Chapter 13

Holera

Following Exie into the forest, Holera landed in a clearing next to her friend and allowed Kason to climb off her back before shifting back into her fae body. Although she could communicate with the other phoenixes in her phoenix form, she could not speak that way, and they needed to discuss what to do next. 

“His men know he’s back on board,” Kason said, sliding his bow over his shoulder. “There won’t be any way for us to detain him without alerting his friends.” 

Exie kicked at the dirt, her nerves clearly making her antsy. “So, either we let him go or get into a fight with the entire ship of Warbotach merchants? Is that what you’re telling me?” 

It was a scenario Holera had been afraid of. Their kingdom didn’t want to go to war, no matter what the Warbotach soldiers had been intending. “So, what do we do? Do we just let him go? The risk of there being a battle if we enter their ship is too high.”

“Unless…” The tone of Exie’s voice was enough to make Holera clench her teeth because it was one that usually came before an idea that would get them both into trouble.

“I want no part in your schemes, Exie. I already got into enough trouble with Blaedia today. My legs are still sore from chasing arrows all over the mountain and one of those fledglings nearly took my ear off. You can stick whatever your idea is right back in that wild head of yours.” 

Kason chuckled, but didn’t disrupt Holera’s diatribe until it was over. “I hope this doesn’t make you angry with me, my fierce warrior, but I’d like to hear her ideas, even if they're crazy enough to get us into trouble.”

The smirk that grew on Exie’s face only made Holera cringe more, but she didn’t object again as her friend laid out her plan. 

***

The plan was foolish to say the least, but Holera went along with it against her better judgment, mostly because she had been overruled. Although infiltrating the Warbotach ship would be asking for a fight, that was exactly what they planned to do. 

Under the cover of darkness and swooping in from the water, Kason and Exie intended to sneak onto the Warbotach ship and recapture the prisoner. There were about a million things that could have gone wrong with the plan, including getting themselves captured or killed, but Otera had made it clear they needed to prevent the prisoner from leaving Aegricia, so they didn’t see any other options.

 Kason kissed her before he left on her friend’s back, and it had taken nearly everything in Holera to let them go. She was a warrior, so she knew the risks associated with her station in life, but it didn’t make it any easier when doing something that put herself or those she cared about in danger. 

While Exie and Kason took to the skies and out over the water, Holera snuck through the dense forest toward the harbor. Exie intended to drop Kason on the stern and then return once he had the prisoner in hand. While Exie circled overhead and Kason snuck onto the ship to find their target, Holera was to be the lookout.

She waited near the bank, the brush of the forest’s edge and bustle of the port keeping her well hidden, and watched as her friends disappeared into the darkened sky. Time seemed to stand still as she listened for the sounds of yelling, or the clanging of swords, but for many long moments, there was only the sound of merchants and travelers moving around the city. Just when she was warring with herself over whether she should go after them, the first sign of trouble erupted from the water’s edge.

Chapter 14

Kason

Kason had known Exie’s plan was a longshot from the beginning, but they’d had no other choice if they wanted to take the escaped prisoner back into custody before he fled Aegrica. When Exie had first swooped low over the water, allowing Kason to leap onto the poop deck, he’d done so without being seen. With his dagger in hand, he had crept across onto the quarterdeck, his dark hooded cloak disguising his face, and slipped into the galley.

He’d found his target quicker than he’d expected. Seeming to feel confident he was as good as free, the male they’d been looking for was lounging just below deck with an ale in his hand. Holding his dagger at the Warbotach male’s side, Kason had escorted the prisoner back to where Exie had left him only a few minutes before. The problem was, although he’d snuck onto the ship without being seen, his dagger hadn’t been enough of a deterrent, and the male in his hold put up a fight once Exie had appeared in the distance.

Kason tried to neutralize the issue, slamming his fist into the male’s jaw as his dagger clamored to the ground, but Warbotach males were raised to fight, and the strike hadn’t so much as phased the prisoner. Before he knew it, Exie had landed on the deck, shifting into her fae form, and three more Warbotach males had joined them for a full-on brawl.

Ducking a swinging sword, Kason drew his own from its scabbard and pivoted to face two of their attackers. Exie, wielding a blade of her own, slashed at one of the males, hitting him in the arm.

“Cunt!” he barked out, the wound gushing blood as he swung his other arm out, his machete narrowly missing the side of her face.

“You wish you got some!”

Kason couldn’t help but chuckle at Exie’s verbal jab as he pulled his other sword from over his back, slicing both through the air. Although he missed one of his opponents, the male jumping back to avoid the blow, one of his blades caught the escaped prisoner across the chest. Without the magic of a healer, the wound had the potential to kill him, and he seemed to realize that. Stumbling to the railing of the deck, the prisoner dropped, his arm wrapping across his chest as the male who’d been fighting Kason ran for help.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Kason reached for Exie, yanking her by the top of her leathers toward the railing. “We need to get out of here. Now!”

Nodding, she shifted in a burst of brilliant flame. Tossing the injured prisoner over his shoulder, Kason jumped onto the phoenix’s back right before her wings launched them into the air and over the water.

Just as Exie soared closer to the land, an enormous silver figure surged toward them. Holera approached, her massive phoenix wings carrying her alongside them as they flew against the chilly wind. Although he'd asked her to remain in the forest as a lookout, mostly because he'd wanted to keep her safe, she'd completely ignored him when she'd heard the fight break out, and it only made him want her more. She was a fierce warrior, and she would be just as fierce of a mate, loving when she needed to love, and fighting when she needed to fight. Even though he couldn’t communicate with her in that form, Kason winked at the beautiful warrior, her severe violet eyes flaring before both birds turned, aiming toward the palace just as the sun began to rise.

Chapter 15

Holera

By the time they’d landed back on the palace grounds with the escaped Warbotach prisoner, Holera was exhausted and more than a little frustrated of what had come to pass. They’d retrieved the Warbotach male, but nothing else had gone as planned. She hadn’t been on the ship when Exie and Kason had grabbed him, but she’d heard the commotion from the forest. Whatever happened on that ship, the rest of the Warbotach merchants probably knew about it. She didn’t even want to imagine what the fallout would be once they returned to their home country and reported the attack. Even though two of their merchants started the whole mess by following her and Exie, that didn’t mean the barbarian king would see it in the same way, nor did that mean he would see the attack on their ship as having been warranted. She was grateful Kason and Exie were unharmed, but that was about all she was grateful for at that moment. 

Shifting back into her fae form next to Exie and Kason, Holera reached to help Kason with the prisoner, who was bleeding profusely from a chest wound, as her friend shifted. 

“He needs a healer quickly or he’s not going to make it,” Kason said, the prisoner’s head lolling to the side as he fought for consciousness. Exie nodded, darting toward the palace and disappearing through the doors. 

“What happened?” Each taking on some of the injured male’s weight, Kason and Holera staggered toward the infirmary inside the palace after Exie. 

“Everything went to shit when I tried to get him off the ship. The bastard started fighting and his friends joined in. Exie and I had to fight off a few before we were able to leave.” 

Holera’s face twisted into a grimace as she struggled under the unconscious prisoner’s weight. “I knew it was a bad idea from the start. Now the entire ship of merchants is going to go back to Warbotach and their king will wage an attack.”

Just as they were about to attempt to open the palace doors with limited free hands, several guards came out with a board and they were able to set the injured male on it to relieve themselves of the burden. The guards disappeared into the corridor with the prisoner, leaving Kason and Holera on the foyer, both of them drenched in blood. 

“I still have a place nearby, if you want to get cleaned up. I have a room at the inn above the Singing Lantern.” 

Holera watched his face for a minute, the male incredibly rugged and sexy, and debated if she wanted to pick up where they’d left off in the courtyard. There were many bathing rooms in the palace they could use if they wanted to, but after everything they’d gone through in just over twenty-four hours, she didn’t know if she was ready for everyone in the palace to know about their budding romance just yet. She also couldn’t get their encounter in the gardens out of her mind, even with the events that had occurred since.

Looking down at her hands again, sticky with the blood of her enemy, she made her decision. “Yeah. Let’s get out of here. As long as the queen knows where to find you if we’re needed. Exie can just assume I went home to clean up and rest. I can do without her getting me into trouble for a while. I may need to borrow clothes though…even if they’re way too large for me.” 

Kason chuckled, touching a bloody hand to the small of her back and leading her toward the palace gates. “I’m sure we can manage to find you something.”

Chapter 16

Kason

With his hand against Holera’s back, Kason led her toward the palace gates and onto the street. He realized the fallout of their fight on the Warbotach ship could end up causing a bigger conflict, but he and Holera needed to step away from the situation for a while, at least long enough to eat, bathe, and sleep. Many guards and warriors would be sent to monitor the activity in the city and harbor, and others would be used to watch over the injured prisoner, but what the Warbotach male really needed at that moment was a healer, and neither him nor Holera were healers. 

Even with the smell of blood and sweat on her skin, the beautiful warrior’s scent filled his senses, reminding Kason of the moments they’d shared in the gardens. Although he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone, he had no expectations of moving any farther with her than what she was comfortable with. If she chose him as her mate, they had forever to be together. Holera was worth waiting for. 

The sky threatened snow as they made their way down one of the alleys behind the buildings on the main street, not wanting to cause a scene with their gory appearances, and into the back door of the tavern where they’d first met. “I’ll talk to the barkeep before we go to the room and ask for food and drinks to be brought to us.” 

Holera nodded, remaining near the stairs as Kason crossed the room and approached the bar. Butterflies filled her belly for the first time in a long time, since she’d been younger and had a male who’d meant something to her. He hadn't turned out to be the male she wanted to spend her life with, and she’d moved on. 

Watching the way the barkeep, an elderly male with graying hair, smiled as he spoke to Kason squeezed her heart. Even with his rugged exterior, Kason was kind, personable, someone people naturally liked, except when he had a blade to their throats. He may have been skilled with diplomacy, but he was a trained warrior. 

After a brief conversation at the bar, Kason walked back toward her with a grin on his face and a decanter in his hand. “My good friend, Spyro, will be sending up two breakfast plates in a bit, and his mate has plenty of clothing to spare. Actually, he seemed glad to get rid of some of it. He said her things take up the entire cabinet.”

Smirking and shaking her head, Holera followed Kason as he led her up the darkened stairway and onto the second level of the building. They walked past several guest rooms down the long corridor before he used a key to unlock the door of the last room on the right, opening it so she could enter first. 

“I never did ask you where you live,” she said, hesitating for only a moment. Having only known each other for a day, she didn’t want to pry. “Since you’re staying at the inn, I assume you don’t live in the capital?”

Kason closed the door behind him, setting the key and decanter on the table before dropping his weapons to the floor. Holera did the same. “I travel a lot as an emissary for the kingdom, so I don’t see my home much, but I do have a cabin in the mountains north of the capital.” 

Dropping to his knees, he started to unlace her boots. “Can I run a bath for you, my beautiful warrior? We both could use one before we touch any of the furniture in here. I don’t want Spyro to demand my head if we destroy anything.”

Holera lowered herself into a chair, kicking her boots off as he finished loosening them for her. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.”