Black Crown (Darkest Drae, #3)(32)

“I don’t think my ticker will continue ticking if there’s too much more than that before the aketons come off,” I said truthfully.

Tyrrik’s eyes heated and he crowded me, pushing my back into the wall as his hand slipped over my collarbone.

The door to Lani’s office opened with a creak.

I jumped and spun, my hands going to my torn gown.

Lani stood in the doorway, glowering. A peek past her revealed the guard Tyrrik had strangled . . . a little. I hadn’t done anything wrong, so why did I feel like I’d been caught with my face in the honey syrup jar?

I cleared my throat, attempting to sound stern. “What’s the news?”

Lani threw me an exasperated look. “Are you kidding me? You’d know if your rampant hormones weren’t tearing the castle apart.”

Graphic, but accurate.

One glance at Tyrrik showed he wasn’t bothered by the queen’s reaction. Of course not.

“So—” I drew the word out until she spoke.

“So, my people are nearly ready to go,” she said, lifting her head enough to include Tyrrik in her scowl.

The elderly and children had departed yesterday at first light for Verald, escorted by a guard of fifty. The rest of the Phaetyn, the vast majority, would march under Lani’s barrier toward Gemond. Tyrrik and I would fly ahead to alert King Zakai.

The morning light had chased away the largest of my doubts. There was so much I had no control over, but Dyter and Cal had been planning this for years. When we got back, a group of us would push on to Azule and rally them to our side. It wouldn’t matter that I had no experience in a war of this magnitude; I was surrounded by those whose only thoughts for years were of tearing down Draedyn. I wasn’t in this alone, and I had to remember that in the days ahead.

“Have you got everything you need?” Tyrrik asked Lani.

She shrugged. “We won’t want for food, and I’ll cloak us the entire way. We have plenty of weapons coated in our blood.” Her face twisted. “I sincerely hope we come across some Druman on the way.”

I wasn’t the only one who wanted revenge, and I suspected Lani’s urge was motivated even more by the need to prove herself to her people.

Me? I needed to make things right. I’d accepted blame for what happened, even if it was because I hadn’t done enough practice and not put enough stock in Tyrrik’s warning of what the emperor could do. I still had to make things right and get Kamoi and Kamini back. If anything happened to them, I’d never forgive myself.

“When do you leave?” I asked, dragging my focus back to the queen as the guard edged around Tyrrik and escaped the room.

“One hour.” Her voice was firm, but there was a wild look in her eyes as if she couldn’t believe what was happening.

I understood. None of this felt real even though the evidence was all around us. “Al’right,” I said, glancing between Tyrrik and the Phaetyn queen. I took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

The Phaetyn queen lifted her chin, the ghost of a smile softening her lips. She arched a brow and said, “You might want to get dressed first.”





13





Halfway to Gemond, the sharp, acrid smell of ash settled on the tip of my sensitive tongue. I exhaled, hoping the scent would diminish as we flew—perhaps the smoke was just a fire from one of the settlements of Gemond elders. Maybe they were burning their useless huts and making their way back to the hub of the kingdom now that the land was healing.

The darkness of night did nothing to obstruct my vision in this form, but the jutting peaks of the mountain ranges hid the valleys ahead, and the low-hanging clouds concealed the rising trail of the smoke.

Do you smell that?

I swallowed before answering. I’d hoped it was just me.

No. Definitely not just you.

The strain in Tyrrik’s voice was palpable through our mental bond. When he increased his speed, I knew something was wrong.

What is it? I narrowed my eyes. Don’t tell me you can see through clouds. Because that would not be fair.

What clouds? he asked, glancing up at the sky. Ryn . . .

I swiveled my long neck to glance up, and the stars winked at me. Peering back the way we’d come, I saw the velvet stretch of night to Zivost was blemished only by celestial lights. I faced Gemond again, flattening my Drae form to cut through the air, and Tyrrik’s sympathy hit me.

I stared at the haze as the smell of smoke got stronger and stronger. We were still quite a way from Gemond . . .

What was on fire? Something huge to cause this much smoke. My heart fell, and a crushing weight forced the air from my lungs. My vision blurred, but the murkiness covering the tops of the mountains didn’t fade. Mistress Moons. Where was it coming from? I pumped my wings harder, sucking in the pungent air, the stench growing with every mile, and my certainty of the smoke’s origin growing with it.

The smoke hung over the main center of the Gemond kingdom. Tyrrik pushed us higher into the clean air, but the closer we got, the higher we were forced to go to escape the pollution.

The sun rose, and with the light of day, the gray haze hung over the entire Gemond valley. When we finally descended into the kingdom proper, my mind blanked as I surveyed the destruction.

The homes of the Gemondians were gone as were the barns, the market buildings, shops, storehouses . . . every single structure was destroyed. The scorched ground extended as far as I could see. Only three charred walls, the remains of the buildings, jutted out of the blackened earth like broken, crumbling teeth. The closer we got to the mountain where Zakai’s castle resided, the heavier my heart became until I was swallowing back nausea.