Page 150 of A War of Three Kings

She doesn’t know how she has become a symbol of feminine strength to these women, swollen with child and galloping into battle as she did.

Naomi’s eyes narrow as she takes everyone in, then claps her hands loudly until all eyes are on her. “Okay, okay, let’s get a move on!” she roars. “Are we all here? Why are there people still sitting around? Let’s go!” She motions toward a few fae who gawked at her entry from their seats rather than standing immediately, like we haven’t been waiting for her for the last hour.

I grin at my people. “Zinnia. Hawthorne. You heard the old spider. Open the portal. We move out now.”

Naomi’s glare fixes on me—then the impossible happens. Instead of tearing my throat out with her teeth, she gives me a small nod of acknowledgment.

As the portal that leads to the ruined sanctuary in Sunbright City roars to life, kicking up Zinnia and Hawthorne’s loose hair, Caitlin strides to my side.

“It is nice to see you too, Aldrin.” She elbows me in the ribs lightly.

I raise a hand to my head as I glance sheepishly at her. Caitlin has been through her own ordeal, and I hardly acknowledged her. There are dark rings under her eyes, and I don’t know if it is the baby keeping her awake, or fear for her siblings. Probably both. Suddenly, I feel like a horrible person.

“My congratulations to you on the birth of your child.” I give her a sidelong glance. “Are you sure you are ready to go into another battle only weeks after the birth?”

Caitlin gives me a long, measuring look, as though she is working out if I will try to stop her. “Thanks to the fae healer, I am.”

“And who is the child with?” I ask softly.

“My mother and a wet nurse will care for Morgana while we make this last stand. It is not uncommon here for noble women to pay another to nurse their child. I cannot stay for long, and I might sacrifice the ability to nurse her myself to be here, but Iwill notsit by while my siblings’ fates hang in the balance. Especially when I know Morgana will be in good hands.” Raw emotion weighs her shoulders down.

The gods know we need Caitlin. The old spider too, despite how I don’t want to admit the fact. I might despise the High Priestess, but it is a comfort to have someone so powerful and vicious fighting for Keira.

With hardly a thought, I step through the portal with my most loyal supporters at my side, allowing the mists and white nothingness to devour me whole.

Chapter 40

Aldrin

We step out of the portal into a graveyard. At least fifty fresh mounds of earth dot the space around the great temple. The site is utterly still, as though every living thing holds its breath.

I motion for our force to fan out, our swords and magic at the ready for a horde of enemy guards to swarm us, but none come. Long moments pass while the Mothers of Magic stream out of the portal, but the garden remains peaceful.

Naomi claps her hands and motions for us to silently follow her. She leads us along a path between trees with wide canopies and sculpture bushes, toward a high stone wall.I prepare for soldiers to launch an ambush at every thicket of trees or bend in the road, but they never arrive.

“The guards will be at the gate, but my spies tell me it is only a token number,” Naomi hisses to me.

“Why would a warlord like Desmond leave such an opening into the city?” I ask.

She sighs. “We Mothers of Magic are pacifists who don’t engage in war. Not before this one, at least. We have nevertransported warriors or fae. But times are changing. It’s almost as though this kingdom forgets that to become priestesses, we first venture into the Otherworld as warriors.”

There are ten guards at a gate of tall metal bars that leads out to a busy city street. I could kill all of them easily, as distracted as they are, but we don’t want to make a scene. Instead, Naomi walks straight up to them with the group of priestesses in tow.

The High Priestess puts her hands on her hips. “I demand you open this gate immediately!” she barks. “How dare you lock us up in our own sanctuary? I will have words with the king and Lord Desmond on the state of my temple!”

The guards take one look at her headgear of twisting antlers, the crown of the High Priestess, and scurry to open the gate. Four of them approach us in the gardens, their eyes widening as they spot my band of warriors behind the priestesses.

My fae throw their wields of earth magic together and open rifts in the ground, each the size of a grave. They snag soldiers with the roots of trees and drag them beneath the dirt before closing them up. A muted scream is all that leaves the humans’ lungs before they are crushed.

The quick deaths are a mercy they don’t deserve after hiding the evidence of the atrocities at this site. I recognized some of those faces from the visions Keira sent me, and I would have loved to take my time with them.

I focus the intensity of my magic on the willpower of each guard outside the wall. There is little resistance to my mind penetrating theirs, to my power flowing through their muscles and taking control.

A dull ache builds at the back of my head and my vision blackens at the edges as I have two guards at a time slowly stroll into the garden for the rest of my people to dispatch. I am doubled over and panting by the time we are done.

We swarm into the city, breaking up into ten groups, a few priestesses paired with a few disguised fae guards, heading to different regions of the city. I have kept my most loyal band together, along with Caitlin. We have our own mission when those armies reach the gate.

The city is ripe for rebellion.

---