as she shifts her gaze from face to face before finally settling on Draven. “I picked a side in this war by helping you fight the Silver Clan back there, Shadow of Death. And they have Kander under their thumb now.” With her eyes still on Draven, she nods towards Orion. “And the Unseelie King here just said that he won’t be able to break us out of it if we’re hit by that memory magic. So, how do we stop the Icehearts from forcing Kander to wipe our memories?”
“We find the Gold Clan,” I reply before Draven can even open his mouth.
I still remember the utter exhaustion on his face when I found him in that empty room in the Golden Palace where he let his composed mask slip. Still remember the edge in his voice when he told me that it’s fucking exhausting to always have to be the one who is responsible for everything and everyone. I will not let him feel like that again. He deserves someone who helps him carry that weight.
“They have shield magic and can put up wards,” I continue, looking from face to face. “So if we can get them on our side,they can use their magic to protect us from all kinds of attacks. Kander’s memory magic included.”
“Yeah, but how do we find the Gold Clan?” Alistair asks while arching a pale eyebrow at me. “We still have no idea where they are. They could?—”
Lyra gasps. Throwing the final sheets off her legs, she leaps fully to her feet. Her wavy brown hair flutters around her shoulders as she whips her head from side to side, and her orange eyes are wide as she meets our gazes. “The Icehearts have the Green Clan!”
“Uhm, yeah, Lyra,” Galen replies from the bed opposite her. There’s a frown on his face as he looks at her. “That’s what we were just talking about.”
“No, you don’t understand.” She shakes her head frantically. “The archives. Azaroth’s flame, we thought they wanted the Gold Clan so that they could get the Green Clan. But it’s the other way around. They wanted the Green Clan and their archives so that they can find the Gold Clan!”
