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“Cyrus?” he mumbled, eyes never opening.
“Safe and sleeping,” she answered, pressing a small kiss to his temple. “Go back to sleep.”
“Be here in the morning,” he breathed.
Scarlett smiled softly as she settled in. “Okay.”
His shift in breathing told her he’d slipped back into a deep sleep. But as exhausted as she was, she couldn’t shut her mind off. Replaying conversations. Sifting through information. Making adjustments to plans.
Moves and countermoves.
Dangerous games indeed.
What would the gods and Fates do when they learned she did not play by their rules?
PartTwo
THE FOUND
Chapter17
Eliza
“Left side!” Eliza yelled at Callan as he blocked Ilyas's saber just in time. “Clean up your footwork,” she added.
She couldn’t deny that Callan was doing well though. He’d been training for months, and despite the break while she was recovering, he’d obviously kept practicing. She may have just chided him for his footwork, but it was nearly perfect. Too bad she demanded actual perfection from those she trained. Her time was valuable. If she was going to take the time to train someone, she would accept nothing less. Not only that, if he was going to follow through on this plan to go to the slums of Baylorin, he needed every second of extra training he could get.
Callan and Ilyas, one of Stellan’s personal guards and lovers, had both lost their shirts with the sun beating down on them. Callan had been given a pair of lightweight, looser-fitting pants that the Shifters wore in this arid climate, and she had forced him to train for the better part of the last two days. They hadn’t quite worked out how he was going to get back to Windonelle. The time not spent training was spent strategizing. Admittedly, she was better suited to planning battles. Strategy and scheming were more Cyrus and Sorin’s areas of expertise with Rayner providing movements of those being plotted against. Stellan and Arianna had been ruling the Shifters for centuries though. Their father had been one of the first to receive Shifter gifts when stripped from the Sorceress, but they hadn’t maintained their seat of power by blood right alone. They were cunning and ruthless when needed.
It was why all the Fae royalty made sure to stay on good terms with the siblings. It was also why they had been sequestered away to the south when all the Wards had gone up. The Witches didn’t want to interact with others in general, so they didn’t particularly care that they had been sent to the eastern part of the continent. They were more upset about not having the freedom to leave, and thatmaleshad dictated their fate. The Night Children were driven by instinct and hunger, but the Shifters, in a way, were more dangerous than the other two bloodlines.
Eliza was getting ready to do her own sparring with Sawyer when Arianna stood from where she had been sitting with Ashtine on the veranda overlooking the sandy training pit. Ashtine nodded to the Beta before Arianna shifted into a red-tailed hawk and took to the sky. Sawyer gave the princess a questioning look from where he stood.
“There are visitors at the gates,” Ashtine replied.
Her usual lilt was stronger. These last few days of rest and safety had done her well. Her skin was still paler than usual, and she spent the better part of her days sleeping; but she had insisted Sawyer escort her outside for fresh air today. When Sawyer had still seemed hesitant, she’d told him she needed to feel the wind—both for her and the babe with wind gifts in her belly.
“Do you think we should take her inside?” Sawyer murmured to Eliza, turning so Ashtine would not be able to read his lips. Not that it mattered. The winds carried his words to her anyway.
“That will not be necessary,” Ashtine replied, coming up behind them.
“You should not be on your feet,” Sawyer chastised.
“Those here will not harm me or you,” Ashtine said. A small vortex of wind formed at her fingertips, tiny ice crystals dancing around it. She closed her eyes as a look of relief crossed her features. She was carrying so much power. Her power was mighty in itself, but twins of two of the strongest Fae in the realm? Eliza had seen her siphoning off that power numerous times since being here. Having it restrained by shirastone had been the only form of torture Alaric had really needed for the Wind Princess. It would have slowly driven her mad.
Sariah appeared after a moment, making her way to Ilyas, who had shifted to his wolf form and was watching them all from the edge of the training area. He got to his feet at her approach, shifting back when she neared and dipping his head so she could speak into his ear. The two were the personal guards and lovers of the Alpha, and while Sariah was pleasant enough, Ilyas was openly distrustful of all of them.
Eliza propped the flat of her blade on her shoulder while her hand went to her hip as she watched the two shifters. “Who is here?” she asked Ashtine.
“Azrael and Razik.”
“What?” Her head whipped to the princess, and her stomach tensed. “Why are they here?”
“I suppose we will learn shortly,” the princess answered, the small vortex of wind and ice still spinning in her palm.
“Can we spar, please?” Eliza grumbled to Sawyer, moving into a defensive position.
Sawyer’s brow arched. “Now? Surely they will be here any moment.”
