"I'm not doing this just for you. I don't want to get married when every clan member is on edge because their friends and cousins are about to fight Doomers. I want it to be a relaxed party, and I want everyone to be happy."
Drova was silent for a beat. "Two weeks are not enough to achieve tranquility."
"I'm not seeking that. The absence of fighting is good enough for me. Besides, two weeks is an eternity when I've been counting down the days." Arezoo heard the wobble in her own voice and took a breath to steady it. She had already cried about this in the bathroom after Amanda and Syssi had left. She was not going to cry again. "But it's okay. Amanda is throwing us a cocktail reception this Saturday instead. It's like a pre-wedding party. Drinks, dancing, appetizers. The Odus will handle all the food."
"A cocktail reception," Drova repeated, as if the words belonged to a foreign language she was still learning, which she was. "What does one wear to a cocktail reception?"
"Something nice. Dresses for the ladies, suits for the gentlemen."
The sound Drova made was somewhere between a groan and a growl. "I'm glad I'm missing it, then. It's bad enough that I have to wear a dress to your wedding."
Arezoo rolled her eyes. "Nothing will happen if you don't look like a badass for a few hours. You might even grow to like dresses."
"Never. I hate what they do to my mobility. I can't run in them. I can't fight in them. I can't even sit comfortably in a dress without worrying about what's showing. They are impractical garments designed by people who never expected women to do anything useful."
"Some women feel powerful in a dress. I feel pretty, feminine."
"That's because you are not a warrior. For me, it's not an occupation. It is who I am. Do you understand?"
"I do." Arezoo switched the phone to her other ear. "I guess. Still, you agreed to wear the bridesmaid dress."
"I agreed to wear it one time, for one day. Because you asked me, and I love you, and I'm willing to suffer for the sake of your happiness. But I refuse to pretend to enjoy it, and I will be bringing a change of clothes for after the ceremony."
Arezoo laughed, and the sound felt good, loosening the tightness in her chest that had taken residence there since she and Ruvon had agreed to postpone the wedding. "I appreciate your sacrifice."
"You should. It's a considerably greater sacrifice than taking a bullet while saving you from those monsters."
"Don't be ridiculous, Drova. It's a dress, not a death sentence."
"It's the death of my ego, and we both know that my ego is quite sizable."
They both laughed, and Arezoo let the warmth of it wash over her. This was what she needed. Drova being Drova—blunt, ridiculous, and utterly sincere in her ridiculousness.
"So, do you know what this mission is actually about?" Arezoo asked when the laughter subsided. "All Amanda and Syssi told us is that it has to do with the Doomers' island and rescuing some people from there."
"That's about all I know, too. I know it involves the island, and I know we're preparing for a large-scale operation. Jade hasn't been briefed on the specific details, and if my mother doesn't know, nobody here does. She's been setting up logistics for the incoming forces, though, and I can tell you that whatever this is, it's big."
"How big?"
"We're getting ready to accommodate over fifty Guardians and twenty Kra-ell warriors. That's a serious deployment. They're setting up a staging area."
Arezoo's stomach tightened.
She didn't like thinking about the Doomers' island, the place that was home to the monsters that had abducted her and her sisters and cousin. The place where immortal warriors served a vengeful cause and trafficked women were held as slaves. Every time the island was mentioned in conversation with clan members, their faces took on an expression that was a mixture of anger and shame, as if they felt responsible for not being able to deal with it.
As far as she knew, there was nothing the clan could do. They were outnumbered a hundred to one, and the other side were immortals too. They just didn't stand a chance.
"That's enough to conquer the island," she said jokingly. "Especially now that Navuh is no longer there to compel his army to defend it."
Drova chuckled. "Fifty Guardians and twenty Kra-ell wouldn't be enough to take the island by force. There are thousands of warriors there. But if the goal is a targeted extraction, that's more than sufficient. Especially with an element of surprise."
"Is that why they need you? To use your compulsion ability?"
"Yeah. I'm a strategic asset, as Kian likes to say. He went from categorically refusing to have me participate in anything dangerous to sending me everywhere. I feel so special."
Drova had turned eighteen while in Safe Harbor, which probably made Kian more willing to use her significant talent in dangerous situations.
"You are special, Drova. You are one of a kind."
