Crown of Beauty and Vengeance

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Lyv kept herself occupied over the following two days by training with Roshan and watching him finally breathe fire, helping out those seeking shelter in the city, and healing everyone who was still injured. Thia and Laurel were almost always there with her, which was what she was needing. The males in her life were making things more complicated, so she needed a break.

The only male who she wanted to be around was Alberich. Maybe it was just coincidence running into him all the time, but he seemed to always be there, watching her care for those in the shelter and work her healing magic over them. He even watched from the distance when she was with Roshan, a slight smile on his face. They spoke to one another here and there, but they didn't really talk like they had the first day they met. Most of the time, Jai was with him, too, which made Lyv want to stay away. Mate or not, she needed some time away from him to sort through everything that happened with Destan.

Destan...gods, he wouldn't even talk to her. He, too, kept himself busy, especially when they began evacuating those who were well enough to travel. With her mother's fleet even closer to Dalcaine, there was no way they were going to keep them there with a war coming. Destan didn't leave with them, though, knowing he was needed more in the city.

Their last meeting was larger than the one they had when Lyv and Jai first arrived. In addition, the commanders of each territory's troops joined and so did Alberich. Destan wasn't though, as he was helping with the last of the evacuees begin their journey to their shelter in the mountains north of Silverstone Lake. Everyone was constantly in the leather and metal armor, including Lyv herself. They were ready whenever Queen Guinevere decided to strike.

Lyv sat back just to listen, not surprised by the information they had gotten on her mother. She was closer than they realized now and would be there before they knew it.

"Good thing we already started the evacuations," Alberich said, pressing his fist to his mouth as he stared at the map. "At least she's lost a few more ships. She's coming over with less than half of what she had when she left Escarral. And we still don't know what's on that ship?"

"We still think its enchanted fire," Camilla told him. "It's the only thing that would be able to do what it's done to the merfolk who have gotten close enough."

"When Lyv and I flew over with the dragons, someone was on it," Thia said then. "She said he was..."

"His name is Mik," Lyv said, speaking for the first time as she looked up at them all. "He was the one who almost killed Jai with the venom-soaked dagger and took me last week."

When she had seen him standing on the bow of the ship, Lyv hesitated, wondering how her mother had ever made an alliance with him or if it was just through association with another. She looked around for his mate Allel but couldn't see her. Not that she would even be able to be on that ship with him. There was something sinister on it, a magic that could destroy whatever it was aimed at. And currently, it was aimed at the Asturian stronghold.

"He was the one you said had been working with Kalla, right?" Alberich asked. He was closer then, kneeling down in front of her chair as he put his hand on the armrest of her chair.

Lyv nodded. "He and his mate Allel. They disappeared when Jai came. I don't think they ever made it back, not that Kalla was upset about that."

"Do you remember either of them saying anything about what your mother has?"

"No...but Kalla said that my mother made an alliance with someone she shouldn't have. She'd been under their control as well. Kalla, I mean. That's why she had to do what she did to Asturia."