“I ate fine.”
“Define fine.”
“Food. Regularly. With my mouth, Your Highness.”
“Vegetables?”
“Some.”
“Some is not a quantity, Percival.”
Percy shot me a look across the clearing that said‘help me,’I waved.
Annora and Giselle remained under guard at the clearing’s edge, awaiting transport to the Barrows with the former king and queen in the morning. Neither spoke nor looked up.
The alliance had royal sanction and the compound operation was greenlit. The women who’d tried to kill my children would spend eternity wandering a forest that wouldn’t let them die.
It was the first moment since the poisoning that the rage in my chest began to quiet. Stored in the place where every woman who’d survived what I’d survived kept the fire burning for when she needed it again.
Lucian reached his limit when Rheda attempted to rearrange the sleeping quarters for“proper maternal airflow.”
“Enough for tonight,” he said. “Mira needs rest. Not a renovation.”
“We’ll finish in the morning,” Rheda conceded. She kissed my forehead, pressed three supplement vials into Farmon’s hands, and pointed at Lucian. “Hourly raven updates on the pregnancy.”
“Hourly,” she repeated when he didn’t respond fast enough. “Don’t forget.”
“Goodnight, Mother.”
The camp settled into quiet.
And I was alone in the command tent with three alphas whose bond channels had been blazing at full capacity for hours.
Percy sat on the bedroll beside me. Solomon leaned against the map table, arms crossed, watching me with silver eyes that tracked every breath. Lucian sealed the tent flap behind him, his body blocking the exit.
“I need to go back to the compound soon,” I said. “The window is narrowing.”
“Soon,” Lucian said. “Not tonight.”
“Tonight,” Solomon added, his voice dropping to the register that made my spine straighten, “you’re not going anywhere.”
Percy’s hand found the curve of my waist. His thumb traced a slow circle against my hip. The dimples were back, but the warmth behind them carried an edge.
“You scared us today, love,” he murmured. “Properly scared us.”
The three channels pulsed in unison. A synchronized demand. Their mate had almost died, their children had almost been taken, and every alpha instinct in the room was vibrating. I could feel it on my skin.
Solomon uncrossed his arms and pushed off the map table. Lucian stepped away from the entrance. Percy’s thumb stopped circling and his hand spread flat against my hip.
Three alphas. All channels open. Moving toward me with a coordinated intent that made my breath catch and my pulse hammer against my ribs.
I looked at Lucian. Then at Solomon. Then at Percy.
“Well,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere tonight.”
The tent flap stayed closed.
69
