Page 107 of Let Slip the Dogs of War

Lark pats his shoulder again. “It is fine,” he says, and Drew ducks his head in a nod before he returns to Adam’s side.

Mamma hugs me again. There’s not a lot of room in here, not with all the people piled in, but then it looks like Kieran’s restricted who can be present, so Ophelia and her parents sit on the sofa, Adam and Drew moving to the floor next to Asher and Quinn, and my mums push me gently into one of the chairs, taking up positions on either side of me. I look at Lark. I want him over here with me, but he’s sticking next to Oisin who, yeah, looks a lot more uncomfortable than the rest of us.

Kieran waits until everyone’s settled. And even then, he doesn’t turn his attention to Lark. He focuses on Ophelia, then on me. “What happened?”

Ophelia’s dad is a bear of a man and he has his arms wrapped around her. Usually, she’d wriggle out of that kind of grip, and it’s telling that she doesn’t now. “Fae took me when I was coming back. It’s not—Cecile is okay, isn’t she? I was all the way back here. I was almost through the wards.”

Kieran nods. “I know.”

We call Sam first, and he and the rest of them sit silently on the line—after Kieran warns them he doesn’t want to hear a word until the end of it. He knows we’re exhausted. We don’t want to spend all day telling this story.

Ophelia explains everything that happened to her before we got there. Being taken to the cell. Escaping. Running into Oisin—

Kieran looks at him then. “That’s you?”

“Yes.” Oisin seems to be mostly keeping his distance from Drew and Quinn, which, huh, I guess he’s never met a wolf before either. He seems to know there’s something different about Kieran, too. Maybe that’s some more magic I can’t see.

“All right. Go on.”

I pick up when it gets to us coming together, and Ophelia shoots me a grateful smile for it. Felix is standing next to Mamma, and he reaches over and grabs my shoulder when I talk about the witch, about the announcement, and obviously I skip all of Lark’s and my intimate moments—they’re hardly relevant—but something tells me Kieran picks up on them all the same.

He sighs once I’m done. My voice is hoarse. Drew appears out of nowhere and hands me a glass of water, and I laugh despite myself. “Thanks.”

“So what now?” Kieran asks. “The crowns are there, waiting.”

I look at Lark. I don’t really want to mention the deal I made; at least not yet. Not with all our parents here, Jesus. Mum will never let me hear the end of it, and I’ll be lucky if Mamma doesn’t drag me all the way back to Italy, even if they don’t live there anymore.

“We need to find the crownbearers,” Lark says. “I will begin the search as soon as possible.”

“I or we?” Kieran asks. He stares at Lark unblinkingly, one hand loosely tangled with Lucien’s. “Are you part of this pack or not?”

Lark baulks. “I am not—” He winces and swallows hard. “I did not know.”

“Clearly,” Kieran replies dryly. Then he grins. “If it helps, neither did I. Not until you left. Whatever help you need, we’ll give it. There are enough fae in this pack to help. You really think you’ll find them in this realm?”

“Yeah. One of them has to be from here, I think,” I say. “Well, me and Grant think.”

“You were right about everything else,” Ophelia says.

I shrug, my cheeks growing warm. Mamma rubs my back encouragingly. She loves it when I get a compliment.

“Fine. I’ll talk to Grant when I can.” Sam’s voice is distant over the line. “And about his magic, too. He needs some proper training if he’s going to be doing things like pull through the fucking veil.”

“Proper?” Paxton sounds disbelieving, and Kieran scowls.

“What did I say?”

Sam’s huff is audible. Cassian has been silent the entire time, but he speaks now.

“Where are you even going to begin? And why would the bond to the oak break? That kind of power…”

“Not sure yet,” I say, trying to keep my tone light. “And it did. I asked the tree, and it did it.”

“You asked?” Cassian sounds disbelieving. He for sure knows something is up, but fortunately, he decides not to press. “Fine. If we get any information that can help, I’ll let you know. We’ll be fielding enough fae as it is.”

“Same here,” Kieran mutters. He taps the fingers of his free hand on the arm of his chair. “Okay. Go. Rest. Come back when you’re ready to get started on this and we’ll see what resources we can use. I’ll talk to Deacon, and I’m sure Maurice will talk to Njáll. Whatever you need for this, you’ll get.”

“I—Okay.” I nod. “Thanks.”