Page 103 of Obsidian Throne

Though, so were Bear’s.

“The element of surprise might be enough to turn the tides,” Maxim added.

I nodded, musing aloud. “But how do you sneak up on an army? There are trees around the estate, but there are sure to be scouts as well.”

Either way, time was running out. We needed to start making our way to the estate tomorrow, after the women and I went to pick up the swords. The men couldn’t go, largely because they were the ones with the very obvious brands on their foreheads.

Hopefully, we would amass more forces along the way.

I spoke with the men late into the night, but we didn’t manage any solid solutions.

When I got back to my bedroll, I pulled my armor close to me, as I did every night. I hadn’t put it on yet, but touching the stones seemed to be enough.

There was no storm for me to experiment with tonight, for all the good it had been doing me. It was freezing this far from the fire, with the dusting of snow that was quietly settling around us, and I wished my abilities could extend to making it warmer.

Instead, I played with little fog clouds, using miniscule bursts of wind to move them around while an idea formed in the back of my mind.

We needed a way to hide. A distraction.

Fog.

Lightning.

Maybe what I could do wasn’t so useless after all.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

EVANDER

The siege was going about how we had expected it to. Only worse.

Wolf’s and Elk’s troops came in with deadly force, bolstered by the news that the western front was failing and Ram was advancing by the day.

We would be lucky to survive the week.

Red lined my vision as I thought over the few options we had left. I would kill Nils for this, if I survived long enough to do it.

The only thing I had to be grateful about was that Rowan was far, far away from all of it. She would be nearing the pass soon and well on her way back to Castle Chridhe by the end of the week.

Even if there wasn’t a single place in this storms-blasted castle that didn’t remind me of her.

Even if I couldn’t go five minutes without picturing her wicked smirk or the way her body felt pressed against mine.

Even if I could hardly look at Mila without realizing how deeply I had let myself want that with Rowan, how I had imagined the flat planes of her stomach growing round while her substantial temper grew even worse.

But we would never have that now.

The days passed in a blur of blood and death. We lost Pavel. Hell, we lost half our regimen. The men coming in from the west weren’t going to be enough to stop this when more troops were arriving from the south by the day.

The castle walls had nearly been breached a handful of times already. Even as I employed every single tactic I had ever thought of or read about, the day came when we needed every man.

I met Taras in his rooms. Mila stood stoically while my cousin clasped on his baldric, crossed at the front like mine was.

“I want you to stay,” I said.

It was anaaliomove saying it in front of Mila, but I had hope that she would help me convince him. Despite the sadness lingering in her eyes, though, she only shook her head in defeat, looking at me like I should have known better than to bother with that.

“Not a chance,” my cousin responded without bothering to look up.