“Snakes?” Azain repeated, perplexed.
“Snakes,” I confirmed while Sawyer shuddered.
Azain sucked his lips in and slowly nodded. “Alright?”
While I stretched my legs, Sebastian dropped to the dirt, pulling a leathered knee up to his chest. “It started last year when Maeve was gifted. Beaumont tried for months to get my father to hand her over to Draemor. Kept offering a peace treaty. We didn’t take it. Obviously.”
“Why was a peace treaty even needed?” Azain asked, genuine confusion plastered on his face.
“He wanted unclaimed territory that we wanted to leave untouched,” Sawyer answered, giving him the dumbed-down reasoning.
“When we kept denying his offers, he began taking action. Attacking our largest city and,” Sebastian paused, allowing his eyes to graze mine apologetically, “along with some villages.”
My heart seized as blood burned my veins. I spoke up, needing to take over so I didn’t lose my composure. “He had people in our kingdom gathering knowledge on me. People who were supposedly working for Caelestis, but instead ended up being treacherous assholes.” I left out the part about my near death experience. I didn’t need to give Azain any reasons to doubt me. “Shortly after Draemor attacked our villages, they came for the castle. In all honesty, it wasn’t much of a fight. And as I’m sure you’ve heard, Caelestis is basically gone now. At least the parts closest to the castle grounds.”
Kade jumped in and pointed between Sebastian, Sawyer, and me. “When they arrived at Lumosia, we went to Draemor almost right away. The plan was to kill Beaumont and get on with things, but like all of ourso well thought out plans, we failed.”
“It was during one of our trips there that I was held captive in their dungeons. When he broke me out was when we first encountered the Hykah.” Sebastian gestured at Kade.
Sawyer finished, catching Azain up to date while conveniently leaving out the parts involving my new form of magic, but choosing to disclose the type of magic Venay had performed to find the journal.
“Dark magic?” Azain rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’ve heard of it, but have never known of anyone who could do it.”
“It’s got to be a part of how Beaumont is creating the Hykahs,” I chimed in. “He harvests the victims jewels, planting them into one body. But he needs an enchanter to remove their souls, so I’d imagine there’s some dark shit going on there.”
Azain’s tanned skin paled, and he looked like he was questioning what the fuck he’d gotten himself into.
“Beaumont has over half of the empire under his control now. Sure, most of that land is inhabitable, but it’s still his. Mealioria is likely next on the list,” Kade added.
“And what exactly does this have to do with her?” Azain gestured a gloved finger at me.
“He wants to turn me into one of them and use me to help gain control of the rest of the empire,” I answered nonchalantly, having gotten used to the disturbing truth of the matter.
Azain cleared his throat. “We should get back on the road soon. But I say that once all of our soldiers arrive at Lumosia, we have a quick debrief, let them settle in for a night, then make our attack on Draemor. Get this over with.”
“Sounds good to me. How are we going to execute this?” I added. “Are we going to try stealth, or go full force the moment we arrive?”
“Depends on the goal,” Azain countered. “What's more important to you? Destroying the Hykahs or Beaumont?”
“Bitchmont,” Sebastian and Sawyer answered as one.
“Then stealth,” Kade determined. “The answer is usually stealth if you want to make sure you survive.”
We went over the specifics when we remounted our horses, devising a plan that we felt was foolproof, although we knew better than to truly believe so. When we arrived in Lumosia in about half a day's time, Archer did the honors of showing our guests to their rooms, while the rest of us found our own.
I showered and changed into comfortable clothing, then took a seat in the armchair, hugging my knees to my chest and trying to fight my exhaustion while I waited for Sebastian. Yawn after yawn found me, and I only realized how badly I’d failed at keeping my eyes open when my body was lifted off the cushion and carried to the mattress.
He gently placed me down on the bed, pulling the covers up and laying by my side. Only half awake, I could hardly make out his touch when he brushed the hair out of my face. My lips parted to speak, but he held a finger to them.
“Shh. Sleep while you can,” he whispered, pulling me into his arms, the comfort of his familiar touch setting my entire being at peace.
Deep sleep found me as soon as his lips left my forehead.
Chapter
Forty-Eight
Alittle over a week had passed since we returned to Lumosia, and the days had been well spent. Knowing that our time together was limited before our next expedition, I spent my mornings with Delani, the afternoons wielding or with my friends, and the evenings tucked away under the sheets with Sebastian. I did manage to squeeze some time in with Archer, but being completely honest, I still did not feel entirely comfortable with him. Despite him being my father, I hardly knew him, and there hadn’t been a lot of free time to bond.
