Page 64 of A War of Three Kings

“Great friends, you say?” I scratch at the stubble on my face. Gods, at this rate, I’d befriend anyone who doesn’t try to kill me. “This is Silvan, the Captain of the Royal Guard.” The two men clasp arms.

“What good are druids going to be in a war effort?” Caitlin asks. “They don’t fight.”

“I said the same thing,” Gwyneth mumbles.

“We druids are fantastic healers! And we can help set up defensive barriers,” Diarmuid counters.

Edmund cuts through the chatter. “I want a war meeting tonight when Lord Bradford arrives. Gwyneth, you will update Caitlin, Keira and me while you take us on a strategic tour of this fortress.” He pauses to take stock of me. “Aldrin, take the tour now or when the other lords arrive. Your choice, if you want to check on your people first.”

I give both Edmund and Gwyneth a hard stare. “I want to hear from their mouths how they have fared.”

Keira takes a few steps toward me, her face lighting up at the mention of my people, but her father grabs her by the wrist and pulls her back to him. “Not you.” Edmund puts a hand on her back and pushes her toward a staircase. Caitlin and Gwyneth follow, but lag behind, their voices trailing back to me as they climb the steps.

“Is this how you greet your life partner?” Caitlin says. “With hardly an acknowledgment?”

“Is it not how you said goodbye?” Gwyneth replies. “With a refusal to discuss our future and no answers to my questions about our baby?”

I watch them leave, still dripping water on the stone floor.

“It’s about bloody time you joined us.” Drake steps into the room, arms held wide.

“Let me guess, you were watching us approach from the ramparts?” I say as I pull him into an embrace.

“Yeah. Someone needs to give that ass Gwyneth a hard time.” The smile widens on his bronzed face, causing the silvery branches of his tree tattoo to crease.

“No one needs to give her a hard time. You should do the opposite and try to winallthe humans over.” Klara stalks after him, looking me up and down. “You look like shit. Like you were dragged behind one of their horses.”

I can’t help smirking and pulling her into a side hug.

“Fuck diplomacy,” Drake rants. “I’ve shown the humans my worth, and most choose to see it. I don’t need to beg people who will never change. Besides, I need some entertainment in his dreary realm.”

“That is why we left you behind, Drake. Can’t have you running your mouth to the lords and countesses.” Silvan shoots him a dark look. “Where can we get some of that pitiful stuff they call food in this realm?”

I smile at them like a fool. “Food and wine. I want updates while we eat.”

“Where’s Keira?” Klara asks. “Should we wait for her?”

I feel the blood drain from my face. “Her father is still doing his best to keep us apart.”

Klara leads us to a large military dorm room, with enough beds for my people and myself. Part of me hoped for a room ofmy own. To be locked in it with Keira for hours at a time, doing everything to her that my mind can think up. My imagination is vast.

I sit on the edge of a bed, picking from a platter of cold sliced beef and drinking tart wine.

“We’ve done good work here, Aldrin,” Klara says, flicking her purple braids over her shoulder. “Most of the Appleshield Guard don’t see us as monsters anymore, and their magical ability has greatly improved. That block of theirs—it fades when they come to terms with their fae blood and stop hiding. Those who are more accepting of us can better access their true power. Passionate emotion helps to cut through it as well.”

“Thank you. All of you, for standing by me in this. It hasn’t been easy.” My eyes pass over each of my people, from Silvan’s hardly audible grumble to Drake’s amused grin. Hawthorne shrugs awkwardly and Zinnia tips her head to the side.

“We need information on that advancing army. Drake. Zinnia.” I look from one to the other. “Do you think you could cast out your senses for me? Can you do it in this realm?”

“The humans will not believe whatever we offer them.” Drake tosses an olive into his mouth, then cringes as he bites down on the salty thing.

“I’ll make them believe it,” I say. “We have a whole horde of Mothers of Magic backing us up now. At least fifty of them arrived at the back of Edmund’s war party.”

Zinnia pins me with a hard stare that is almost snakelike, with her huge yellow eyes and her head tipped to the side. “It will drain us completely. There is little magic in the animals of this place.”

“If intel is what you need, intel is what we will get you,” Drake says cheerfully. “As long as you don’t have a problem with us skipping into the senses of the humans.”

I suck in a sharp breath. “You need to resort to that for it to work?”

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