Isen of Flint watched Fear, and I watched her long enough that she should have felt it, but her gaze never flickered from studying my husband.
She wouldn’t find me invisible if she knew that I could change everything with Lightbringer.
I turned my attention toward Lightbringer.“Are you still there?”
It was a stupid question. There was nowhere for her to go. She had left whatever dreamworld the dragons occupied when they were not with us, and now she was forced to watch me make stupid decisions until I died. When I thought of it like that, I could rather understand why she hadn’t rushed to claim any shifter.
Amusement, unfamiliar and not quite mine, curled through my mind like something carried on a sudden breeze. But she had nothing to say.
When Fear rose to his feet, every gaze in the place turned to him. He had that quality of bringing attention to himself, as if, no matter what people might mutter behind his back, everyone knew he was worth hearing.
Fear thanked everyone who had come. He explained that he and Ander had brought their clans here to help Obsidian fight an unreasonable mission, that the queen had ordered Obsidian to their deaths. He acknowledged Obsidian’s losses with a respectful nod to their clan.
The scent of the pyres seemed stronger now. It had to be my imagination.
“That’s unfortunate for Obsidian,” Sevran spoke up. “And how are we supposed to help? The queen has given us all our own missions.”
“Yes, and you can handle those mountain passes with half your numbers,” Fear said. “Few rips open in the mountains, but we cannot seal the rips in the sea to prevent the sea monsters’ passage.”
“You are suggesting we disobey the queen’s orders.” Sevran’s voice had a hard edge.
“We all understand that we have wide latitude to change our plans once we leave the Trials,” Fear said. “But if the queen commands us to leave our fellow clans to their deaths, then I would certainly choose disobedience. I hope we would all choose disobedience.”
Once Fear suggested disobedience, there was a ripple through the audience. Clan members moved forward and conferred with their clan leaders. Whispers and murmurs seemed to fill the air, though I could not catch any one thread too clearly.
Then Colm muttered from behind Obsidian, “More of our people have died for your schemes than for her orders.”
The room shifted at Colm’s words.
But Fear was always smooth, and that did not change in the face of hecklers. “No one from Obsidian needed to die. The queen could’ve sent enough clans to fight the monsters and seal the rips rather than abandon Obsidian. The eastern wall has always been the work of at least three clans.”
“You’ve led a rebellion before, Fieran,” Deva said. “And yet our world looks no different than before, except for some lives no longer being lived within it.”
Fear inclined his head. “I live with the losses every day. I would never take the same risks that I took during my first rebellion now. I understand the costs were too much. But thisis a different time. The queen has moved against Obsidian in an attempt to weaken and destroy the clan. How long will it be until she comes for your clan? If you stand by and watch Obsidian die, there will be no one to offer a hand when your own clan is drowning.”
“I’m not sure Obsidian needs any help from Clan Bismyth, given how much they’ve already had,” Noa, Garnet’s second, muttered.
Fear was losing the room. He showed no signs of the ground tilting under his feet.
They had not come out and said that we had brought this upon them by stealing the unmaking knife.
But worry was coiling in my stomach, afraid that it was about to reveal Bismyth had stolen from Obsidian and caused these losses. Sooner or later, the truth would come out anyway. Then what would Fear do to keep Obsidian? They had to recognize how desperate their condition was. They had to join the rebellion, and yet I was not convinced they would.
Isen still watched Fear intently. When she spoke, her voice was soft, but everyone quieted. “I think what intrigues many of us is the actual mechanism by which you are going to take the queen off her throne.”
“And even then, there’s the question of who replaces her. A shifter king might be more advantageous to the clans, but it still depends on who that is,” Colm said. “What if the next ruler of the kingdom does not care about our clan any more than the queen?”
“We all know who the next heir to the throne is,” Fear said. “I am no more worthy to be king than any of our clan leaders. Any of you would make a fine ruler. But there is a force of magic in our land, and it decides the heir. We might as well address that directly. But I would be happy to take vows of magic toassure anyone of my good intent. When each clan is strong, our kingdom is strong.”
The room erupted before Fear even finished. Being shouted over was not the way of things for Fear, and as the clan leaders began to speak—each of them trying to wrest the attention of the room from the others—Fear leaned over to me.
His hand rested lightly on my shoulder, his lips so close to the shell of my ear that they brushed my skin. “I am not winning this room at the moment.”
I shook my head, just slightly.
“What do you see? Is there something that I am missing?”
They wanted a promise. They wanted a miracle. Just like the mortals. “I don’t know what else you can offer them.”
