The doors to the large room swung open, with Kresida and Vulcan joining the growing crowd.
“Watchers are set up for the next two hours,” Kresida murmured as she joined my side. Her face scanned mine, no doubt noting the smudged War Slayer paint and itching to fix it.
We couldn’t stop every creature from exiting the arch. We hadn’t the army, hadn’t the power. And during our breaks, we simply left spies hiding in the rocks, keeping track of the types and numbers of them entering our world.
Kresida had chosen to stay here on Kayj after the liberation of the slaves and the transformation of the ashen. As did most of the little team we’d become. How could they leave after what we’d seen?
Smoke stirred as Vulcan rushed past us and knelt next to Lyvia. The scarred half of his tattooed face stretched as an uncommon emotion surged into his features.
“Lyvia!” A cry came from behind me.
I snapped my head around to find the petite form of my cousin rushing down the hall as she shoved her spectacles up her nose. Carina’s light-brown hair still carried the tiny flakes of snow that had yet to melt.
Carina rushed to Lyvia’s side as the others flowed in, and the domineering throne room suddenly felt small. I stepped to the head of the table and took a seat as Selvina and Ursa came up from behind. Selvina’s light brows rose as she took in Lyvia’s form, her crystal eyes shining bright in the dim hall. Her hand was clasped with her soulbound partner, Ursa.
Lyvia’s cousin.
The revelation had been shared after the night in the cave. That Ursa, Eira’s sister, was in fact Lyvia’s cousin, one of the last of the Nataras. Her parents had used the Transcindiel power on Lyvia as a newborn babe, changing her from elf to human, an attempt to hide her from Dark King Daimos. And it had worked for twenty-two years after Lyvia’s adoptive father hid her in the Kingdom of Sultira. A transformation that had,apparently, been undone with Lyvia’s trip through the gate.
Ursa dropped Selvina’s hand and hurried across the room. Her golden hair was tied tightly behind her head, showcasing the rough scars around her neck from the iron collar she’d worn for over twenty years.
Ursa, I liked. Unlike her wife, she was easy to work with. She was fierce. A fighter. And after years of living as a slave, she was quick to the blade. Her anger worked well alongside my own.
“Now that we’ve all—” I started once again, but the doors blew open one last time. My anger pulsed, and my molars scraped against each other. This was getting ridiculous…
Raek stormed through the doors, pulling up short as his sea green eyes scanned Lyvia, and he looked around. My eyes inadvertently shot to Vulcan as my second’s shoulders tensed, and a muscle feathered in his jaw.
The first mate of theHydrapaused mid-stride as he pulled his gaze from Lyvia, and he searched the room for his captain. Lord Astraeus pushed off the wall and adjusted his gloves. Raek’s shoulders sagged as his captain strode toward him, a man returned from the dead.
The pirate lord locked his eyes on Lyvia as he made his way across the room. Lyvia’s agitated gaze calmed as she met his eyes, but her expression turned pained and the blood drained from her face. Astraeus’s jaw hardened, but his brows softened as his gaze lingered on her. He strode past the table. Raek fell in line with his step before exiting the vast chamber.
“This group has thirty minutes,” I declared at last, my frustration building at the constant interruption, and I pinned everyone with a look I’d used for hundreds of years. “And then we all leave Lyvia the fuck alone.” I nodded to my cousin.
“I’m sure you have much to share,” Carina began, her voice soft. “But let me tell you a few things of utmost importance. It’s been three months since you left, and as I’m sure you noticed, the gate remains open. The creatures using it to enter this world have decimated most of what’s left of Kayj. We haven’t seen the return of any Embodied yet, but we always have watchers on patrol. And when possible, we destroy the creatures coming through.”
Lyvia’s brows pinched.
Ursa cut in, “The humans and elves you saved from the camps have been moved. Selvina turned the Crystal Castle into a shelter of sorts, though winter has been hard. We’re running low on rations.”
“Ronan said he’d send ships from Sultira with enough food and supplies to last a few months,” Aeriden explained. “But only half have arrived. We’re not sure what happened to the others, and we haven’t heard from him since. The orb upstairs stoppedconnecting to the one in Sultira after the gate opened, but we can still communicate with the elves in Lotrennia.”
My stomach gave an involuntary flip at the mention of Ronan, and I slid the steel chamber of my heart shut, forcing unwanted feelings below waves of anger.
“We haven’t heard anything from Sultira since then,” Lyvia’s brother continued. “We sent the forty ships back with as many humans from the camps as we could, but no news on if they’ve made it.”
“Lotrennia has aided,” I cut in, my eyes darting to my brother’s face.
His nostrils flared, and he blinked once.
“Bayne splits his time between Kayj and Ayla. Lotrennia continues to die in our absence. And as his Soleia power seems more connected to the land than my own…” I trailed off, looking to my brother and waiting for him to continue.
“And my responsibility as king is to my people, but I’ll do whatever I can to prevent the creatures from coming into this realm. Queen Antares has helped as well.”
My hackles rose at the mention of my aunt/sister/evil incarnate.
“What of Drystan?” Lyvia croaked after an uncomfortable moment of silence.
I frowned at the hoarseness of her voice, as if she’d been screaming for the three months she’d been gone.
