His half-bird, half-wolf form is a lot to take in, but Concord doesn’t startle.
When he veers toward the forest, looking back at her, she follows him without hesitation.
“Was that a test?” Dusana asks, her voice raspy and more subdued than I’ve ever heard it.
“Maybe.” My focus is now on Catalina, whose darkening features tell me she isn’t in the mood to be patient.
In contrast, Mother Solas and Rachel have stayed well away from me. Probably something to do with the golden band clearly visible on my palm. Rachel was young when Malak died, but Mother Solas lived through his reign. She saw firsthand what an angry Blacksmith is capable of doing.
“Explain to me why you’re here,” I say.
Dusana heaves out a weary breath. “I bring a message?—”
“Not you,” I say to Dusana before I turn back to Catalina. “You.”
Catalina gives me a once-over before she seems to rethink her position. Her focus flashes briefly to the sky, where Vargo coasts through the air. Erik told me she’s Vargo’s rider. He also told me she’s willing to do anything for her people.
I need to know if that will make her reckless.
My brother’s life may turn on her choices.
“Late yesterday, the fae started withdrawing their forces from the western border,” she says. “That continued today. All of the fae are falling back. Then, this fae arrives, claiming to have a message, but she will only deliver it to you. I knew where you were because of the dragons.”
My forehead creases. “Queen Karasi is withdrawing her troops? But she has nowhere to go. She can’t go north. The Einherjar and Valkyries would stop her.”
Catalina nods. “And she can’t go farther south because the blight has now spread across the way and blocked the pass. Even if it hadn’t, she wouldn’t be foolish enough to head into the deep south, where the dark elves would make a feast of her.”
“Then where is she going?”
Dusana speaks up. “East.”
Impossible. I keep my expression blank. “The darkness is in the east.”
“She doesn’t care,” Dusana snarls. “She would rather march us back into darkness than watch us starve to death.”
I hear the lie in her voice. I saw for myself that Queen Karasi has plenty of food. At least for herself and her chosen favorites.
I slowly sink to my knees, putting myself at eye level with Dusana before I rest my hands on my thighs, turning my left hand palm up.
“Do you see my hammer?” I ask Dusana.
Her focus flickers to it before she nods.
“My hammer refuses to kill.” I watch the cogs turn in her mind before I continue. “But my medallion has no such limitations.”
I have no proof of my claim. I haven’t tested it. But it’s a certainty I feel with every beat of my heart.
“I can force you to speak the truth,” I say.
The corners of her mouth turn down before her lips draw back, revealing her gritted teeth. “Then do it!”
I stay where I am for now. “Deliver your message.”
She stares defiantly back at me. “Queen Karasi does not wish to go to war with the humans and their dragons. She offers an alternative resolution to the conflict.”
“What alternative?”
“A fight to the death,” Dusana replies. “Between the fae champion and the human champion. The winner takes all for their Queen.”
