I sighed.Yes, we learned we are greatly outnumbered on all sides of this battle. I didn’t dare say it out loud, although Daxton’s glance in my direction told me he heard every word.
After Isolde delivered the message from Réalta—the human princess, and my cousin, who diverted from King Taran and Queen Minaeve—Daxton and I called our war council in Crimson City.
We left Seamus in Aelius with a heavy guard, not daring to have this discussion within earshot of him or Isolde.
We didn’t trust them.
I couldn’t trust them… Could I?
The princess claimed she didn’t believe Minaeve’s story. That her father was somehow under her powers.
I’ll admit that part was believable.
And then Isolde shared that the princess was gathering forces to help ally with us to overthrow Minaeve in the final battle to come.
That detail could be a stretch of the truth, one I wasn’t sure I believed.
Gunnar stood, crossing his arms with a stern look in his eyes. “We could use the numbers. These human rebels could be the tipping point on the battle grounds.”
“You would ally with humans?” Magnus asked, his tone dripping with disdain as he glared at the general of Silver Meadows.
My head shot up from my palms.“Magnus,”I said in a low warning.
To Gunnar’s credit, the male didn’t even flinch as my uncle stood only a breath away from the general.
“I never thought I would partner with shifters, let alone freely bow to a half-human queen.” My general’s dark eyes turned to me, a cunning smirk lurking at the corner ofhis mouth. “Yet here I am, coordinating our attacks with you and freely kneeling to her.”
Neera pulled her shoulders back, speaking up for the first time in the meeting, “Seamus believes—”
“Careful, young one,” Rhett said. “Not all of us here so easily forgive or are as open to believing what the prince of Aelius is willing to tell us.”
Neera paused, taking in Rhett’s words. “Which is why I am his mate, and not you.”
Adohan’s brows raised in surprise. “Dear gods… Are you certain?”
“I am,” Neera answered.
I smiled at my cousin, in awe of her bravery and newfound confidence.
“And I’m sure that what Seamus tells us is the truth. That he’s on our side,” Neera continued.
“You don’t know him as we do,” Adohan said.
“None of you know him,” Neera corrected, and the room stilled.
Gods, she was right. None of us truly knew Seamus.
“If what you say about Minaeve and your memories is true,” Neera said to the group, “then for five hundred years, he has been forced to play a role not of his choosing. His actions were never truly his own.”
“Don’t let the mate bond blind you, daughter.”
Neera turned on Magnus with a fire burning in her eyes, showing a strength I hadn’t yet seen rising inside her. “I will stand by my mate in this and in every action he takeshenceforth. For if I don’t… no one else will. He is my mate. And I will not abandon him.”
“Neera, you only just met—”
“And what did you do when you met Mother for the first time?” Neera asked Magnus, both of us knowing the answer. “Did the world not shift and swallow you whole?”
I glanced toward my uncle, recalling the stories he told us as young ones, how his world became brighter the moment he saw Julia at the falls. From the moment he met her, he knew he would do everything and anything for his mate.
