Veyka.
Cyara stepped around Lyrena, hands folded before her and wings now steady. “We have found nothing to indicate otherwise. No mention of the Sacred Trinity at all. From what Percival says, it is a human legend. Not a fae one.”
Behind her, Percival straightened. “Yes, but—”
Cyara ignored him. “In Baylaur, there may be clues to what Arthur was thinking. Blacksmiths who made your blades, servants who waited on Arthur. But we are not in Baylaur.”
Lyrena and Cyara stood shoulder to shoulder—Veyka’s Knights of the Round Table. Her most trusted friends and advisors.
“You have to let it go,” Lyrena said, more gently.
“I will not.”
The room fell silent. Veyka’s stubbornness was unmatched.
“I think she is right,” Percival said.
Lyrena and Cyara parted like a set of twin doors, both fixing the man with their own incredulous looks. Behind me, Osheen swallowed a laugh.
Veyka threw her hands up in the air. “Someone save me. Percival is the one who agrees with me.”
But Percival continued, much steadier than his sister, even if every word dripped with distaste for those he spoke them to. “The sacred trinity was made in Avalon. Avalon is where the priestess who made the Void Prophecy dwelt for thousands of years. Our legend says that the bearer of the Sacred Trinity will be the master of death. She commands the depths of the voids of darkness. Sounds pretty similar to death.”
It was a fair point.
But a distraction.
I felt the shift in the too-small room. And Veyka, caressing my wolf through the bond.Will you challenge me too?
It was no different from any war council I’d ever commanded, with egos and opinions competing and conflicting. Except I was not in command—wewere.
What if I do?
Veyka had no inner beast, but I could have sworn I felt her low growl in response.Then I will punish you.
There was enough heat in that promise that I let myself say, “We focus on what is before us. What we can do here, concrete actions we can take to push back the succubus. For now.”
For a second, Veyka’s eyes glowed with desire. I knew mine burned with black fire.
But then she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her handmaiden, who’d positioned herself slightly in front of the two humans.
“Whathaveyou found?”
Cyara’s wing twitched. “There are no direct mentions of the succubus. But there are many records of the Great War. Even some information which does not align with our own history.”
Veyka sighed. “History or legends?”
“It seems that the former has become the latter,” Cyara said slowly.
“Tell us.”
“In the absence of information about the succubus, we have spent many hours looking into the Great War itself,” Cyara continued. “The elemental histories tell us that Accolon and Nimue’s joining ended the Great War between our two territories and created the united fae kingdom of Annwyn.”
Veyka nodded; so did Lyrena.
“That is the story I am familiar with as well,” I said, finally able to loosen my grip on the back of the chair. Legends and histories seemed safer territory.
From over my shoulder, Osheen inclined his head in agreement. He hadn’t contributed anything thus far, but I knew from centuries of having him under my command that he’d internalized every minute detail.
