Alliance (25 page)

Djilak patted Selene on her good shoulder before standing and brushing the dirt off his pants. “You need to go back home and rest, let your body heal.”

“Thank you, Djilak.” Eldin grasped his arm as he passed. “I’ll join you with the others in a moment.”

Djilak nodded, picked up his bag, and started to leave the cave, but Nykin stopped him before he reached the entrance. “Have you seen the others? The ones from my team?”

“Yes, Nykin.” He smiled, and Nykin relaxed a little. “Apart from a few stitches here and there, they’re all fine.”

“Doesn’t Selene need stitches?” Nykin glanced back over to where Selene was being helped to her feet by Eldin and Jaken. She glared back at him, but he ignored her. “Won’t it heal quicker if it’s sewn up?”

“She’ll be fine without them.” Djilak gave Nykin a fond look. “I know you’re worried, but trust me—Kalesh’s blood will heal that wound just fine on its own.” He turned back to the entrance, and Nykin watched as he headed deeper into the tunnels.

“How do you feel?” Eldin still had his hand on Selene’s good shoulder, not bothering to hide the way he scanned over her, checking for other injuries.

“Not too bad, considering.” She raised her arm a little and flexed her fingers. “It still hurts, but I’ll live.” She glanced over at Kalesh, a soft smile appearing on her face a moment later, and Nykin could imagine the words passing between them. Kalesh then shifted around to face the mouth of the cave and leapt out into the night.

“What about you two?” Eldin turned his assessing gaze on Nykin and Jaken, taking them in from head to toe. “Any injuries?”

“No,” they answered together.

“Good.” Eldin nodded. “I have to go check on the others who were hurt, but there’ll be a meeting for all riders first thing tomorrow in the great hall.” He turned to look at Nykin over his shoulder as he walked toward the entrance. “And Nykin?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You did well out there today.”

Eldin turned the corner and was gone before Nykin had a chance to reply, but when he faced his friends again, both Selene and Jaken grinned at him.

Jaken bumped his shoulder. “Looks like you’re Eldin’s second-in-command now, then. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” Nykin smiled back, still not quite sure how that had happened. He’d only been a rider for a little over a year, and there were others with a lot more experience than he. But then the usual command structure didn’t apply to dragon riders. Eldin and Vashek had the strongest bond, which was why he held the position of lead rider. For Nykin to be his second, he and Fimor must have the next strongest bond, and a warmth settled deep in his chest at that thought.

Selene had recovered some of her color, but she still looked pale. The fact she also had a torn shirt and blood everywhere didn’t help matters. “Let’s get you back home, then.” He looped his arm around her waist, and Jaken hovered by her other side. But Selene didn’t move.

When Nykin glanced down at her, two spots of color appeared on her cheeks, and he suddenly remembered where she’d been staying for the past week.

“Um… I wasn’t planning on going back to my house.”

Nykin shared a look with Jaken. Of course she’d be going back to stay with Lerran. “Guest wing it is, then.” His sleeve pushed up a little where he held Selene, and the flash of silver he saw there gave him an idea.

A
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ABRUPTLY
as it appeared, the dragons’ fire vanished from the sky, leaving Seran’s camp a chaotic mess. Ryneq watched the scene below them, hoping his riders had caused enough damage to give them a fighting chance. “What do you think, Nysad?” He motioned to the fires raging over the other side of the palace walls.

Nysad took a while to answer, his eyes scanning over the camp. “I count more than seven fires still burning. By my reckoning that’s all the catapults destroyed or at the very least severely damaged, and some of the camp too. But Seran has a lot of men, Sire.”

“Yes, he does.” Seran’s army would still outnumber theirs. Ryneq had to hope their defenses, combined with the elves’ magic, would be enough to keep them out. “I’ve asked Eldin to bring his riders to the great hall tomorrow, an hour after sunrise. You should bring Peros and anyone else you think should be there. It could well be the last chance we get before the witch’s final attack.”

“Yes, Sire.” Nysad saluted, and started to give orders to the men on the wall as Ryneq turned to face Lerran.

“Can you pass on the message to the others?”

Lerran nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Ryneq began to walk toward the steps and gestured for Lerran to follow. “And bring along anyone else you see fit, of course.” He wasn’t familiar with all the elves who had come from Alel on the ships. Ryneq’s contact had been limited to the four he’d met in the elven city, but there were ten more who helped patrol the walls.

They were almost to the palace doors when Lerran stopped abruptly, his hand clasping the cuff on his opposite wrist.

“Lerran?” Ryneq watched as some of the color drained from Lerran’s face, and his heart rate picked up. “What’s wrong?”

Lerran’s expression relaxed a little, but he still looked grim. “Selene was injured in the attack. They’re bringing her down from the Eyrie now.” He met Ryneq’s gaze and straightened up. “I would like to go and meet them, if you don’t mind, Sire.”

“Of course.” Although they hadn’t exactly hidden their growing relationship, this would be the first time either Selene or Lerran had openly acknowledged it to Ryneq. Despite his earlier worries about where this was inevitably leading, Ryneq felt surprisingly happy at Lerran’s obvious concern. As king, he had every right to put a stop to their relationship while Selene remained a member of his army. But he would never want to be that sort of king. If Lerran didn’t treat her with the respect she deserved, then it would be different, but the fact Lerran wasn’t attempting to hide their involvement told Ryneq everything he needed to know.

“I’ll come with you.” Ryneq thanked the guards as they opened the palace doors, and they marched down the passageways toward the Eyrie steps. He wanted to know if there were any other riders injured, but that wasn’t the only reason he’d decided to accompany Lerran. Eldin would no doubt be on his way to give him a report of the attack, so Ryneq should be making his way to the war room and not the Eyrie. But he had a good idea who’d be helping Selene down to the palace, and his need to see Nykin overrode everything else in that moment.

Their fight had left him feeling on edge, and Ryneq didn’t want it hanging between them any longer. They had little time as it was, and Ryneq intended to make sure they didn’t waste any more of it arguing. He wished he had a way to contact Nykin when he was out with Fimor. He hated that more than anything. Not knowing what had happened, if anyone had been hurt, and having to wait until they landed in the caves before finding out. But then how did Lerran…?

“How did you know?” Ryneq put his hand on Lerran’s arm to get his attention. “About Selene,” he added when Lerran looked confused. “How did you know that she’d been hurt?”

“Oh.” Lerran smiled, and his gaze dropped to the silver cuff around his wrist.

Ryneq had forgotten all about how the cuffs worked. Of course one of the elves must be up in the Eyrie. But who? And why would they be up there when the witch was attacking the barrier? Before he had a chance to ask, Lerran said the last thing he’d been expecting.

“Nykin told me.”

Ryneq bristled. He couldn’t help it. The thought of Nykin connected to yet another elf, no matter how innocently, had his hackles rising. He forced himself to calm down. The feelings were irrational—Nykin had been given the cuff in Alel, and Ryneq had been fine with it then. Now was no different.

“I didn’t realize it still worked.” They’d reached the doors leading to the Eyrie steps, and Ryneq spoke as he waited for the guards to open them. He had guards posted on every outer door now.

“With everything that’s happened, it slipped my mind. I apologize, Your Highness. If I had remembered sooner, we could have had updates on the attack without waiting for the riders to return to the Eyrie.”

“Aren’t you connected all the time, though?”

Lerran paused at the bottom step. “No. It has to be a conscious decision to make the connection. For elves it’s almost instinctual. Our magic forms the connection as soon as we think it. For Nykin it takes a little more concentration. I suspect he also forgot he had the cuff, until now.”

They heard voices at the top of the steps, and when Ryneq looked up, he saw an annoyed-looking Selene sandwiched between Nykin and Jaken. Both men were trying to help her down, but from the looks of it, she was having none of it.

“Honestly, I’m fine,” Selene insisted, trying to dislodge Nykin’s grip on her arm.

“You had an arrow in you not half an hour ago. Let us help.” Jaken stepped back with his hands up as Selene turned her glare on him and then on Nykin.

Ryneq watched in amusement, Nykin’s exasperated expression making him smile. He and Lerran hadn’t been spotted yet, and he took the opportunity to observe the three of them unnoticed.

“I’m painfully aware of that, and while I’m really grateful for your help earlier, I can walk down the steps on my own.” She glanced between them with an exasperated look of her own. “Please,” she added, and finally both Jaken and Nykin stepped away from her. “Thank you.” She immediately pulled them both back in for a hug before the three of them started down the steps again.

Ryneq knew they were all friends, but he hadn’t appreciated just how close the three of them were. He and Nykin hadn’t really had the chance to talk about their everyday lives. Ever since their escape from Hatak, there always seemed to be something more pressing that needed discussing. He didn’t know Nykin half as well as he thought he did. They’d had so little time together, and with the way things were going, they might not have much more. The realization filled him with regret and longing, a deep ache just under his ribs. He wanted to discover everything there was to know, over lazy mornings in bed or evenings spent in front of the fire in the library.

Their time together had been rushed, and although Ryneq wouldn’t change anything that had happened between them, he wanted the chance to do it all properly. But no matter how he tried to ignore it, lurking at the back of his mind was the thought that he might never get it.

As they got halfway down the steps, Nykin finally looked away from surreptitiously watching Selene’s progress. His smile was immediate, as was Selene’s when Nykin nudged her with his elbow. Ryneq’s answering smile faded as he noticed all the blood staining the front of Selene’s shirt and the way she held her arm protectively against her chest. She still looked in considerable pain, despite her protests to the contrary.

Lerran obviously thought the same, because he was already halfway up the steps, and when he reached the three of them, he slipped in next to Selene and wrapped his arm around her waist. Ryneq noted she didn’t once complain about Lerran’s offer of support, and he laughed softly at the put-out looks on Jaken and Nykin’s faces.

“What happened, Selene?” Ryneq stepped forward to greet them as they reached the bottom.

“I took an arrow to the back, Sire. Nykin and Jaken had to break the shaft and push it through to get it out.” She motioned to the blood all over her with her good hand. “Not all this is mine, though. We used Kalesh’s blood to aid healing.”

“Good. How do you feel now? Have you been checked over by Djilak?”

Selene nodded. “Djilak came before we left the caves. He said the wound should heal by morning if I rest well. And I feel much better already, thank you, Sire.”

“Well I don’t want to keep you from your rest any longer.” He eyed the possessive way Lerran held her and decided there was no point offering her a ride down to the lower town. “I’m sure Lerran can help you get to where you need to be.”

Selene blushed as she bowed her head and let Lerran escort her back inside the palace. Ryneq watched them go before turning back to Jaken and Nykin. “Jaken, are you and your dragon both unscathed?”

“Yes, Sire. We were lucky.” He shifted uncomfortably, glancing between Nykin and Ryneq. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go and see my mother. She’ll be worried.”

When Jaken was out of earshot, Ryneq stepped forward. Nykin had been quiet since he’d seen Ryneq, and Ryneq wanted to end this silence between them right now. He let his gaze travel over Nykin, checking for injury, relieved when he didn’t see any. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” He sighed, looking down at the ground before appearing to steel himself for what he had to say, and Ryneq tensed. “I’m sorry.” He looked up beneath his lashes, and Ryneq was unprepared for the raw vulnerability in Nykin’s expression. “I know you have to stay with your people, our people.” He reached for Ryneq and fisted his hands in the sides of Ryneq’s jacket, and Ryneq moved easily into his embrace, lifting both hands to cup Nykin’s jaw. “I shouldn’t have tried to persuade you otherwise, it’s just… if we leave you behind, it could very well be the last time I see you alive. And that terrifies me.”