Page 53 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

Ronan huffed out a laugh. “I missed you too, Bast.”

“I mean it, Ronan. I thought I was dead for sure. Those men came out of the sky and...” He sighed and shook his head.

“Loren?”

“I don’t know. They separated us, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. If anyone can single-handedly fend off their captors, it’s the pride of Glimmermere.” Loren’s skills were legendary. The man had been a finalist in Erebos’s trial for a reason.

“I’m sure you’re right,” Bast said, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Wherever he is, I’m sure Loren is already working on a rescue plan to come save me as we speak.”

CHAPTER18

EREBOS

“High Lord, are you sure this is—”

“Leave me.”

“But, sir...” His general trailed off, looking beyond uncomfortable.

Erebos raised a brow. “Yes?”

Dominic rolled his lips together, biting back whatever words of warning he desperately wanted to impart. He’d never seen a man so torn between his conscience and the desire to follow a direct order.

“Well, spit it out.”

“It is only that we do not know these lands, and you did not allow me to bring a full contingent. How can I ensure your safety if you insist on being left out here alone?”

“Do you think me incapable of looking after myself?” His deceptively soft snarl was a warning to treadverycarefully. A warning that did not go unnoticed.

Dominic gulped, a rare display of vulnerability from the man known throughout the realm as the Vulture. “Of course not.”

“Is it your own skills you doubt?”

“Never.”

“Then I don’t see the problem.”

“How can I protect you if you are sending me away?”

Erebos barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Loyalty in a follower was all well and good until it infringed on one’s right to privacy. The goal was to find one who served without question. Dominic seemed to have missed that very vital part of the memo.

“I am going to go over there”—he pointed to the cliff jutting out over the sea no more than twenty feet away—“to meditate. What exactly do you think is going to happen to me?”

“You could fall, or—”

“Now you’re insulting me. Go. Stand guard from over there if you must, but do not, under any circumstances, interrupt me until I am finished. Or you will be the one falling off the cliff. Do you understand?”

“Yes, High Lord.”

Erebos spun away from the other man and walked over to the lookout. He hated the necessity of traveling with a caravan. But the High Lord of Empyria could hardly make a trip of this magnitude alone. He could, however, insist everyone fuck off when he needed quiet time to focus.

Eyes closed, he drew the sea and salt scent of the air deep into his lungs. The distant crash of the waves below was a perfect distraction to quiet his mind.

He was getting close now.

He could feel it.

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