“I need your protection,” Adelina finally said, her words soft. “I need your warriors, and your contacts.” Adelina steeled her resolve and straightened. She would have to command him, and she needed that Draga strength to do it. “I have the Crown’s permission to approach the Drakesthai for an alliance. Your attendance is required.”
The transmission flickered in the following silence. Then Varan’s face reappeared and she’d never seen him so deadly serious. “Shall I come to the palace, or can you meet me here?” he asked. “I need to speak with you in person to ensure everything that is needed is in place before our departure.”
“I will come to you tonight. Tomorrow I will need you here. You have two weeks to get your affairs in order before I submit everything to Raena for her final approval.”
Adelina felt shaken. For a moment she had doubted the Prince of Thieves would help and his agreement to assist gave her hope.
“How many soldiers do you need?” Varan asked. She could hear him shuffling through his desk as they spoke, already following her orders.
Adelina glanced at Nadyah who went to the door, taking the tray from a curious servant and rudely shutting the door in their face.
She contemplated the careful line between safety and the appearance of peace. “Three ships and a total of five to ten thousand soldiers,” she said. “I do not care if these soldiers are spies, warriors, rogues, assassins, or thieves. I need them to be one hundred percent loyal to you, and willing to take an oath to serve me.”
“Noted, your highness. I will have everything for you to look over tonight.” Varan glanced up from his notes. “Tomorrow, I will bring a diamond.”
Her heart lurched into her throat and Adelina glanced at Nadyah. Her courtesan looked grim, but she nodded.
“Let him,” Nadyah said. “I’ve never been more scared than I was today. I won’t lose you to that monster.”
A tear dropped despite her iron-like control. Adelina looked back to Varan. While she didn’t love him like she loved Nash – she felt relieved. Raena liked him, and perhaps she’d leave Adelina alone after the horror she’d wrought that day.
“Noted, Varan,” Adelina said. “You are not attending the Games then?”
The Games were a longstanding tradition, but when the royals hosted they were invitation only and this year Varan had received one. The royals only hosted the full set of Games for weddings and coronations. Otherwise they played a few of them on occasion for holidays such as the Summer and Winter Solstice.
“I am not, Princess I have much to attend to here.”
Adelina nodded. It was for the best. She didn’t want Raena’s temper to find him. “I will see you tonight then, Varan.”
“Mia vitae se tya,” he replied and promptly ended the transmission.
She slipped the simulcast in her pocket and let it all sink in.
After Giselle came back she would be leaving her home. She would command the lives of others and they might die for her in this fool’s errand. No one knew exactly how many dragons were left, but they were supposed to be the most fierce, violent warriors known to the universe. Not even the Corinthians were as brutally efficient as they, or so people said.
Reports from the border were always a bit hazy and exaggerated.
Nadyah had everything set out and handed Adelina a chilled glass of her favorite orange-colored sweet tea, the milk curling and moving like clouds in the sky. A sip and she instantly felt a bit more settled.
“I’ve never left Draga Terra,” Nadyah mused as she sipped her own tea.
A pang of guilt went through Adelina. Nadyah had agreed to go with her before she ever asked Raena. She’d made sure to tell Nadyah it was allowed for her to decline, but so far no one had turned her down.
“I’ve only left the Draga galaxy once,” Adelina admitted. She could feel the anxiety waiting to take over, but she shoved it back. This was the right choice, and Adelina had to learn to push past her fears. “I’ve never traveled alone though. I doubt the royal tours have properly prepared me.”
But she’d be able to put some space between her and Raena until things settled down.
The two of them considered the looming trip in silence, and then Nadyah asked, “So we are going to the Ladrole tonight? Do we need to sneak out or will this be sanctioned?”
Adelina shrugged one shoulder and stared out the window. Birds fluttered to and from the balcony in the early morning sun, the pinks and purples of dawn finally fading. Their chirping seemed so far away and distant in that moment. She traced a finger, following the swirls and patterns of shadow across the couch from the lattice shades over the windows.
“It would be better to wear a disguise,” Adelina finally said. “And as I still want to keep that a secret we will need to sneak out.”
“Will we bring Alpha this time?”
It was something to consider, but if she brought Alpha then Adelina would have to let him in on all their plans, including the upgrade to the ships. Adelina wasn’t sure, but she doubted Nash wanted her to share the tech he’d gifted her with anyone and everyone.
“No, but I will let him know we are leaving. Maybe he can even let us through the front gates so we don’t have to take the sewers.”
Nadyah snorted as she sipped her tea. “That would be a pleasant change.”
“I’ll need new clothes for this trip,” Adelina stated. “So will you. There is so much to plan and think about.” They needed supplies, weapons, food, water, perhaps a gift or two for the dragons, and a way to beat the Neprijat once and for all. It was no small task.
“Make a list of the clothes,” Nadyah said. “I will have whatever we need made immediately. The supplies I can start gathering. Is there someone we can talk to about what we should have?”
“Caspian would know,” Adelina said, wondering if the advisor would relate all they said to Raena. “It would be prudent to hide the true nature of our starships when we are between each of the planets in open space…”
If they hid the royal crest, declared themselves as mercenaries and altered the ship manifest there would be a good chance real mercs and pirates would leave them alone. Then Adelina could fly the Draga flag so to speak when she needed to pull her rank.
“Agreed,” Nadyah said.
Adelina looked to her courtesan and rested one arm over the back of the cream-colored couch, and then propped her chin on her hand. Nadyah’s skin had a little more color to it from all the time they’d spent outside training, but it was still a buttery white. Her golden hair accented those dark, sapphire eyes that always drew Adelina in like honeybees to summer-berries.
“I never want to think of this morning again,” she whispered to her courtesan.
Nadyah grimaced and her eyes were sad. She reached out and rested her hand on Adelina’s cheek.
At night she’d been dreaming about Nash. Nightmares where she found him dead on some distant planet or his body was sent back to her in pieces by the Neprijat King. The strain from trying not to think about him, or how much she missed him only made the ache in her heart worse. Now she was sure the dreams would include the Neprijat King in a different light.