Page 13 of The Last Bell
In no more than ten minutes, Owalin’s first deadline will pass. Not a single human has darkened our doorstep since River’s offer of an alliance.
We are still two hours from sunset, but with the storm, it feels like dusk has come early. Through the gray sheets of rain, I watch the royal families huddle under a large white tent that Academy staff erected—probably repurposed from some planned Prowess festivities. They’ve put it as far from the Great Hall as possible to try to avoid Owalin’s prying ears, which puts them close to us. Many of the women and children and even professors have taken shelter in the academic buildings ringing the courtyard, though there are still at least a hundred people gathered on the sodden cobblestones.
With nothing to do but wait, Tye and Shade have gone to the back of the library to clean up the mess, their restless energy obvious even from here in muffled curses.
I jump when the library door bangs open, the little bells cutting through the heavy tension with ridiculous cheerfulness. Coal stamps his feet and brushes water off his clothes, his pulled-back hair almost dark against his scalp. “They’re giving in to Owalin’s first demand. The king of Fothom is readying to enter the Great Hall.”
River only nods. He’s been silent ever since hearing the news of our cubs, the tension around him making the air sing.
“They’re relinquishing the mortal world to a madman, River,” Coal presses, glancing at me with nothing short of alarm on his face when the commander doesn’t respond.
“I know,” River says finally. His experienced eyes survey the situation with the calm steadiness that I have grown to take for granted, but the words lack all interest. As if the outcome of the standoff little matters to him now.
I shrug at Coal, and he lifts his hands in an “I give up” gesture, going over to the crackling fire Gavriel laid in one of the library’s three massive hearths to start drying off his clothes.
“River,” I say quietly. “Are you…” I search for the right word to say, my chest tightening at the one I settle on. “Upset? About the cubs.” My breath halts, my eyes not daring to look at River’s face. After the initial shock wore off, the male retreated behind the wall of his own thoughts with a speed that’s left me reeling.
I wrap my arms around myself when the male says nothing, my jaw tightening.
“I’m upset that we are in the mortal world with no way home except through battle with the Night Guard,” River says finally. With a start, I realize he’s trembling. The silence on the subject, which I broke, seemed to be all that was keeping him together.
“We arechoosingto face the Night Guard, River,” I say. “We have a way home. The Mystwood key you took off me back in the beginning of the year—”
“I destroyed it.” He strikes his palm against the windowsill, the glass rattling. “Katita had seen you with what was plainly a fae artifact, and I was afraid of her turning on you. With fae hunters in major towns… If she’d started something, it would be bad enough to pit her word against yours, I didn’t want there to be evidence to boot. So when I took it off you, I shattered it and threw it into the fire.” River swallows, turning slowly to face me. His strong, smooth face looks like marble, every hard plane sculpted to perfection. But his swirling gray eyes are a different story, the vulnerability in them striking me to my very core. “I’m sorry, Leralynn. I’ve been a father for less than an hour, and I’ve already failed.”
“River.” My chest tightens as I press my palm against his cheek. “River, the stupidest reasoning I’ve—” I cut off, the truth dawning on me just a moment too late.
“It isn’t the key you’re upset about,” I whisper. “You aren’t afraid of battling the Night Guard. You aren’t afraid of battling anyone. You’re… Stars. Listen to me, River. You are going to be a good father. I promise.”
The male’s flinch betrays just how deep a wound my words struck, his beautiful strong jaw clenching so hard that I see the muscle coil beneath his skin.
“You are going to be a good father, River,” I say again. “Just as you are a good mate. And a good commander.”
“You don’t know that,” he whispers, the fear saturating his voice now spilling into the air between us, giving a sharp tang to the dusty smell usually settling in the library. “How can you trust me when you know what kind of monster sired me?”
“Because I love you,” I say simply. “Because we fell in love with each other when there was nothing to tie us together and everything to keep us apart. And because I won’t let you be anything else.”
River chuckles, the sounds starting off strained but easing as he gazes into my eyes. Shaking his head, he cups the back of my head with his hand, leaning down to take a slow tentative kiss. “I don’t deserve you, Lera,” he whispers against my mouth as my hand rests gently on his hard triceps. “But I’m grateful for you with every breath.”
Before I can reply, the kiss deepens, River pouring so much of himself, his love, his strength into the connection that the magic coiled inside me rouses andpurrsuntil I wonder if one of the twins isn’t a shifter.
“What was that for?” I ask, when he finally pulls away, the callused tips of his fingers lingering on my cheek.
“To thank you,” the male replies, a smile finally,finallytouching his eyes. “And to make up for the bastard I’m sure I’m going to be shortly.” He brushes his thumb over my lips. “If you think pregnancy is intrusive, wait until you discover what four overprotective mates are like to be around.”
I snort, swatting his hand away. “Right. Well, before we discover all that—how long are you going to let the humans out there blunder about before going to talk some sense into them? I’m no expert, but handing Owalin everything he wants does not appear to be a winning strategy.”
River squeezes my shoulder, shaking his head at the window. “Fair point. Let me get my coat.”
10
Lera
“What do you mean they have no interest in working with us?” Tye asks River five minutes later. The rain that started with sudden violence earlier is finally pattering off to a slow drizzle, the droplets snaking down the glass like tears. “Have the human royals lost what little wits they had to begin with?”
Taking off his jacket, River hangs it on the back of the chair by the fire to dry and runs a hand through his short dark hair. From what I saw through the window, the male was barely allowed to enter the humans’ command tent, much less listened to.
“They fear getting caught between two warring immortal armies.” River drops into a chair, tapping his finger on the wood. “The Fothom king kept pointing out that Owalin is creating enough problems without anyone wanting to worry about our hidden intentions.”
