“Take them away. See that Tyranny is healed. She needs her strength in the coming months,” Mara said. Maglar scowled at his soulmate, but didn’t object to her command. She turned her attention back to Rylo. “Both women have been headstrong since they were girls, but especially Tyranny. We’ve had to break her over the years to get her to the state she’s in now. If only she were more placid like your witch. Alas, we make due as we must with what the Goddess has generously gifted us.”
“They seem little more than animals to me,” Rylo replied.
Maglar beamed with pride. “Not at all! Wait until you see their powers, and you will better understand why we exercise such caution. Tyranny is a necromancer. She has the power to raise the dead. With the short mortality rates of our humans, it came as quite a shock whenthatmagic stirred in a seven year old.” He laughed as if it was the funniest joke he’d ever said. Bile stung Rylo’s throat as he let out a false laugh. “We were battling walking corpses in the dark mining tunnels for months. Calamity can draw the earth into itself, like an implosion. Which, of course, is very destructive in a cave. Then, there’s the spell work to a lesser extent. Due to their dangerous natures, we haven’t had the ability to train them as we would have liked.”
Rylo held his empty cup up, and a grimil came forward, refilling it. He took another long draw from the glass before he continued. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why seek an alliance with me? You could easily defeat my nation on your way to overpowering others.”
Maglar’s striped essence writhed under his skin, his dark eyes seemed even blacker. “You would be our buffer against the Latians. We would prefer to strike to the south first before overtaking the north. Warring in the Latian winters is not possible, even their own civil war was stalled by the coming snow each year. We’d need our ally to hold the front until we were ready to make a move against the elk folk.”
This wasexactlywhy Rylo needed to secure his own borders. His nation was but a small speck between two giants. Over the centuries, these two nations had whittled his borders down to nothing more than a strip of river canyon. Yes, he commanded the skies, but what did it matter if he lost the ground his folk called home?
“Yes, of course.” Rylo’s essence pushed against his skin. The need to release the growing tension under his skin itched and burned at him. He kept his wings tight against his shoulders,trying to prevent his twitching wings from displaying his discomfort. His sun glow ached to show these two who had true strength here.
“We have no desire to host a two-front war. Not yet. You are free to engage if you must, but I would prefer we hold the Latian border until we have a shared attack. We will not be able to aid you this winter, you understand. You would be free to keep our alliance between us, and we expect our secrets will not leave your lips,” Mara said. Maglar responded by drinking deep from his cup.
“And if I do not keep your secret? If I don’t choose this alliance?” Rylo asked. He had no doubt that this alliance wasn’t truly up for discussion on his part. It was certainly more of a tow the line or face the consequence sort of moment.
Mara reached out a finger, touching the blackened skin on his hand. He shuddered involuntarily and a bit of his essence glowed against his skin, making him the brightest thing in the room.
“It’s odd that you survived this, oath breaker. There’s something you are not telling us, but we’ll let you keep your secrets. We will have this alliance, and there will be an oath involved. We’ve disclosed too much to allow you to leave here without protecting ourselves. If you choose not to ally with us then we will make a slight adjustment to our plans. Once Calamity is unleashed, it won’t be difficult for her to topple your towers and the folk who reside there.”
Maglar grinned at his wife. “Since the death of Jasper, we deliberated together and knew you would make an excellent ally. We’ve heard of the power your witch contains. The shadows that dance for her and can cause such destruction. Don’t disappoint us now King Rylo, or you and your witch won’t escape these caverns.”
Rylo’s heart pounded. He’d assured Morgan that he’d not allow any folk to harm her. He couldn’t let that happen. Rylo had to do what he could to protect her, and if this alliance gave his people the security they needed to weather a storm to the south, then so be it. He had no allegiance or loyalty to Savine or Avery.
He drew in a deep breath. He was cornered and—a shadow, cool and sweet stirred in the outer reaches of his mind.
Rylo.
Morgan. Relief stirred in him. She’d been released from the collar that tampered her magic.
Rylo, if you can hear me, distract the king and queen. I’m going for the relic.
Clever, beautiful mind.
“There’s no need for confrontations. I’ll agree to an alliance with Goldoth, but I have my own conditions to consider. Let’s discuss this further without threats. If you truly want an alliance, then it needs to be an alliance, not a threat.”
“An understandable request. Come, let us retire to more comfortable accommodations to develop a better understanding,” Mara said as she stood.
Shadows, dark and comforting, spilled against his mind again.
Do your worst to those assholes.
Chapter 34
Morgan
Elio pulled Morgan along through the dark tunnels deep under Aeritis. She’d lost sense of what time of day or night it was hours ago, but she suspected it was late into the night. They were led by two Goldoth guards, one shimmering with flakes of mica, the other resembling the same sandstone red as Edet.
Morgan hadn’t given much thought to what Edet was, but now it seemed evident that she was a Goldoth. She wondered if she missed the cool darkness of her folk’s caverns, or if she preferred the sunlight and changing of seasons. She wasn’t even sure if all of Goldoth lived underground. She knew it was a larger nation, there could be whole cities above ground.
Left to herself, Morgan knew it would be impossible for her to make it out of this place alive, especially with the collar putting a damper on her magic. If only that idiot hadn’t used all her bullets in his blood lust experiments.
Maglar had given her the creeps, and Mara was right there with them. Cold, cunning, and cruel, she knew they wouldn’t hesitate to collect her as another slave. But she wouldn’t have hesitated to become a kingslayer, and add the name Queenslayer to her repertoire.
It wasn’t normal how easily she’d slid into this world; how she craved the challenge of life here and the need to gain knowledge of her unexpected powers. Day by day, she’d slipped away from the person she’d once been, and yet she hadn’t. Graduating top of her class, securing a lucrative position in tech right out of college thanks to years of coding and proving herself on her own, wanting to climb the corporate ladder to make a name for herself.
This was what she continued to do, but in another realm. The stakes were higher here, but the rewards were sweeter. Now, if she could survive this place, she could get back to growing in her power. Most likely to help Rylo defeat these assholes.
