* * *
He was doing everything wrong. He knew it.
He shouldn’t let her stay and get embroiled in the hell that was coming next. That decision was more selfish than anything he had done while under the influence of that damned assassination spell.
By accepting her decision to stay, he was putting her life at risk—and as they continued to deepen their mating bond, by extension, he was adding greater risk to his own.
All that paled in comparison to the fact that she had just chosen to give up her life in New York and stay.
Mine. Mine. Mine. The possessive word beat in his mind to the rhythm of his pulse. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to mark her. His hands shook as he framed her face.
She was giving up more than just her former life—as if that wasn’t enough. She was giving up privacy and the freedom to act as an individual without taking the needs of an entire demesne into consideration. She was going to make a fierce, splendid queen.
He muttered against her mouth, “You’re never sleeping in the Queen’s apartment. Not without me anyway.”
An unsteady laugh shook through her. “As crazy as this has been, we’re going to have a long time to figure everything out. I do like the idea of having my own space, and I’m not going to give up practicing medicine somehow, but there are more urgent things to think about right now—like how many people are waiting impatiently on the other side of that door for us to get our act together so they can plan a war.”
“I know.” With an immense effort, he managed to let her go. Now had turned into a shining certainty that killed off the hollow rot, but as soon as they opened the door they would let in all other kinds of uncertainties and risks. He told her, “I’m putting a guard on you at all times.”
She heaved a sigh but for a wonder didn’t argue. “Fine.”
He needed to move forward and tackle this fresh hell that Isabeau brought, but he lingered long enough to touch her lips with a finger as he promised, “No matter what else happens, we’ll sleep together again tonight.”
Her gaze lit. “Yes,” she agreed. “No matter what.”
It was everything he wanted—the only thing he wanted—and it was far more than he thought he would ever get from her. “Okay then?”
Squaring her shoulders, she gave him a nod.
With that, he strode over to open the door and let the rest of the world back in.
In the hall, the others stood in small clusters, talking in low voices. They turned to face him, and he gestured them in. As they entered, they glanced between him and Kathryn warily. Annwyn and Rowan picked up the map and scattered weights and set them back on the table. This time everyone took a seat except Oberon.
He put a hand on Kathryn’s shoulder and stood behind her. How should he begin this? “We have a lot to cover,” he said. “Nobody knows that more than I do, but first we should address what just happened. Everybody in this room knows that I successfully transitioned to full Wyr before I had to go into stasis, correct?”
“Yes, sir.” This time Malin, one of his generals, answered.
“There are… repercussions to living life as a full Wyr,” he told him. “Some of those you may not have considered before now. Kathryn and I have begun to mate, and the Wyr mate for life—but if they are aware of what’s happening early enough in the process, they can choose to end it. We’ve been struggling with that choice, and we’ve just decided to go ahead and see what we can make of our new lives together. That means Kathryn would be my Queen, but many of you don’t know her, or at least don’t know her well. So I have to present this to you. Will you accept her? If you won’t, I need to abdicate right away so Annwyn can step into place as the rightful ruler of Lyonesse as quickly as possible.”
He felt Kathryn stiffen with surprise as he talked. She tried to turn to look at him, but he tightened his fingers, silently urging her to stay put.
Annwyn snorted. “If you think I’m going to step into your shoes after everything I did to get you back, you’d better think again. Your argument was certainly disruptive and uncouth, but other than that, Kathryn is a lovely surprise.” She looked at Kathryn. “I don’t know whether to offer you congratulations or condolences.”
“Hey—Ann,” Oberon growled. “I’m standing right here.”
“Personally, I’m crushed,” Rowan muttered. He winked at Kathryn.
Smiling, Owen spoke up. “While I haven’t known you long, I’ve seen only generosity and kindness from you. I’ve also been down into the crystal cave, so I have an inkling of how hard you fought to save his majesty’s life. And clearly you are strong-minded enough to stand up to him should you find it necessary. We would be blessed to have you come live with us.”
“Thank you, Owen,” Kathryn murmured. “That means a lot.”
“We just got you back,” Gawain said to Oberon. “We’re not letting you go again. You wouldn’t bring anybody into our lives that we can’t accept. If you love them, we’re going to love them too.” His rough expression was severely at odds with his words. “So right now, I think we need to move on to discuss other things. Dr. Shaw, you need to explain just exactly what you meant when you said Oberon is not as healed as he looks.”
Chapter Eighteen
“You’re absolutely right,” Kathryn replied. “His health is much more important than whether or not people like me, although…” Covering Oberon’s hand on her shoulder, she squeezed his fingers and told him, “…I appreciate everything that’s been said. Oberon had to undergo major surgery for me to successfully remove Morgan’s needle. That’s what Owen was alluding to. He can’t do any heavy lifting for one week—four more days. He can resume training carefully in two weeks, but he can’t go into physical combat for three and a half more weeks. If he takes a hard enough blow to the chest right now, it will very likely kill him.”
Dismayed silence greeted her words.
Then Annwyn said heavily, “Then we have to make certain he doesn’t take a hard blow to the chest.”
“Exactly,” Kathryn said. “Thank you. I didn’t trust him to tell you, which is why I went against every ethic in my profession and broke doctor-patient confidentiality.”
Anger resurged. He snapped, “That was not acceptable, Kathryn.”
“I’m not sorry, so there’s no point in yelling at me for it,” she told him. She rubbed her face. “But I promise I won’t do it again.”
“There are other ways to fight than the physical,” Oberon reminded their onlookers. “Moving on—our troops are scattered, with some stationed in various places here in Lyonesse and some on assignment in Other lands. And Lyonesse hasn’t seen a decent harvest in years. Should I assume food stores are low?”
“You should,” Annwyn said grimly. “We’ve begun to rectify that by transporting in grains and other supplies, but there’s more than one problem—some shipments have reached Raven’s Craig, but not nearly enough. Then there’s the problem of what to do for food here in the city. We’re going to get more and more refugees pouring in, and Owen was just telling me that the granaries in the lower city were flooded. The stores there are ruined.”
Gawain pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hopefully those flocking here will bring some supplies with them, but how much that might be will be anybody’s guess. And it won’t be enough, not for anything long term.”
Oberon watched Annwyn. “How are we doing on funds?”
“We have investments in England that have done very well recently,” she told him. “But, unfortunately, the capital has gotten depleted, especially with a few recent major transactions.”
“Don’t worry about money right now,” Kathryn spoke up unexpectedly. “I have some. There’s quite a bit in the family fortune, which I have almost never touched, and I’ve made a good amount on my own. I own my apartment in Manhattan, which is worth a couple million dollars. I also own another flat in London that’s worth at least that much.”
Silence fell in the room, and everyone regarded her gravely. Deeply
moved by their expressions, Oberon squeezed her shoulder again.
Gawain said softly, “That is extraordinarily generous of you, Doctor.”
She shook her head. “I made the choice to stay, and I’m not going to do it halfway. I’m all in with you now.”
“And we will be the better for it,” Owen told her.
He’s right, Oberon told her telepathically. I couldn’t have chosen better if I had sat down and written out a list of requirements for what I would have liked in a mate and a Queen.
She looked up at him with a gleaming smile.
He cleared his throat. “So—our fighting force is depleted and overextended, we have a population that’s already been uprooted and is about to become more so, and the housing here is damaged and inadequate. We have some food, but not enough, and it’s in all the wrong places.”
Rowan added, “And we only have one puck, who doesn’t have the best track record for showing up and following through with tasks.”
Oberon nodded. “Now, let’s talk about Isabeau.” It was growing difficult to discuss the challenges they faced without engaging in physical activity. He let his hand drop from Kathryn’s shoulder and prowled around the room. “Annwyn, you said her army was scattered and depleted as well.”
“It is. The problem is, she’s not here with her army.” Annwyn rubbed her face. “Gracelyn, show them what you’ve got.”
One of Oberon’s senior captains, Gracelyn stood. Mostly Light Fae, she had a streak of troll in her ancestry, which gave her a height that nearly matched Oberon’s, along with gray, heavy features, and a wide, powerful build.
For the first time he noticed she had been gripping a rolled cloth throughout the meeting. She shook it out and threw it on the table. It was a banner from an Elder Races demesne he didn’t recognize. He stared at the red-and-black castle. Underneath, the word ARKADIA had been stitched.
“Does anyone know who this is?”
Silence around the table until Kathryn said tentatively, “I think I might. Arkadia is a Light Fae demesne out of Russia.” She twisted around in her seat to face Oberon. “I didn’t want to tell you some things while you were under Morgan’s spell, and I certainly don’t want to tell you like this, but I met with Morgan several times in New York before coming here.”
“You what?” He could barely believe what he was hearing.
She winced. “I knew you wouldn’t take it well, not until you’d had a chance to absorb the fact that he had been Isabeau’s slave. He was never a willing participant in the things she made him do, but he was part of the focus of your hatred for so long….” She let her voice trail away.
He stared at Annwyn. “Did you know about this?”
With a sour tilt to her mouth, she nodded. “I initiated the meeting. I still want to kill him, but I’m willing to concede that desire may be irrational at this point.”
His gaze snapped back to Kathryn. For a terrible moment the old paranoia came back. How could he mate with someone who could withhold such vital information from him? And Morgan’s spells were so sophisticated. How could he trust that the sorcerer hadn’t unduly influenced Kathryn in some diabolical fashion?
She saw his instinctive withdrawal, and she didn’t flinch away from it. “You may have to take a while to digest this information, and that’s perfectly okay and normal.” The expression in her steady gaze was calm and accepting. “Just don’t let your reaction keep you from hearing the rest, okay?”
After a moment’s inward struggle, he bit out, “Fine. What else?”
Kathryn continued. “Morgan and a perfectly wonderful musician named Sidonie met when Sidonie was kidnapped and taken to Isabeau as a gift of tribute. They fell in love and started working together to break the geas. Robin was there too, but they didn’t tell me much about his role in things. While they were searching for a way to free themselves, there was a Light Fae nobleman named Valentin at Isabeau’s court. He was visiting from another demesne called Arkadia and courting Isabeau’s hand in marriage. Sidonie ended up killing him when he threatened her with rape. Then Isabeau tried to force Morgan into betraying who had done it.” She took a deep breath. “It was clearly a very painful subject for them, so I’m a little sketchy on the details of what happened next, but that crisis created an opportunity for Morgan to break free from the geas.”
“Why did they tell you this?”
“Since I had already agreed to come, I think he was trying to warn me about the various players that might be in action in your conflict,” she said thoughtfully. “He said he always wondered what would happen when Arkadia discovered one of their own had been killed. He’s been hoping it wouldn’t bring more trouble for Sidonie—they have a small band of Hounds with them, and the group has been living at high alert since breaking free from Isabeau’s control.”
“So somehow Isabeau persuaded Arkadia to go to war with her?” Rowan swore. “Why in hells would they do that? We can’t catch a fucking break here.”
Oberon let out a sigh that turned into a low growl of frustration. “Maybe we’ll find out what motivated them, but at this point the whys don’t matter. They’re here now, and we’ve got to figure out how to get rid of them. Gracelyn—how did you capture that banner?”
She compressed her lips while unshed tears glittered in her small eyes. “I was in command of a hundred troops and charged with defending the Tellemaire crossover passageway. We were pretty confident we could hold it. You know what defending a passageway is like.”
He did. Crossover passageways were a specific kind of land magic that created narrow pathways from one land to another. To use one successfully, one had to enter at one end and follow the correct path of magic. Walking at a diagonal line across a crossover passageway didn’t work. You had to walk through it.
In many ways, protecting a passageway was like defending a narrow mountain pass, just without the high physical walls. It took relatively few soldiers to defend a passageway against an invading force.
“Go on,” he said.
“They took out the troops I’d stationed on the other side of the passageway, in Wales, but we caught them before they got all the way through, and for a while we did well at holding them back.” Gawain gripped her shoulder when her gravelly voice broke. After a moment, she continued, “But it didn’t matter how many Arkadians we killed—they kept coming and coming, and the dead kept piling up…. After a while we were fighting on a hill of bodies. Most of my hundred troops died in that passageway. When I realized we weren’t going to be able to hold them, I sent riders to Raven’s Craig and the other passageways. The last of us held on as long as we could to make sure they got away with the news. The six I brought with me are the last troops from Tellemaire.”
Grief and anger—it always came back to those when dealing with Isabeau, he thought. The room was heavy with it when she finished.
After a moment, he cleared his throat. “Were you able to get any idea of how many Arkadian troops they have?”
“There must be thousands,” she whispered. “Maybe five thousand? Seven? We were too busy running to get an accurate count.”
“Dear gods!” Owen’s face blanched.
“She really means to exterminate us this time,” Malin said bitterly. “Because there’s no way we can hope to hold against an army of that size, not as broken as we’ve become.”
“That’s enough,” Oberon snapped. “I don’t want to hear any of you talking like that again.” He stared around the table. Every one of them had arrived exhausted and spent. With calm deliberation, he told them, “You have fought against impossible odds for too long, and it’s a major triumph that we can all sit here together again. I’m incredibly grateful that I now get the chance to look you in the eye and tell you how proud I am of what you’ve accomplished. You are miraculous and heroic, and I’m honored to call you my friends.”
Annwyn wiped her face. She was so fierce and strong-minded, he had not seen her tears since they were children. Not until today.
/> He paused to let his words sink in. Then he said, “Now, I’m going to order you to do the same thing as the others—go eat and rest. Get your needs met and be prepared to ride at a moment’s notice. I’ll let you know what my plans are soon enough, so you’d better get at it.”
Everyone except Kathryn rose to their feet and obeyed. When the last one left, Oberon closed the door again, leaving him alone with Kathryn.
Leaning back against the door, he smiled at her. She didn’t return it. She sat with her chair at an angle from the table, her legs crossed and chin resting on the heel of one hand as she regarded him with that steady, intelligent gaze.
Admiration stirred. She had a spine made of steel. Crossing his arms, he told her, “You can always change your mind again and leave. I guarantee no one would blame you if you did, not even me.”
Her eyebrows rose, and a spark of anger snapped across her face. “Fuck. You.”
He laughed quietly. His cat was a little confused that he was mating with a bird, but other than that, it was deliriously happy. Living in the now.
She studied him as if he were a strange biological specimen she’d never seen before. “I’ve never heard a briefing so grim,” she remarked. “It was already clear before that Lyonesse is broken. There’s no way you can stand against an army of that size.”
“No, we can’t,” he agreed. “Right now, we can’t even muster a decent enough guard to protect this city. Thankfully, the Tellemaire passageway is far enough to the west that we have some time before the Arkadian forces can reach here.”
Rubbing her forehead, she studied the map spread on the table. “That gives us… what, maybe three weeks’ time to figure something out before they get here?”
“If we wait that long before we take action, they’ll be spread all over Lyonesse like a terminal disease,” he replied wryly. “I can’t let that happen. Besides, three weeks isn’t going to give us enough time to fix what’s broken here. If I stretch your restrictions…”
She snapped, “I said three and a half weeks, and with good reason. I never said three or less.”
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