Forged by Fire

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: GUNTER

My head was spinning. I was not accustomed to doing paperwork. In my line of work all I had to do was report to the king and he handled the paper part of things. I had only been on the throne for a fortnight and I had seen more files in that time than I had my entire life.

Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked up to find a dark figure standing in the doorway, leaning heavily against the frame. My fists clenched as I stood abruptly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing," I scolded. "You shouldn't be up, are you trying to kill yourself?"

He stumbled into the office, having to grip the back of the chair to keep from falling. I didn't bother moving to help. If he was stupid enough to get out of bed, then he didn't deserve my pity.

"Where is she," he asked.

Even though I thought I knew who he had meant I asked anyways. "Who?"

"Elaine," he growled.

My heart sank. When the guards who brought Jaspan in first told me where they had found him, I had been confused and terrified. He had one hand pressed against his chest, much like right this moment, as if he was trying to hold his life's blood in and the other was clutched around the hilt of her sword. Two days later he had awoken long enough to speak, but the only thing that had passed his lips was her name.

My brother was in love with Lainey. My Lainey.

I hadn't talked to him since. I had peeked in on him constantly, but he had been in bad shape and was drugged up on so much pain medicine it had kept him knocked out. This was the first we had spoken, really spoken, since the incident. And he definitely should not have been up and walking around.

"She's gone," I replied quietly.

His face contorted in pain, but I knew it wasn't physical. He rarely showed his emotions, having a very good neutral mask that he kept in check at all times. Although lately that mask seemed to be slipping more and more. "What are we doing to get her back?"

I sighed and sat back down. "We are doing nothing. You are going to go back to your room and let me handle things."

"No, I'm done lying in that bed. I need to know what's happening. Where is she? What is the plan?"

"Jaspan, you almost died. You're in no shape to deal with this. Let me handle things."

He moved to sit down across from me, his face very pale. "I know. I'm not asking to be in charge of things, I just want the details. You can handle the rest. I trust you."

I considered that. Admitting he trusted me was a big deal. At first, I wasn't even sure I could trust my own judgment, but I was confident in the plan I had put together.

There was no point arguing with him anyway. If I didn't tell him he would probably go to Axel and demand to know the plan, who wouldn't be able to resist. "Alright. I considered going to war but that will take too much time. I don't want to risk waiting any longer to get Elaine back, so I'm taking the fifteen to infiltrate Artem. We can fly there without being spotted. They'll never see us coming."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do? The Draken have stayed hidden this long. I'm afraid this time there'll be witnesses."

I nodded. "We've stayed hidden long enough. It's time."

Jaspan's jaw feathered as he gritted his teeth. I could tell he wanted to agree immediately for Elaine's sake, but as king he had to consider all the risks. Keeping the Draken hidden for so long meant when the time did come to use us, we'd have the element of surprise. Was this situation worth the exposure?