Queen of Blood and Vengeance (Secrets of the Faerie Crown #4)

45. Arran

45

ARRAN

I’d been away from Wolf Bay for nearly a year, but walking into the army camp shocked my senses into thinking mere minutes had passed. The scents were the same—roasting meat and blood and unwashed bodies. I’d missed the sounds. Maybe that was why I’d struggled to sleep these last few months. Even a busy palace was quiet in comparison to a city with walls made of canvas.

Veyka and I split as soon as our feet landed in the thick mixture of mud and snow. Lyrena appeared at her queen’s side, armed with information about the layout of the camp and a proposal for how to distribute the amorite gems remaining to us. Barkke waited for me, Orcadion and three other lieutenants I recognized at his side. I’d swallow the presence of the Dyad; at least Morgause was nowhere in sight. Poison was not an effective weapon against the succubus.

I started down the central artery of the camp, the three males and two females falling into line on either side of me. “The latest word from the humans is that the Crossing—their version of the Spit—is swarmed. The succubus are pushing inward toward the land mass that corresponds to the Terrestrial Kingdom.”

“We do not know how they reached the Crossing, whether this is the same force that took Baylaur or another wave entirely.” I laid out the information we did have in succinct, factual sentences, trying to remove all bias.

“The queen will open a portal rift to the bluff to assure we have the high ground. We’ll attack in a standard formation. Three columns, head on.” I pivoted when I reached the sheer cliff face, dropping straight down from the mountain towering overhead. Veyka had selected this spot to open her rift. But not just yet.

I turned to my lieutenants. The two females and their male counterpart had served under me for a combined total of two hundred years. Orcadion was married to Morgause, but he was also very good at ripping out throats. Barkke deserved a chance to lead after the services he’d rendered to me and Veyka in Baylaur.

“Concerns.”

The first female lieutenant, a blonde flora-gifted terrestrial with a particular affinity for trees, stepped forward. “If we push them across the Spit—the Crossing—what is to stop them from spreading out once they reach the other side and ravaging the humans there? It might be better to drive them into the sea.”

“They will not retreat. Not with Veyka there.”

“You are certain?” she pushed. I let her. When I asked for my subordinates’ concerns, I meant it. If there were holes in my plan I wanted them to find them before the enemy did.

“I wish I wasn’t. What else?”

Barkke twirled the end of his ridiculously long beard around his forefinger. “Could we try to surround them? Use Veyka’s magic to take a few companies and catch them from the rear?”

“We do not know the size of the horde or where the rear is.” If there was one. “I will consider it if the situation changes or we gain new information.”

None of them suggested leaving the humans to die. That was a victory. In what was bound to be a day of defeats, I would take even the smallest one.

I assigned them each to one of the three columns, giving Barkke a rank of second in command to the blonde female. She’d let him flex his leadership skills while managing any disasters. If we lived through the day, there would be another battle. And another. If this was an opportunity to train Barkke for command, I would not waste it. Who knew how many of the six I had before me would still be alive when the sun rose tomorrow.

Orcadion I kept for myself.

“You have your orders. Call your troops into formation.”

The others nodded and broke off. Only Orcadion remained, eyeing me speculatively. “I thought you’d send me as far away as you could.”

“I want you scouting overhead.”

The male’s fingers contracted as if he could feel the talons that were not there in his fae form. “Scouting is a job for a child. Not the Dyad.”

“The Dyad are stewards of the court. Here you are another weapon to be used. And in either position, you answer to me.”

He wanted to argue.

If I had to put him down, I would.

My wolf began to rumble—Veyka was near.

“I will accept your command—if you will take Mordred into it as well.”

These were Morgause’s words. She may not be on the battlefield, but she was waging her own personal war. She’d negotiated the terms for the Knighthood of the Round Table and ensured that Mordred entered the Pit along with Veyka or myself. Now, she was shoving her son closer still. My son.

Fuck. I did not have time to think about what that meant to me. Morgause’s objective was easy. She wanted power and she intended to use Mordred to get it. If we were all still alive in a month, I’d deal with her then.

“Fine. Join the others.” I was already striding for my mate as the words left my mouth.

Veyka emerged from the left, Lyrena a half step behind her. Her golden knight fell back as Veyka approached, stopping just short of launching herself into my arms. The feeling was more than mutual. I wanted to bury myself in her—to shut out the coming battle; to give me the strength for it.

I’d fought in hundreds of battles over the last three centuries. In plenty of those, I’d led an army that was outmatched. I’d walked onto the battlefield expecting to die. But I’d never truly entered it hoping that I would live.

Instead of dragging her against me, I settled for taking her hands. “Use the void, but stay with Lyrena. If you’re going to go out of reach, take her with you.”

“I do not need to be minded like a child.”

She was still angry that I’d intervened in the Pit. But that was not the battle we’d chosen to fight today.

“She is your Goldstone Guard, Veyka. The only one left. She has sworn her life to protect the throne of Annwyn. Let her do it.” I knew that Veyka was capable of handling herself. I raked my eyes over her body, checking for the hundredth time in the last hour that all of the bones in her body were fully mended. But the female before me was indomitable, and it had nothing to do with the strength of her body.

After too long, she finally nodded her acquiesce. “If you need me to open a rift—”

I know how to find you.

That earned me one of those wicked grins that had my cock tightening instantly. After , I promised myself. Because there would be an after. For both of us.

I could not hold myself back. I dragged her against me, pillaging her mouth for one last taste to take me into battle. She was the reason I wanted to live. And I’d give her a damn good reason to feel the same way.

The sound of twenty thousand footsteps falling into line forced me to pull away.

“I love you,” Veyka said before I could. By the smile that curved her lips, she knew it.

“Make them pay, Princess.”