by Alex Lidell
“Tye’s tiger slashed one of the guards after said guard grabbed my shoulders,” I say, aware of the many eyes boring into me. “The same guardsman and his partner then fired barbed crossbow bolts at Tye. Tye melted the arrows before they could strike and . . . restrained the guardsmen pending your arrival.”
“The tiger was holding Lera when the bastards fired,” Tye says with barely restrained fury. “If those bolts had connected . . . Call for the final trial, River. I want to be free of this place.”
“Tye,” River starts quietly. “We’re all still recovering from Karnish. Leralynn’s training is—”
“Lera has trained enough.”
Leralynn’s training. Besides Griorgi’s whereabouts, it’s all anyone has talked about. Any moment I haven’t been eating or sleeping—or sneaking away for a moment of solitude, as I was when I found Tye’s tiger—I’ve been in the practice arena with some combination of Coal, Tye, Shade, and Klarissa, trying to weave together multiple threads of power without blowing up the whole Citadel.
The captain of the guard clears his throat, keeping his eyes on our commander. “If I am not mistaken, River, my guardsman only grabbed your female to keep her out of harm’s way. And while they used a poor choice of projectile, they only fired after the trainee assaulted one of them. The penalty for a trainee’s assault on a guardsman—”
“Flog my male for assault and I’ll execute yours for attempted murder.” The nonchalance in River’s voice reverberates through the square. He turns slowly and, being the largest male in the gathering, looks down at the captain of the guard. “Play the intimidation games with someone else, sir. My quint is out of your league.”
The captain thinks for a moment then nods reluctantly.
River looks at me for a moment, an apology in his beautiful gray eyes, then turns to Tye. “I will request the final trial for tomorrow. It’s the best I can do.”
“Fine.” Tye flicks his hand again and the collars of fire around the guardsmen’s necks disappear. The two males fall to their knees as Tye turns on his heels and strides away.
Standing beside River, I watch Tye’s departing back, a chill seeping into my bones. “It’s my fault,” I whisper. “I wanted to understand why he’d shifted, and I rushed in head on. If I hadn’t tried to move the tiger myself, if I’d listened to the guards, if . . . Stars, River, if you want to yell at me, I don’t think I’d mind. Maybe I’d even feel better for it.”
Taking my shoulders, River turns me to face him, his earthy scent filling my nose. Despite my worry, my belly tightens when I look up into his storm-filled eyes, high cheekbones, and strong jaw. He’s so handsome it hurts.
“Stars take me,” River whispers after a moment, drawing me against him. My face presses into his hard shoulder as he rests his head atop my hair. “You’ve no notion of how fortunate we are that this ended with only a few gashes.”
“That doesn’t sound much like yelling.” I try for humor but my voice trembles as images of could-have-beens fill my thoughts. “Aren’t you furious?”
“I am.” River’s arms tighten around me, pulling me closer. “At myself, not you. I’ve never seen Tye so angry, Leralynn—never even imagined seeing him so close to losing control. Coal, yes, but not Tye. It’s my job to know when one of my own stands on a cliff’s edge, and I missed it. I . . . I’m worried. I can’t even tell you why Tye’s tiger was in the middle of the square to begin with. That isn’t like him.”
I tilt my head away, studying River’s face. Around us, the group is dispersing, the captain of the Citadel Guard clearing away both his males and the spectators with a veteran’s proficiency until it’s only River and I left by the burbling fountain.
River rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands.
“It’s okay, River.” I pull his hands down and hold them tightly in mine. “You’ve had a few things on your mind.” The weight of responsibility that River carries on his shoulders makes my heart ache. “Working out a way to save Lunos from your father and Emperor Jawrar, for starters. Even you can’t be everywhere at once.”
“That isn’t an excuse. Whatever this is, whatever’s happening with Tye, I can’t take him into battle this way.” River exhales, shaking his head.
“He’d tear you limb from limb if he heard you say that, you know,” I murmur softly, the pit in my stomach growing heavier.
“Your faith in my self-defense skills leaves something to be desired.” River presses his forehead to mine then runs his lips softly down my cheek, ending at my jaw. A trail of heat follows in its wake. “Come. If we’re leaving here as quickly as it appears we need to, we’ve some planning to do.”
“Right.” I force a smile onto my face. “The small matter of staging a coup. We better get to it—the Slait throne won’t seize itself.”
3
River
River surveyed his quint, all finally gathered in the suite’s common room. Despite Leralynn’s attempts to locate Tye, the male had stayed away until just a moment ago, when he strolled in wearing that mask of familiar cockiness. As if he hadn’t come within a hair’s breadth of killing two guards that morning. As if the shift into a wild predator in a place that could get him put down for it was no more serious than a pilfered bottle of wine.
Just another of the many petty crimes River had tried for centuries to punish out of the male, all without bothering to discover why Tye did any of it in the first place. Three hundred years of fighting together, of living together, weathering triumphs and sorrows, and it wasn’t until now that River glimpsed the demons lying in ambush behind Tye’s easygoing demeanor.
Something that seemed to have taken Leralynn, on the other hand, only a handful of weeks.
River wondered whether the girl had any notion of the power she had over them. How deeply she opened their souls. How bloody frightening it was.
Pushing all thoughts of Leralynn firmly to the back of his mind, River waited for Tye to find a seat. Instead of his usual spot on the couch—and as close to Leralynn as possible—the male took a chair for himself, balancing it precariously on its hind legs. Ensuring that no one could come near. In addition to the five of them and Autumn, Kora was in the room too, standing with her hip braced on the couch’s far armrest.
The female warrior’s dark brown hair was in its usual cropped style, one emerald stud glinting in her ear. Now that Kora’s quint had passed all their trials and were free to do as they wished—and go where they wished, which seemed to be never far from Autumn—River noticed that Kora’s air of confidence and command grew stronger by the day. She wore a finely tailored black tunic with pale green trim, leather pants that showed off her leanly muscled legs, and a thin silver chain around her neck that disappeared below her shirt collar. River would bet money it was a gift from Autumn—an expensive one, if Kora’s nervous toying with it was any indication.
“I understand that by this time tomorrow, we’ll be done with our remaining trial and on our way from the Citadel,” Shade said. Snatching up Leralynn mid-step—and in the middle of braiding her hair—the wolf shifter pulled her onto his lap with an ease that made River’s cock twitch in jealousy. Her thick auburn hair spilled over her chest, making her brown eyes narrow in exasperation. Shade leaned back against the cushions, snuggling the girl firmly against his bare chest. “What happens next? We go after Griorgi?”
With the smell of a fight filling the air, Shade fell into his role as River’s second with practiced ease. Clear, calm, ready to enforce orders.
“Almost.” River nodded to him. “Regarding the trial, yes, it will be tomorrow. It was Tye’s request to expedite it, but we can’t stay here much longer anyway, not with Griorgi advancing his plans with Mors. As for going after him and Jawrar—that is a bit more complex.”
“We don’t know where they are, do we?” Leralynn asked.
River frowned at the vulnerable curl of her shoulders, the tightening around her eyes. “No,” he said carefully, watching her. All of a sudden, she seeme
d a million miles away. Despite the ongoing conversation, the need to discover what was happening in that gorgeous head of hers hit River like a thunderstorm, rousing every protective instinct inside him. And while he was exploring her head, he wouldn’t mind discovering more of her body too. With everything going on, it’d been three days since their coupling after the Karnish battle—which was three days too long.
Bloody, burning stars. They were speaking of battling Jawrar and dethroning Griorgi, and here River’s mind was plummeting into his suddenly too-tight trousers. His cock hadn’t roused this impertinently since River was a colt. He cleared his throat. “Autumn’s people report that he’s not been in Slait since escaping Karnish. Autumn and I have tapped every resource at our disposal to find him, but”—he looked at Autumn, who burrowed deeper into her iridescent silver wrap—“our father is slippery.”
Leralynn flinched, covering the reflex quickly.
“I believe Jawrar is back in Mors, at least,” Autumn said, reclaiming River’s attention. “If he stepped into the Subgloom when Karnish collapsed, which must be how he disappeared so quickly”—Autumn looked to Kora for confirmation before continuing—“then he’ll only be able to exit in Mors. Unlike the Gloom, the Subgloom is strictly Mors’s territory, which, with our wards, makes it a one-way passage no matter where you enter it. This means he must now wait for Griorgi to open a new portal before he can return to Lunos.”
“Should we go hunting?” Coal asked from his customary place against the wall by the door—just in case anyone should come barging in to murder them.
“No.” River stood to relieve the pressure that his trousers were putting on his enlarging groin. “I little want to walk us into whatever stronghold he has set up, whether it’s elsewhere in Lunos or in Mors itself. We’ll draw him to us instead, make him come to the Slait palace.”
“He’ll have to come home eventually,” Autumn added. “And come alone—Griorgi is too smart to build a portal inviting qoru directly into Slait.”
“Griorgi isn’t the only one who’ll be alone,” Kora said, slipping her arm around Autumn’s shoulders. “The Citadel won’t be able to send quints into Slait to assist you.”
River nodded then, catching Leralynn’s confused look, turned to explain. “The Citadel can’t assist in dethroning a king without destabilizing the whole realm. Blaze and Flurry would believe themselves vulnerable to similar tactics, and before long we’d have everyone protecting themselves from the Citadel instead of focusing on Mors.”
“Plus, overt aggression would give Griorgi the support he needs to rally an army,” Autumn said, pulling her silver-blond braids up into a high bun as if preparing for battle this moment. “Slait subjects would take up arms to defend their homes. Keeping it a family affair means fewer deaths all around.”
“Speaking of fewer deaths,” River said, deftly picking up Autumn’s words even as he braced himself for a storm. “You truly do need to remain in the Citadel, Autumn.”
“No,” she said immediately, her sharp gray eyes daring River to take this line of conversation any further.
River crossed his arms over his chest. For all her brilliance, his sister could be as foolish as a colt. “Stop and think. If I fail—”
“Oh, shut up.” Autumn waved a slender hand at him. “I’ve been trying to see it from your point of view, I truly have, River. But I can’t get my head quite that far up my ass.”
River’s blood heated, shooting through his veins. Jaw clenched, he squared off against his sister, who flicked a bare toe at him, one delicate silver ring flashing on it.
“Unless you’ve hidden another magic mythos scholar up your sleeve,” she said, before he could so much as utter a sound, “you are going to need my expertise. Or did you imagine some scenario where you and Father drag a pair of clubs into the throne room and take turns bashing each other on the head? Granted, I don’t know who’d win that.” She added the last part under her breath.
Kora was up and between them before River’s hand could close around those damn braids. “Perhaps I might offer an alternative solution, Prince River?” the blue-eyed female said, holding up her hands. “If the prince of Slait might invite my quint into Slait Court, we would be happy to provide a protection detail for his sister. I believe such an arrangement would be subtle enough to avoid seeming like Citadel interference.”
“Bodyguards following me around like nursemaids?” Autumn’s fury turned on Kora. “No.”
“The arrangement would have some fringe benefits,” Kora murmured, running a knuckle along Autumn’s flushed cheek—which, ridiculously, just made River long to do the same to Leralynn. Further proof of how hopelessly distracted he was.
Autumn scowled despite leaning into Kora’s touch like a cat. “The answer is still no.”
What leash remained on River’s control broke with a resounding snap. His balls ached, his quint mates were brewing secrets, and now Autumn was digging her heels in just to be bloody contrary. After what Griorgi did to their mother, Autumn’s balking at so light a precaution was one step too far. River’s top lip curled up to display his canines. “You incorrectly presumed there was a question somewhere in there.”
Autumn’s face darkened. “You wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t what? Pull rank and enforce that order?” River’s jaw clenched. Blood rushed to his head, the heat of it burning his ears. When he spoke, his voice was so low and dangerous that the males exchanged cautious looks. “You want to test me? Because I don’t think you’ll enjoy the results.”
“Test you?” Autumn slid to the floor, her hands curling into fists as she glared up at him. “Do you imagine for one bloody second that—”
“Stop it.” Leralynn’s voice cut through the air, seizing River’s chest. Climbing to her feet, the mortal put her hands on her hips and glared at River, her eyes liquid fire. River actually took a step back from the force of them. Even Tye lowered his gaze from its survey of the ceiling long enough to glance at her in surprise. “Whatever enforcement you are about to threaten is not going to go over well. Especially for you, River.” Leralynn’s hair whipped behind her as she twisted to Autumn. “As for you, is keeping Kora away just to make a point to River really worth it?” She shook her head. “Maybe instead of arguing about how best to pack for Slait, we can focus on tomorrow’s trial and getting the hell out of the Citadel. I, for one, have been here long enough.”
The stunned silence of the room wrapped itself around Leralynn. Glaring at each of them in turn, the female turned on her heels and marched to her bedchamber, her too-large uniform tunic billowing around her small frame. “Call me when the stupidity wears off,” she called over her shoulder before slamming her door shut.
“Does anyone know what the bloody hell happened to our mortal?” Coal asked, arching a brow at the resounding thud. “Because I like it.”
4
Lera
I slam my palms against the windowsill, grinding my teeth. Removing Griorgi from power is the one vital thing that must be done to ensure Lunos’s future—and we’ve no notion of where the bastard is. Why? Because when we had Griorgi in our sights, I lost control of the echoed magic and let him escape. And now we have a greater mess on our hands than we did before.
“Leralynn.”
I flinch at the sound of my name in the hallway. The door opens and closes behind me as I look out the window. Beyond the glass, the dense forest surrounding the Citadel grounds ripples and flutters with unseen life, white clouds scurrying overhead in the autumn breeze. Everything is so intensely green and red and orange, the grass and plants drinking in the Citadel’s magic. Even the damn foliage has more control than I do.
Behind me, River clears his throat. “Were you challenging Shade for the role of second back there?” he asks mildly. “Or me for the whole quint?”
When I turn, the sight of the sculpted giant’s piercing gray eyes, taut abdomen, and corded arms crossed over a hard chest sends a shiver from my spine to my thighs. Hi
s face is a study in smooth strength and intoxicating control.
Stars take me. I know he is the same male who I snapped at a few minutes ago, but that was outside. In the common area. Here in my bedchamber, it is too difficult to wall off my memories of our other activities, when River’s skillful command of my body turned my bones to liquid and had my senses exploding with pleasure.
I wrap my arms around myself and meet River’s eyes, my chin up. “If you’ve come to remind me that you are the prince of Slait or quint commander, or to—”
River takes a step forward, grasping my hips. “I don’t recall you minding the commander too much a few days ago,” he murmurs into my ear, his soft, rumbling voice making my skin blaze so hot it’s a wonder the drapery doesn’t catch on fire. River chuckles before reining in his voice. “But actually, I came to tell you that what you said in the common room was right on point.”
“I—wait, what?”
“Autumn and I have a tendency to squabble.” He shrugs. “Shade says he keeps waiting for us to grow out of it but is losing hope by the decade.”
“So you weren’t really going to . . . I’m not sure what you were going to threaten actually.”
“I’m not fully sure either.” A corner of River’s mouth twitches. “But it would have been very firm. And about as useful as Autumn protesting a protection detail. We’d have worked out as much eventually—you just sped up the process.” The humor fades from his too-perceptive eyes. “What I want to know now is what truly set you off back there.”
Besides that one small detail of my having let the greatest menace known to Lunos get away? Not a thing. “I . . .” I rub my face, debating the best approach to this.
River’s firm fingers cup my chin, tilting my face up to meet his. The male’s strength and sense of responsibility engulf me much more potently than they did before our coupling three days ago. Who knew that sharing a bed with the male—truly sharing—would send my body and soul into as much of a tailspin as it did my magic. “I’d appreciate the truth, please, Leralynn,” he says. “Given that you expect as much from me, it does seem fair, no?”
