Solar Reign

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"NO. NO, no no. Absolutely not, are you insane?"

Callum was pacing back and forth in the throne room, hands resting on his head. He wouldn't look Andorra in the eye. "You went to Averotho to get these guys off of our backs, not to bring the Prince here to stay!"

"His father was like, one hundred percent likely to murder Ero after I stole from him. There really wasn't a choice." Andorra looked at Oberon, but didn't say anything about what she knew. "Besides, the more the merrier, right? He'll be fine."

"He'll be a backstabbing spy for his father!" Callum finally came to a stop, looking at Andorra, fuming. "How are you okay with this?"

"Human heart, remember?" She blew out a long sigh. "I get you're upset for my safety, but c'mon. Have some faith in me, alright? Besides, isn't it a good thing if we have the enemy Prince in our sights? He can't be scheming too much if we have him pinned here. We control what he sees and hears. I think it's better that we can keep him with us. Makes it harder for him to be sneaky."

Callum held Andorra's stare, deciding whether or not to fight her on it. "I'm glad you're back, I am." He rubbed his forehead, his shoulders dropping. "It's been bad without you here, Andorra. I'm keyed up because of it. I do have faith in you."

Andorra's grin widened substantially. She stepped forward, arms outstretched. "Is this where we hug it out?"

Callum's withering glare told her he absolutely wanted no such thing, but Andorra wrapped her arms around the Shadow fae and squeezed him tightly. "I appreciate you, you know. I promise I'll calm down, now that I'm back. No more scares for you to deal with."

"Yeah, yeah," Callum grumbled.

"But, we may have to start preparing for war. The King is going to be supremely pissed off when he finds out I've stolen his son and his Asrai."

Callum tilted his head. "You never did explain that piece of the puzzle. What was up with that? And was it worth the trouble?"

"I met the Asrai, off the coast. They told me that they would accept my rule as Queen if I saved their sister. And I was already going to Averotho, so I killed two birds with one stone. Not really sure what she was doing there in the first place."

"Oh, I do. The King was harvesting her powers, for sure."

"Which are?" Andorra never did figure it out.

"The Asrai have the power of healing with their tears. Not like how you can heal, either. Their tears heal ailments, any sort of sickness, and can prolong life. I'm going to assume the King was keeping her around to keep himself alive."

"The Drink of Life." Andorra recalled the Asrai saying that to her. And the vials lined up against the walls, full of some sort of clear liquid. "I think you're right. And I think he may be selling her tears. Or using them for something. Either way, he'll bring war to us for that action alone, never mind me refusing to sign his contract."

Callum snorted. "So you damned us for an Asrai?"

"No, I damned us the minute I refused the King of Averotho. He wanted to steal our powers, Callum. Not just mine, or yours, but every single one of us. And if any of us refused, that was it. He would fight us anyway. There was no possible way I was going to force all of us to do that."

Callum swallowed the lump in his throat, looking away. It was one thing to make the King of Averotho upset. It was another thing to destroy what little chances they had at an allyship. "We need to call a meeting, then. One in which my father is involved. I know you don't really want him here, but he knows a lot of things, including how to battle in a war."