“I can’t leave Lord Purrlock alone with my family and you know he likes to sniff and munch on green stuff.”
“Then just keep him away from my plants.”
“He wanders!”
“How about we discuss the Clan, not the cat,” Soryn said from his palaver portal, face serious in the silver smoke rising from the yellow pages of the beaten-up dictionary. He’d been the only member of our inner circle unable to come on such short notice, deep in his mission with the Clan Council.
From the strain in his shoulders and the tendons clenching in his neck, the mission was not going well.
“Honestly, this is the most lively discussion I’ve had in a while,” Calyx said.
Incredible how a few words could make the members of the Blood Brotherhood Elite, some of the most feared warriors in Malhaven, avert their gazes.
Calyx was right.
We’d all been too preoccupied with our own existences and issues to visit him more than once or twice after the threat of his death had passed.
This was only the third time I’d come to his crowded house, and it had been for my own benefit.
“I dropped by every few weeks,” Elysia protested meekly, busying herself with the plants again.
“And I came to give you that rune.” Soryn nodded at Calyx’s amulet. “Is it working?”
“Not dead yet, so I’m guessing yes.” Calyx scowled at his leg, the veins darkened by the poison still spidering up his shin. “Can’t really tell, I’ve been trapped here for months, going from the workshop to the bed and back again while you’ve all been risking your lives out there.”
“You will be shaking Malhaven to its core soon, Brother,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighed. “For now, I’m just enjoying being the center of attention.”
“My apologies, we should have visited more often. We truly are a wretched bunch, aren’t we?” Zandyr said from the balcony. The Dragon had his back to us, overlooking Calyx’s garden, now peppered with the holes and scorch marks we’d left behind while testing his new inventions.
Calyx grimaced. “What crawled up your royal behind?”
“My wedding is coming up,” was all Zandyr needed to say to suck the air out of the room.
The rest of us exchanged wary glances. This wedding wouldn’t be as brutal as the one on Sanctua Sirena, but it would come close.
“It will be a disaster,” I said when the silence stretched too long, and everyone except Zandyr kept looking at me to break it. “An unavoidable one, however.”
Zandyr turned with all the might of the Dragon, steel gaze unwavering on me. “Thank you, that makes me feel so much better.”
“It’s the truth.” I could already imagine The Huntress’ fury when she would find out exactly what awaited her cousin at the end of the aisle. But that was an ache I could not protect her from. The oath had been made long before we’d ever met. “You didn’t name me your Commander because I soothe your ego.”
Soryn rolled his eyes. “Modest as always.”
“Then tell us why we’re here,” Zandyr said. “The war, I assume.”
“The spies haven’t reported anything new. The Serpent army has not retreated from our borders and their monstrous snakes are still decimating the closest rivers and plains, gulping down everything with a pulse,” I said.
Huge beasts had beastly appetites. I shuddered at the memory of those massive jaws opening, their enormous fangs dripping with foul, venomous drool.
“You really think they’ll release the Butcher to lead them?” Elysia asked with a shudder.
“He’s already out of prison,” Soryn said. “No other reason to pardon him for his crimes.”
“He ripped his own people’s throat.” Calyx shook his head in disgust. “With his teeth. He should have been hanged a long time ago.”
Yet Kleonos, known as the Butcher, a name he’d apparently gloated about even as they’d dragged him into the depths of earth to be sealed behind bars, was alive and eager for more violence. According to our spies, he’s commissioned a new set of sharper, metal teeth.
