“Did you think Dread Vipers would come with you willingly?”
I slide a glare up at my friend as she walks in front of me to gather more bandages.
I thought it would be faster. I thought Fleurie would pop us into Aki-Ra Quarter, we’d snatch a Viper, be back inside an empty dungeon away from Fleurie and Colden in minutes, and then she and I could quickly portal here to my rooms. I thought that if there were trouble, Fleurie would have the ability to stop it.
That wasn’t the case, whether by natural condition or planned occurrence, and I bear the stab wounds to prove it. Luckily, my portalist was uninjured thanks to my back taking the brunt of a Viper’s rage.
Before I can reply to Bron with a sharp-tongued retort, someone knocks on my chamber door.
“Come in,” Bron calls.
I haven’t heard word from Malgros since Thresh sent Crux there with a message. I also haven’t seen my general since we parted ways in Frostwater Wood. But this morning, Vexx strides into my rooms looking like a sea pirate come home, his long, gray braids wind-tattered, his scarred, ruddy face even more weathered than before.
He takes in the scene but keeps his stance a few feet before me. Respectfully, he bows his head, a line of worry across his brow. “Your Highness. Are you all right?”
“I have holes in my back,” I tell him, “but it’s nothing Bron can’t manage.”
He straightens, and I realize that Crux isn’t with him. He isn’t dragging Alexi of Ghent or Raina Bloodgood into my presence either.
“Malgros was uneventful, I take it.”
Thamaos will not be happy.
Vexx clasps his hands behind his back. “I considered following them to the Summerlands, my prince, but we both know I would’ve been detained at the harbor, if I made it that far. I didn’t have the manpower or the magick power to undergo a full-scale attack on the coast.”
Bron finishes, and hands me my shirt. “It’s not the end of the fight,” I tell Vexx. “It’s a long story, but I have Thamaos’s godling daughter in my possession now, bound by a deal. She portaled me into the Summerlands late last night, so we have a way in.”
Vexx looks stunned but excited. “Fleurie lives? And we have her skill?”
Carefully, I shrug into my tunic. “We do. She can’t carry more than a few people at any one time, but it’s enough to get us to Mount Ulra. I also have a Dread Viper imprisoned thanks to her. Once Alexi of Ghent is here, we can hopefully nullify his magick so that I can siphon from it, but he can’t use it.”
Vexx smiles and claps slowly. “Well done, my prince. I hope I have the chance to make Alexi of Ghent pay for Crux’s death among other things.”
“You know the rules. As long as he lives.” I glance at Bron who watches me from the corner of her eye with what I would almost believe is revulsion.
It makes me think of Colden. If you want more than that from me, you must prove it, and that means not hurting the people I love.
But I am not made for kindnesses, I suppose. I am not made for the tenderness of love. Because when Vexx meets my eyes and says, “When do we begin?”
My answer is, “Tonight.”
67
COLDEN
The Eastland Territories
City of Quezira
Min-Thuret, Dungeons
* * *
“You might be able to get us out of here,” Fleurie says, passing me a pinch of her yeast roll. “But I’m bound to a deal, Colden.”
I remove my hand from the bar between us and watch as the ice I started to form falls to the dirt floor of my cell.
I sigh and turn a little, pressing my shoulder to the bars. We sit on the ground sharing the last bites of our dinner, something we’ve only done one other time since Fleurie regained her voice.
