Page 46 of Season Warriors & Wolves

“How about he stops growling at the mention of my wife?”

The general sneered at me. “Don’t worry, there might not be a wife to growl about soon.”

I faded right before him and grabbed the front of his jacket before fading again further away and crashing him against rock. “I might spare you some slack, Caiden. For the sake of her. Knowing she loves this hollow of a thing you are. But I am not her. And as you said, she is not here. Be very mindful of how you speak about the other half of me.”

A hand pulled on my shoulder. “Let him go, Kilian,” Eren said, trying to pull me from Caiden.

Pushing him off, I stepped back. “Aren’t you a lucky fucker. Another soul cares for you.”

Caiden threw his anger at someone else not even a second after being angry at me. He glared at Eren, so much disdain where there should not be any. “There was no need for interference, golden boy. Can take good care of myself.”

Hurt flushed across Eren’s face, but he didn’t say anything to him. He actually ignored his lover altogether. “What now? Only one sceptre piece left. What happens to my sister now?”

“I happen,” I said.

“You have a plan?”

“I do. Only a matter of time now.”

Chapter thirteen

White Bishop to B3

Snowlin

“We head to Vrammethen in two days,” father announced, leaning back on his chair.

I stopped chewing. “We?” The us made sense now.

He nodded. “I will join you on this last trip. As you know, their sceptre piece will complete the Octa Virga.”

That felt like a lie. Considering that Melanthe would be half as strong there and that they were probably already struggling to safely cross the Seer Sea, let alone Mahara’s channel, his presence signalled something else. Either a trap for Kilian or for the unblessed rulers.

“There is something I need to do first—something you owe me.”

He stopped eating. “Owe is a big word, child.”

“Not as big as debt, father.”

He studied me for a moment, probably measuring the chances that denying my request would cause him another loss he could not afford. “What is it that I…owe you?”

“The lives of those that helped take my friends’. I’d like to take care of that before your war.”

He huffed a chuckle. “Persistence used to be an admirable trait you had as a child.”

“When the repercussions were lesser, you mean.”

Lowering the fork and knife on the table rather quietly and too calmly for him, he leaned back. “I think you forget—”

“Who were they,” I spoke over him. “Who gave away where to find them? Who told you that you could find them in Eldmoor that day?” I needed the names of who was spying on my husband’s every footstep.

“Let her,” Melanthe said, cutting through her dinner all poised and unbothered. “We are in no need of those informants, Silas. Let’s call it cutting loose ends.” She chuckled under a delicate hand. “Your daughter might even learn from this. How important it is to cut loose ends.”

My father’s brows slowly rose at her words, and they exchanged a not-so-subtle look that all but screamed ‘bait for the Night King’.

“Fine,” he said after some short thinking.

Kilian would know to stay away. He would. He would know not to approach me.