“Of course.” She drew her fingers over my cheek, while her other hand stroked circles on my hip. “All right, so in the name of that, in the middle of the night, I received some updates from Torvek and my dad. Things are in a dangerous state in the Dracoryn Realm. The only thing holding back action being taken against Winter—the immediate threat they now see him as due to Ruxnoth’s fucking holoscreen speech revelations—is my dad. But the pressure is immense, so whether he can hold it without inciting another civil war and the call for overthrow, is another matter.”
“Holy shit. I’m so sorry.”
“I need to meet with Vorzyr today and Fanor will also be there.”
“Yeah, I get it. Of course.”
“Well, I’m telling you because doing this is dangerous with enemies mobilizing against Winter. Especially when I’m going to be holding this meeting to fight against that and destroy that negative framing of him in a bid to take some of the pressure off my dad and Torvek in the Dracoryn Realm. I mean, I’m capable of handling the danger as you know, so I’m not actually worried personally, but I’m telling you because I don’t want to be secretive about my wellbeing—for any of us to be.” Emotion welled in her eyes. “Not with what happened to Winter still so painful and fresh and… ongoing.”
I took her hands and held them between us. “You’re right. I do know you’re capable. More than that, you’re a fucking warrior queen. Forget Crown Heir, princess, or whatever the shit. You can handle yourself hardcore in battle, politically with the whole awesome Exalt creation, with making your abdication and power move—andin the way you handle three stubborn, relentless shits in me, Win, and Vax.” As she beamed up at me, I gave her hands a squeeze. “That said, if you want me to come with you, just for company and support—the emotional kind, not me thinking you need a bodyguard—I’m there.”
She went to answer, but the words never came as she jolted instead.
Then she swung her head toward the closed bedroom door, eyes narrowing in what seemed to be a mix of concentration and anger.
What was—a rush of power caught my attention. No… lots of rushes all at once.
All coming in hot.
What the shit was happening?
The house shuddered, the whole room reverberating violently.
Once.
Twice.
It felt like bombs going off or something.
We were under attack.
But the fact that the house was only shuddering and not being blasted to shit meant Vax’s ward was hella strong, holding it all back.
“They’re here,” Evira snarled, lifting me off her.
The next thing I knew, she was leaping off the bed with a burst of speed.
“Coordinate with Vaxan,” she told me. “I’ll hold them off.”
“Evira—”
She eyed me, tense and clearly already in battle mode.
I sucked in a breath. “Kick ass, warrior queen.”
She winked at me.
And in the next second, she was speeding out through to the wraparound balcony, then leaping up into the sky, and fucking shifting into dragon form in mid-air.
Holy. Shit.
The house shuddered again as another blast of magic hit.
The bedroom door burst open and Vax barreled in, phone in hand, his magic sparking as he clad himself in his leather battle gear—black leather, the bracers, his special daggers strapped to thigh holsters.
He flicked his citrine power at me, then I was dressed in that special tactical Requital gear. How had he—wow.
“Is it Temperance?” I asked, as he strode up to me, while pressing his phone to his ear.
