“Not when their presence could escalate things.”
“And if you’re telling me that she’s not here, Hanan will discover your lie,” Dorcan continued from the road. “As willtheKing.”
“Is there any single part of me that looks like I give a fuck?” Nyktos replied, and I blew out a low breath.
I hoped Nektas was really close.
“You should.” Dorcan tilted his head back. “Especially since I’ve heard you’ve had a rough couple of days. Dakkais. Draken. And you’re about to take on a Consort.”
“Oh, shit,” Saion muttered, tensing.
The change in the air was sudden and tangible, charging with static. Both Ector’s and Rhain’s hands went to their swords. I doubted Dorcan was unaware as he said, “A piece of advice, old friend. I don’t think this is the time you want to further anger any of the Primals. All we want is to take Bele to Hanan’s Court.”
“Then shouldn’t Hanan be here?” Nyktos replied. “However, he’s likely too much of a coward to make such a request in person. That’s why he had you act as his errand boy instead. Either way, I’ll giveyoua piece of advice. It’s time for you to find a new Court to serve,” Nyktos said. “One where the rulers have the courage to make such demands themselves.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“If you made a blood oath to Hanan—swearing fidelity to him—then that was a very unwise choice,” Nyktos replied.
“Perhaps.” Dorcan tilted his head toward those standing behind Nyktos. “What I do know is that the bulk of your guards are too far down the Rise, and your armies are at the western border.”
“Armies?” I sent Saion a quick glance. “Nyktos has an army?”
Saion frowned at me. “Of course, he does.”
That was news to me.
“It would bewiseofyouto just give us Bele,” Dorcan said. “And then we’ll be on our way, without having caused any…disturbances.”
“You’ve already caused a disturbance.” The coldness in Nyktos’s voice sent a chill down my spine. “So whatever you think you’re going to do, get on with it. This whole scene isbecoming a bore.”
Dorcan laughed again. “So be it.”
“How good are you with a bow?” Saion asked under his breath as the Cimmerian who had been getting handsy with the dagger at his waist twisted, angling his body toward Rhain. I didn’t hesitate.
I released the arrow, striking the Cimmerian between the eyes before he could let go of the dagger. “Thatgood,” I murmured, ignoring the throbbing warmth of the embers of life in my chest as they responded to the god’s death.
Dorcan’s head swung in my direction, but I knew he couldn’t see me. I leaned back as the clash of swords echoed from the road below. I quickly nocked another arrow and moved farther into the parapet, peering down. My chest tensed.
I could only see Nyktos, taller than all the others in the swarm of Cimmerian, going sword to sword with Dorcan.
“Stay unseen,” Saion ordered, starting to rise. “If Nyktos is overpowered for some reason, get your ass inside and go to Bele and Aios. Charmed or not, you can still be killed.”
Nyktos overpowered? My throat dried. I’d seen him fight with a sword against Gyrms and dakkais. He’d ripped an entombed god in half with his bare hands. He couldn’t be overwhelmed.
“Do you understand?” Saion demanded.
“Yes.” I dropped to my knees behind the shorter wall, beside several shadowstone spears.
“You’d better. They don’t know what’s inside you. Who you really are. They’ll take your head back to Hanan on a spike,” Saion warned. Then, with that lovely imagery, he leapt off the Rise.
Assuming Saion had survived a jump that would’ve surely broken every bone in my body, I took aim at anyone wearing a balaclava. A head on a moving target was harder than a chest, so I waited even as my finger began to twitch, until one of the Cimmerian warriors turned toward a Shadowland guard, bracing himself. I fired, reaching for another arrow as warmth pulsed in my chest once more and stayed that way, responding to the deaths. Readying the arrow, I saw Rhain kick a Cimmerian back as he thrust his sword behind him.
Shadowstone was indestructible…
The shadowstone blade pierced the armor with a spark of stone against stone, embedding deep in the Cimmerian’s chest.
Apparently, shadowstone wasn’t impenetrable against itself. Good to know.