Delta [Epsilon #2]

Chapter Seventy

Kyra

******

It was the sound of the drums that roused me from my gentle sleep. I sat up on my elbows, staring out the thin gossamer curtain that blanketed Faelen's bedroom window, trying to see what was happening in the dark outside.

Faelen stirred beside me. I looked at him in the dark, my heart melting at the peacefulness of his face -- making him look wholly innocent. My loins still ached with the memory of yesterday's activities. We'd spent most of the day in this room -- making love and expressing our affections in between. The drums banging in the distance told me today wouldn't be the same, but I didn't know why yet. 

I pushed the blankets down to my navel, exposing my bare chest to the cold night air. Gently, I shoved his shoulder. "Faelen," I hissed. He murmured something back to me in his sleep, so I shoved him again. "Faelen!"

His eyes cracked open at that; his gaze fogged with sleep as he stared at me. A lazy smile captured his lips, and he nuzzled his head against my side. "Morning, beautiful."

"Faelen, listen," I whispered, and we both waited in silence. I watched Faelen's eyes widen in alarm as he tuned into the distant bang of the drums, and I started as he sat up a second later. 

"I've heard that beat before," he said, his face paling slightly. He looked to me, then, his eyes wide and alert. "War drums."

I gaped at him. "So, you mean..."

Faelen nodded, and an icy panic ran through my veins. They were coming... the war was finally here.

And yet... I also felt relieved by the thought. My body buzzed with both anticipation and fear alike as I sprang out of bed, Faelen following suit. Finally... they're coming. Finally, we can put an end to Azriel's reign of terror and live in peace once again. 

Pulling on my undergarments and day clothes, I could feel my heart beating in time with the drums. This was it. This would be the final fight that determined everything. And I was more than ready to end Azriel.

Once I finished dressing, I looked around to find Faelen fully clothed as well. He passed me an inky black cloak -- one that matched his own -- and I could see the similar determination painted on his features. When I took the cloak, he pulled me into a tight embrace and kissed the top of my head. I gripped him back, sending up a silent prayer that he'd be okay. That we'd be okay once this was over. I could tell he was praying for a similar thing.

Pulling back, we intertwined our hands and made our way to the front door. Faelen pushed it open so hard it barked on its hinges, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the outside. The air was cold -- too cold -- and there was not one current on the wind. The critters of the night had fallen silent -- their melodies replaced by the steady beat of the drums -- and everything seemed awfully still. I looked to find the first signs of light brimming on the eastern horizon, even though most the sky was still black and starry.

Without saying a word, we ran towards the sound of the drums. In the centre of the grounds stood a crowd of people, with a few final stragglers exiting the castle to join the masses. Appearance-wise, everyone looked as though they'd just been dragged out of bed, but their faces looked more than ready for war. I think it was a sentiment we all shared.

Faelen and I made haste for the crowd and pushed our way to the front. Nobody seemed to pay us any heed. It seemed everyone was too wrapped up in the anxiety and anticipation that buzzed in the air to notice us. That, or their attention was rapt on the people in the centre of the circle. Several Thetas banged three large crimson drums in sync -- each bang reverberating through my ribcage now that I was right there -- with Alpha Osyn and Luna Darla standing by their sides. Their faces seemed grim, but that fiery determination which burned in all of our gazes burned in theirs as well.