“There’s hardly been time,” Dyter countered.
One minute in the last three weeks. That’s all it would have taken to say: Oh, and Calvetyn-will-be-asking-Azule-to-send-their-boats-and-retrieve-the-overseas-army. I pursed my lips, wanting to call Dyter out on it, but I wouldn’t embarrass him in front of the other rulers. He was worthy of more respect than that. I just needed him to acknowledge I was no longer the same oblivious-Ryn who’d worked for him in the tavern all that time ago. I tilted my head and asked, “Do I look the same as the girl in The Crane’s Nest?”
He sighed, unsurprisingly understanding my unspoken context. He scrubbed his palm down his face and then said, “You don’t, Ryn. And I apologize. It was remiss of me not to ensure you knew of the plan.”
I searched his gaze, seeing only the same Dyter I’d always known. His sincerity rang true, and his eyes were filled with love as they always had been for me and my mum. I decided to take him at face value, literally. I nodded and admitted, “We have been busy.”
Tyrrik leaned forward, tapping a black talon on the wood. “Is there anything else Ryn and I haven’t been informed about that you would like to tell us now?” He looked at Zakai, Zarad, and then Dyter. No one spoke, and Tyrrik nodded. “Let’s make sure we all act in good faith moving forward.”
“How will Azule react when an army shows up on their doorstep?” I asked. “Do we know how Queen Mily thinks? What she will do?”
The tension in the tent lowered somewhat, the Gemondians talking over the top of each other about how little information we had about the Azulis.
Was I overreacting? I seized the lull to ask Tyrrik.
No, Tyrrik responded immediately. But you’re not the only one who needs to accustom themselves to the changes in you. I believe Dyter just saw that. And those who knew you before you went to the forest.
I exhaled slowly and studied the group.
“I had planned to send an envoy ahead of the army,” Zakai replied.
Because I was watching the group, I saw the woman who’d challenged me flinch. I crossed my arms and asked, “You don’t agree with that, Commander?”
She jerked in her seat, her attention jumping to me, and then she darted a look at Zakai and wet her lips. “Not exactly. I mean, no. I believe arriving with the army might come across threatening, but to send in a single emissary is just a different risk. We don’t know how an envoy will be received any more than the army.” She shrugged. “How could a message convey what we need to say? How can we be certain of Azule’s allegiance or whether they’ll trick us? I think it wiser to see their eyes when brokering for the freedom of nations.”
“What are you proposing, Commander?’ the prince asked. “You want to send in how many?”
Tyrrik shook his head. “She doesn’t want to send in a group of messengers; she’s proposing we go ourselves.” He grinned. “I like it.”
“We don’t send an envoy. We send a small show of power,” Dilowa added. “Not enough to threaten but enough to make them pause if they are considering foul play.”
“I like it too,” I said. “I’m going.” There’s no way I wasn’t meeting the Azule leader to get the measure of her. Or him.
“As am I,” Tyrrik said. “If we wait to leave until the army is within a day’s walk of Azule, Ryn and I can be here in a couple of hours or so if Draedyn attacks.”
“I’d like to represent Verald,” Dyter said.
King Zakai glanced at his son. “Zarad will represent Gemond, and I would like Commander-General Gairome and Commander Dilowa to accompany him.”
“Someone will represent the Phaetyn,” I hastily threw in. “I’d like to convince Queen Lani to remain behind if she’ll agree, in case Draedyn attacks. She’ll be able to veil the entire army. I’ll go scout for her before we leave. She can’t be far away.”
Dyter blew out a breath as those in the tent quieted, each of us staring at the map. “Decades of blood, sweat, and hunger,” he said. “We’ve waited a long time for this to come together.”
I thought of the Penny Wheel where I grew up. How normal hunger had been for me and starvation for most everyone else. I thought of the meetings Dyter held in his tavern and Arnik’s blazing ideas of rebellion that had ended too abruptly. The assassins I’d met this morning had dedicated their lives to better the world. Every person in this tent, every person in this realm, had lost something to the emperor.
My gaze traced the ink lines of the Azule kingdom on the map, northwest of our current position. Dyter was right: every person in this room had paid their taxes to Emperor Draedyn in blood, sweat, and hunger.
We’re getting closer, Tyrrik said, staring at the same spot on the map.
Yes. I took a deep breath. We are.
20
“Khosana,” Tyrrik murmured, shaking my shoulder.
I groaned, rolling onto my back as I considered, possibly, maybe, opening my eyes. The sleeping roster was a pain in my Most-Important-Drae butt. This was the worst, when I’d only caught a few hours because of staying up all day.
“Sleep longer,” Tyrrik said, removing his hand.
I groaned again. Tyrrik was at least as exhausted as me and still offering to keep watch. He’d let me sleep the entire night. Again.
I dragged my eyelids apart and blinked up at him through bleary eyes. “No, I’m awake.” I scrubbed my face with both hands. “I’m awake. I’m awake.”
He lay down beside me and pulled me to him, my back to his chest, and kept his arm wrapped around my waist.
“Anything interesting?” I mumbled.
He stretched the collar of my chemise and kissed my shoulder. “Nothing.”
I sighed and turned to kiss him, threading my hands through his black hair. He pulled me close, the blankets tangling between us. The worst thing about the sleeping roster was that it didn’t allow time for playing cards or dancing the maypole. And Romantic-Ryn definitely wanted a repeat of our game-time in Gemond.
Although, perhaps not in a tent in the middle of an army.
I brushed my tongue against Tyrrik’s one last time and then pulled away to breathe. Because that was important and oddly easy to forget when I was kissing my mate.
I peeled back the blankets and got on my hands and knees. Focusing, I slowed my breathing and concentrated. I blinked as my eyes narrowed to slits and the objects in the dark tent gained definition.
Using my Drae eyes, I quickly located my aketon and hose.
“You’re getting faster,” Tyrrik said, followed by a yawn.
At least I was getting better at something because that something certainly didn’t feel like my Phaetyn veil and Drae shield. I was still too slow at getting them in place if they were down, and still I had to focus to keep them up. “Thanks.”
Tyrrik’s eyes were already closed when I ducked out of our tent. I kept my night vision going and focused on my sense of smell. I’d always found scent easiest to engage; something about it felt more instinctive to my Drae form. Tyrrik said the nose and ears were most instinctive, followed by the eyes. My fangs came and went as they liked, usually in response to anger or the deep yearning low in my stomach I now knew meant I wanted to practice making Drae babies.
I was getting the hang of the eyes now, so next up was talons. I’d wait until the perfect moment then flick out a blue blade. Maybe opening a letter in a meeting. Or chopping up a chicken roast. I had plans. Big plans.
I followed my Drae sense of smell, picking up Tyrrik’s pine and smoke scent immediately. We were camped at the base of a mountain, still within the Gemond ranges. We hadn’t encountered another forest since that first night, just small copses of trees here and there, but I preferred the open space. It meant I could see everyone at once, and when our food supplies ran low, there was still a coating of dirt on the valley floor to grow vegetables.