CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
~ Gwynnore ~
I SLID TO a stop inside the command center, my soul mate having beat me here—of course, he had. I brushed my windblown hair out of my face and hurried to stand next to him. “What’s going on?”
Lord Xenon glared daggers at the screens. “It’s been confirmed they’re all moving to deploy their forces.”
King Belshazzar sucked in a harsh breath. “Allof them?”
“Yes,” Lord Cato hissed from where he reclined on a chair. He hadn’t even taken the time to clean up. My father was still shirtless with dried blood smearing his torso. He held his side with the injury with a tight hand. “We aren’t prepared for this type of full-scale attack, not in that many locations. Many of our people will be slaughtered.”
My fangs gleamed as I snarled. “Can we warn them?”
“We already have with the smaller communities.” Lord Xenon ran his hands over his head, glowering at the screens like he could wreck the lot of them with merely his eyes. “But these just came online. They won’t have time to escape.”
“Where the fuck did these new bases come from?” Belshazzar snatched a set of papers away from a computer technician, his frosty blue eyes running over the pages. “These weren’t here before.”
“Harmony.” Lord Cato grunted as he leaned to the side, trying to rearrange himself in the chair. “She brought them to our attention ten minutes ago.”
I started pacing the carpet. Blood rushed in my veins, and warmth stained my cheeks bright red. I shook my fingers out down by my side. “We need to warn them. Even if only for them to have time to grab a weapon.”
King Belshazzar peeked up at me from his reading, his long eyelashes hiding his gaze. His deep tone was soft. “By these records, the areas they’ll be attacking are schools and orphanages. They’re going after the children again, Queen Gwynnore.”
Ice.Iceabruptly swept through my body, cooling me down to dangerous levels. I shivered where I stood, frozen in place. “No.”
“If you take out the enemy’s children, you take out their future.” Lord Xenon swiped his hand across a technician’s desk, sending white papers fluttering across the room. “We need to take these bastards down!”
“No,” I whimpered. But I quickly choked down my anguish, my chin only quivering for a moment. The ground wasn’t pretty, but it was better than seeing…what was about to happen. I stated quietly—but firmly, “We take their major cities down in an hour. Every weapon we have, we use it. And every spare hand we have will break their necks tonight. I want the sky to be as red as the blood that will flow from those innocent children.”
The room suddenly came to a standstill.
You couldn’t even hear the guards breathing outside.
The queen had spoken.
Slowly, I lifted my head. My eyes were on fire.
I bared my fangs at any who might question me. “Do what you need to do to make—”
“Wait.” King Belshazzar held up a stopping hand in my direction, effectively preventing my order. “Something is happening.”
My attention snapped to the monitors, unable to understand the yellows and reds. “What… What is that?”
“Destruction,” Lord Xenon murmured in shock. “Their bases are blowing up.”
I raced forward and stood next to him, getting closer to the screens. “What in the world is happening?”
“I have no earthly idea.”
I jerked my head back when every single monitor suddenly flared with yellow. “Oh, my God.”
King Belshazzar swiftly barked, “Show me other locations.”
The screens blinked, then different locations were up.
But they looked exactly like the other bases.
Destroyed.
