Thirty-Eight
Daimon
Daimon grippedthe edge of the table in front of him. “Brielle, a beta fleet is stationed halfway from here to Baile—take them with you.”
She nodded sharply and quickly left the room.
“Reinforcements should arrive within half an hour.” Keir moved a wooden piece to Baile and then shifted around other pieces near the palace. “Two units will position near the palace to ensure they don’t plan to use the same tactic they did with Drogheda and the grove. We don’t want a repeat of them using one attack to distract from another.”
Carwyn’s face was as cold as ice, her shoulders set and eyes roaming the board—an expression that seemed odd for her, even with the little time Daimon had spent around her. Senna shifted closer to her, worry etching his brow.
“I’ll take Zephyr and meet Brielle there.” Daimon turned, his legs restless.
“No,” Keir said. “You’re needed here. Brielle is an excellent Rider.”
Daimon rolled his neck, his nostrils flaring as he said, “We ride in pairs.”
As if Keir didn’t already know this. They had flown togetherfor years. But Keir wasn’t his third in the flight here; he was the Aegis council head. They stared at each other, the silence tense as they both refused to back down.
Daimon led over ten aerial units, but he was no commander over an entire race.
Senna looked between the two. “Brielle will have a beta fleet—she isn’t alone. We need you both here to strategize and protect the palace if need be.”
Keir nodded his thanks and turned back to Daimon. “If things escalate in Baile, then we’llbothgo.”
Daimon couldn’t argue with that. He itched to fly alongside Brielle, to know that he was the one who had his second’s back. But another attack this close to the palace meant everyone was on high alert.
Willow burst into the room, her chest heaving, a hand on her abdomen.
Carwyn gasped. “Willow. What happened?”
It took a moment to catch her breath. She was covered in soot and her hair was plastered with mud.
“Are you hurt?” Daimon demanded.
She shook her head, but her eyes shone with fear. “When they attacked, there was smoke everywhere, fires being set to houses, and people screaming. It was chaos.” Her eyes were distant. “I couldn’t get a good view from the skies. The smoke was too thick.”
Something else was wrong. He knew his Riders, and Willow was always calm after a battle. Something had shaken her.
“They wielded shadows in a way I’ve never seen,” she continued in a whisper, wrapping her arms around herself. “Funnels of darkness that crackled with streaks of lightning.”
Daimon’s heart squeezed. Vidaris had to be helping them, growing her power in the Vale from the slaughter. Anger surged through him, hot as molten lava.
“They’ve never used shadows like that,” Keir growled.
“There’s more,” Willow said quietly. She swallowed, herthroat bobbing. “The rebels didn’t make it out alive. Not because of me and the other Rider, and not because of the foot soldiers patrolling the area.” Her voice trembled. “The story that was told by multiple witnesses was thatEvelinasomehow killed them—allof them—at once.”
Daimon gripped the edge of the table, his vision swaying. He forced his shadows to stay beneath his command; they were desperate to break free and take control.
“Why would Evelina have been in Baile?” He could barely hide the edge of venom filling his words.
Willow’s gaze shifted to him, her eyes filled with guilt. “I invited her on the patrol,” she whispered.
Daimon felt like he had been hit by a boulder.
“Then where is she?” Carwyn demanded.
“Lost, Princess Carwyn.” Willow’s shoulders shook. “The villagers saw the light erupt from her. Many said they could feel the warmth of her Essence shielding them. But she—” Her voice broke and she tried again. “She disappeared along with the rebels. They were torn to pieces, exploding and disintegrating into ash.”
