There was no one to greet us. The castle was just as deserted from ten yards away as it had been from a hundred. I scanned the battlements, the towers, the gatehouse—nothing. I kneeled, pushing my hand through the snow to feel the ground below. A mealy of mixture of dirt and sand. No plants. I could summon them, even at this distance, but they would be less powerful, slower.
Fine. My beast could handle anything that came from those dark walls.
I stood again, frowning.
“Were you expecting a welcome party?” Veyka said, her sultry voice turned mocking.
Veyka’s voice had not echoed in my mind since she’d given her word. But I wondered if she could sense my thoughts just the same.
She’s elemental. She can see the thoughts I do not guard right on my face.
I turned the same dark glare on her that had cowed thousands of warriors on the battlefield. “We are the High King and Queen of Annwyn.”
Veyka snorted. “And in the months since I’ve been queen, an assassin has snuck in through my window, the captain of my Goldstone Guards has turned traitor and tried to murder me, and a half-human witch lured us to Avalon only for us to be attacked by an enemy I thought long dead.” She rolled her eyes, like she was exhausted, explaining this to a child. “Being king is not exactly what you might have dreamed.”
I’d never dreamed of being king. The only thing I’d wanted was to do my duty and be left the hell alone. But that thought melted to nothing as I realized the full enormity of what she’d said.
Targeted by an assassin. Betrayed by the captain of her guard. Attacked in Avalon.
I remembered none of it.
“There were fires burning in the round towers,” Lyrena said, reminding me that despite the force of her presence, Veyka and I were not alone.
“How can you tell?” Vera asked from Lyrena’s other side, frowning.
“I can sense them.” As Lyrena spoke, the broadsword she held casually in her hand began to glow slightly. No, not glow.Burn. But her golden face showed no hint of untethered emotion as she continued. “They must have doused them when they saw our approach, that’s why there is no smoke. But the embers are still burning.”
“But how did they see our approach at all?” mused Kay. “There has not been a speck of movement on the battlements since we crested the hill.”
But they had seen us—someone had. There was no reason for this mysterious lord to take over the castle and then abandon it, when doing so would mean also leaving behind the prosperous amorite mines.
“Check the perimeter,” I ordered. Kay and Vera moved immediately. Lyrena, unsurprisingly, did not. She was steadfast at Veyka’s side.Good,my beast growled in approval.
Veyka waited until the other two terrestrials were out of earshot before she spoke. “This is a waste of time.”
This time, I was the one fighting the impulse to roll my eyes. Veyka may engage in childish antics; I did not. “We need the amorite,” I said. A simple factshehad insisted upon.
Another flash of that wicked grin to belie the seriousness of her words. “We ought to just kill the mysterious lord and be done with it. Take what we need. We do not have time for games.”
“Another ambitious terrestrial would rise up in his place, and there is no guarantee they would continue to supply the amorite. We need the mines operating and delivering amorite for as long as they can. We are better of convincing the current lord to acquiesce now.” Though her strategy sounded infinitely more gratifying.
What I did not say was that if we did as she suggested, we’d have to spare loyal soldiers to work the mines. And we might need those soldiers in battle.
“As long as they can?” Veyka said, voice quieter.
“Amorite is rare. These are the only mines on the entire continent,” I said. If the situation was truly as bad as Veyka had described, the succubus as formidable, then these mines could very well mean the salvation of Annwyn.
“I know that.” There was more steel in her voice this time, though it remained soft.
“Mines do not last forever. Eventually the veins will run dry.” I’d been contemplating it since our conversation on the mountain top. The amorite was a finite resource. We could make weapons to destroy the succubus as they came or protect individuals from possession. Some combination of the two. Either way, if the succubus came in larger numbers, it would not be enough.
“I know that, too,” Veyka said softly. Her face was unmoved, but her voice showed all the emotion her countenance did not.
She understood.
Several more interminable minutes passed. Vera and Kay had not returned, but enough time had not yet passed for me to be concerned. Veyka muttered something I did not catch. Lyrena chuckled softly, then—
“I am going in.”
