Song of Blood and Reign

Chapter 45

"...take almost two weeks to get the armies from all four territories ready to go. It's the supplies and weaponry that'll take a few days to gather. They're already starting to, though," Emmeric had been saying, pulling the map of Dalcaine over the one of Escarral. "The good thing is, with Camilla and Soren still with Bence in the capital city, we've got someone there already. There are still over two hundred and fifty of Dalcaine troops there. We haven't gotten word from them recently, though, have we?"

Jai shook his head. "Nothing. The only thing was what Bence said in his last message about them coming back in a few weeks. We haven't gotten anything from anyone ever since. They should have been here by now, so at least we know why they're not."

"We have other options, though, don't we? In getting more support there?" Bridget asked then. Lyv could feel her eyes shift to her, worried. "Obviously, Alberich and I will go as soon as we can with Chesnan. We'll help with the organization here until we launch."

Allel shifted forward, nodding down to the small drawing of Blackloch. "I've sent Kalla a message and she's already gotten back to me. They were already on their way here. Her scouts watching the Keep had notified her of a mass movement by Corliss, though not one by sea. She was coming to warn us in person and also to lend her best people, along with herself. She'll have a dozen ships here within an hour or so, according to her last message."

"You can't forget about my males either," Drue went on then. "They're sobering up now and should be ready to go at a moment's notice. We've got three of Asturia's largest and fastest ships, both ready with weapons should we need more."

"And we'll have dragons by the time we're ready to leave," Thia finished off. "I sent a message to Donovan in Eld. He'll have a dozen riders and their dragons here probably within by the time Kalla shows, armored and ready to go. Not to mention Erly and Roshan. And Allel in her own dragon form, of course."

Jai was the one to lean forward then, pointing to the port town on the northeastern shoreline of Oria. "We'll head here. Lyv, Gideon, and I know the men who work there."

"If they're still alive."

Lyv's whisper shattered the seriousness of the room. She couldn't even meet their eyes, all of their attentions shifting to her.

Jai gently squeezed her hand. "Lyv, you can't think like that."

She swallowed hard, nodding. "I can. And I am. I know how Corliss and Guinevere both work. They destroy everything they touch. Just like I did whenever I was with them."

"Lyv, darling..." Bridget began. She reached over and tried tucking Lyv's hair behind her ear, but Lyv pushed her hand away.

"We should have already been there," she choked out. "We should have already been there so I could see Bence and my sisters. I love you all, but I love them, too. If we were already there visiting, Ada, Gyver, and the children would have been in the city. They wouldn't have been in the Ceron stronghold. They wouldn't be dead right now."

She was moving then, setting Elys on his feet. He swayed with the sudden motion and Bridget had to grab him up before he stumbled sideways from sleepiness. Lyv barely registered Jai speaking to her, asking her to wait. She just needed to get out of there, needed to breathe. Clutching at her chest, she couldn't get a steady breath into her lungs and felt her panic clogging her throat.

Lyv's back slammed into the wall beside the council room door. Head leaned back, she closed her eyes, still trying to suck in a breath that wouldn't come. With her panic rising, her magic was wild inside her, both light and dark. They both wanted to get out, wanted to get her to Escarral as quickly as she could to have even the slimmest chance of saving the rest of her family there.