Glass of Revenge

~19~

Lyria scowled at the men gathered before her in distaste. Human men were all so much the same, so selfish and puffed up with their own sense of self-importance, the arrogance and vanity, so constantly jockeying for power. Not that they knew what real power was. You wouldn't know what real power was unless you were born Fae, Lyria thought bitterly. But enough of that. She had a job to do.

For Lyria had not heard from Sam Cortland since Athril had 'rescued' him, either not knowing or caring that her hold over him was too strong, that he would almost certainly die from shock if she ever released him. Not that she would, he was far too valuable to her alive. But what concerned her was that she hadn't seen or heard from him since Athril had taken him. Not a single whisper. And that frightened her more than she could possibly say; for despite herself, Lyria had truly grown to care for him, more than she cared for the man she had married in name only for the sake of her revenge.

From the latest report that Lyria's spies had given her, Athril had fled north to Terrasen, with a witch coven and Sam in tow. Just the thought of Athril fleeing made Lyria smile broadly. She had hated Athril soundly from the moment he had first brought the news that her Rowan's little queen bitch was expecting his child and the thought of him running away out of fear, brought her a round a savage pleasure.

But it was the fact that Sam had yet to make contact with her that scared Lyria the most. Resourceful as the child had to be, he should have been able to find a messenger with whom to entrust a letter. By now he should have been in the north long enough to gather a sufficient amount of information to actually send a letter.

The very fact that he hadn't, 'frightened' her desperately. It had made her worry that something had gone wrong with the plans she had created. Had something happened to Sam? Had something happened that prevented him from sending a letter? Had he been captured? Or tortured? Or had they merely imprisoned him again?

If Athril and that witch coven had imprisoned him after reaching the royal court of Terrasen, or worse, if Rowan and that bitch-queen had ordered the imprisonment, then Lyria would never be able to forgive them nor forget. She hated them all. Hated them more than words could ever possibly say.

Which led her to the choice she had just made, the human men gathered before her. Declaring war like this did not scare her. She was not afraid of losing a few human men in battle. Why would she be? They were only human, after all. It would have been different if they were Fae. It was a shame to lose Fae lives during war, but not human lives. After all, humans mattered very little.

No, a full-blown war just to ensure the safety of one informant, a full-blown war to ensure the continued safety of her mate, and to bring her beloved mate back to the loving embrace of her arms did not scare Lyria one bit. Quite the opposite actually. In fact, Lyria did not know why she hadn't thought of open war as a possibility earlier, as all her other plans had taken far too long to come to fruition.

"You know your orders," Lyria told the men assembled before her, speaking simply and quietly, but not without authority. A dozen or so of the most important, most powerful nobles in Adarlan. Among them was Lord Davis Westfall, father of Lord Chaol Westfall, who had defected to Terrasen a couple of months back. "Return to your homes, raise your men and your armies, and then return here to Rifthold. Once fully assembled, we'll finally be able to march North on Terrasen."

"But what offence has Terrasen given to warrant raising such a force to march on them? What offence have they given that requires a declaration of war?" Lord Davis Westfall queried, voicing aloud what many of the other men were thinking. "To declare war, to openly march open an enemy, without defiance sent, without being given offence—"

"Do you not want to punish your son for openly abandoning his country, the king he was destined to serve, for a foreign queen?" Lyria hissed at him slyly, smirking as the others started in shock. "Do you not want to teach him his place? To show him that such treachery will no longer be permitted? To show him that it will no longer be permitted for an Adarlanian to serve a foreigner?"