Chapter 683 Don’t Worry, She Knows A Guy
SHADOWCLAW – WEST WALL
The Master Mage of Shadowclaw was the only person in Skardos aware that at least two separate kingdoms were under siege. Drakenfell was currently mid-battle. Aeron needed to inform Shadowfell’s future Luna because her plan likely involved using dragons to fight dragons.
He spotted her and Captain Ravenhall on the West Wall. He was going with his gut again. She deserved to know what was happening.
He closed the distance, catching the tail end of her orders to Ravenhall.
“—defensive formation on the outer walls. Archers high, infantry low. I want overlapping sight lines on the southern and eastern approaches.”
Captain Ravenhall paused. Aeron watched his face go through a quick recalibration journey.
“Yes, Luna,” he said after a full three seconds.
The Captain turned and left at a pace that was now fully running.
Serena looked at Gamma Knox, who was flanking her, waiting for orders.
“Knox. Is the security around the Alpha’s chambers—”
“Tripled as instructed, Luna.”
“Thank you, Knox. I also want one guard stationed inside the room itself. One that he trusts. And I want a mage that Aeron trusts in that room as well. The Alpha is unconscious and unable to defend himself and that room becomes the highest-value target in this castle if the walls are breached.”
“Yes, Luna. I’ll add that.”
“Serena,” Aeron said. “A word. In private.”
???
SHADOWCLAW – WAR ROOM
“Why didn’t anyone inform me?” Serena asked with something close to hurt behind her eyes.
“Because you would drop everything to protect them. Which would be a problem because your shadow tether sinks deeper the more you use your magic. The cloak weakens when you are upset.”
Serena dragged a hand down her face.
The hand drag was the universal gesture of women everywhere who had been ’protected’ by men who forgot to ask if she wanted protecting.
“I am not stupid, believe it or not,” she said dryly. “That is not a difficult concept to grasp. I was already aware of it, actually.”
Aeron’s mouth twitched. He had never once questioned her intelligence. Her judgment, occasionally. Her self-preservation instincts, frequently. Her intelligence, never.
“If people you love are in danger, you would step in to save them, Serena. You and I both know it. Prove them wrong on that. Because we need our Luna here,” Aeron replied. “I respect the men giving the orders. I understand the logic. However, my Alpha is Finnick Shadowclaw, not Tiberon Drakenfell. And my Alpha is in a coma, which means my Luna is in charge.”
The sentence carried the specific energy of a mage drawing a very clear line in the sand while simultaneously respecting both sides of it. It was the most diplomatically aggressive thing Aeron had ever said, and he had said it while standing perfectly still with his hands clasped behind his back.
Somewhere in Drakenfell, Hyran Thornfell’s left eye twitched and he did not know why. He would learn in a day or so and the knowing was going to require whiskey.
“Thank you for the candor, Aeron. And for trusting me to handle it,” Serena said after a moment.
“Candor is the only free service I provide,” Aeron replied. “Everything else requires a portal, a medical degree, or a level of patience I am not currently in possession of.”
“Shadowclaw is mine to protect too. I am not leaving it to be attacked. And I am not leaving Fin while he is in a coma.”
Aeron looked at her. The looking was the looking of a mage whose professional assessment of his Luna had just been revised upward, and the revision was significant, and the significance was that he had underestimated her and the underestimating was now over.
Serena shook her head. “But between you and me, it is incredibly irritating to have everyone collectively agree to lie to me. It’s not the first damn time they have done that. Last time I went to Orosia to rescue a handful of them because they decided to lie. You were the only one who informed me what was happening then and you are the only one informing me now, and I want you to know that is not something I take lightly.”
Aeron inclined his head. The inclination was small, precise, and carried more genuine respect than most men managed with full bows and three-paragraph speeches.
“I remember,” he said. “My orders are to inform Finnick and let him make the judgement call if you should be evacuated in a tunnel. Finnick is in a coma, which makes you the person the decision goes to.”
Serena had not told anyone about Finnick. In the throne room, when asked where he was, she had been keeping her responses vague. The ugly truth of it was that the more people who knew, the more vulnerable it made Fin and the Shadowclaw pack. She also hadn’t been back to Drakenfell to tell anyone there or she would have told someone there.
The hypocrisy of being furious about people withholding information from her while simultaneously withholding information from people was not lost on her. The difference was that theirs was intentional and hers was not.
“Dragons are going to be occupied in Drakenfell. So we deploy Plan B,” Serena said.
“I was hoping you would say that. Where to?”
???
DRAKENFELL KEEP – DEXMON’S CHAMBERS
Serena pushed the door open and beelined for her bow and quiver. Collected. Done.
She could feel Gavriel and Dexmon both through their matebonds. Both men were calm and focused.
Then she stole a quick glance out the window and her stomach dropped.
The sky above Drakenfell was a war. Green light surrounded dragons in the night sky. She didn’t need to ask to know whose that was. Gavriel’s magic had the subtlety of a fireworks display and the restraint of a golden retriever at a dog park. She could have identified it from one hundred miles away.
A moment of pure pride filled her chest. Gavriel was brand new at magic and he was already surrounding dragons and protecting the Draken Forces with it.
She didn’t want either of them fighting in this. She didn’t want to leave the Draken Forces unprotected. But she trusted them and Gavriel’s magic was powerful. They could handle this.
She had another kingdom to protect. She turned and ran back out into the empty corridor where Aeron was waiting.
“Where to next, Luna?”
“We need a dragon army. This one is occupied. I happen to know another king who is willing to loan me his dragon army.”