Focusing on War

*Rafe*

The feeling of being knifed in my chest is worse than death. And I should know because I died once already. Still, I’ve arranged for Scott to take care of Drake while I sort things out with Zeke. I am king of Shadowglade, and much as I’d like to go storming into Longclaw to get my mate back, I need to win a war with their troops first.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Zeke asks when I rub my chest again.

“No,” I reply. “But what else is new?” I look down at the map we’ve set up in the war room. My council is doing the same thing, muttering and murmuring over how Rallegrad is mowing through the northern towns and villages. And destroying them.

We must have caught just the edge of their main army, or I wouldn’t be here today.

“We have to stop them, Your Majesty,” a wizened old councilman says. He has a knack for stating the obvious.

“The line is holding at the Tormentian border?” I ask Zeke.

“Yes,” he says. “In fact, we’re gaining ground.”

“As soon as their armies are no longer a threat, pull every troop we can spare to the north,” I tell him. “We’ve already sent Longclaw north, haven’t we?”

“The moment you got here, Your Majesty. They turned around and marched north,” he responds. He clears his throat delicately. “Donovan, Casper, and Jim went with them. I think they have an ax to grind.”

I blink. “But they were supposed to stay here and be happy with their reward! They certainly fought long and hard enough to get me home.”

“I expressed that to them, Your Majesty, but they were insistent. I think it has something to do with the atrocities you saw coming through the north from Rallegrad,” he says softly.

I remember the carnage, and my hands ball into fists. “King Maximus has much to answer for. When we push them back, tell the armies I want them to keep going until all of Rallegrad belongs to Shadowglade. King Maximus isn’t worthy of his title and torments his own people almost as badly as he torments ours.”

“And Geoffrey Poe?” he asks.

“I want him alive.” I growl.

“I thought you might, Your Majesty.” He and I look down at the map a while longer, discussing possibilities with my council members when the doors to the throne room slam open.

“King Rafe Poe?” a tall, half-fae/half-vampire, demands.

I wrack my brain to pull up a name for the leader of the Hybridians, for that must be who this is, and finally remember the name Zeke had given me. “Percival Strongwind.”

He walks over to me. I raise a hand as the guards bristle. “I need to discuss some things with you,” he says. “First, I think it’s time my soldiers were rerouted to the north. We have the Tormentians on the run, and I think the rest of the armies can take it from there.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I reply. “And what else? Please know, I will be finding you a suitable place where you can settle the entire village of Hybridia, if you’d rather not live among the rest of us. But the choice will always be yours.”

“I only worry about people and their prejudices, Your Majesty. We just want to be left peacefully to our way of life. But it is nice to know you would allow us to live among you.” He bows. “I was coming to find out if you had found somewhere suitable yet.”

“I’m sorry, but no. I’ve been a bit preoccupied with the war.” A stabbing pain shoots through my heart again, and I grasp at my chest.

Zeke takes a sharp breath while Percival just nods at me. “The Luna Queen Ainslee was taken away to Longclaw,” he surmises. “Alpha King Howard does not approve of your match.”

“It’s worse,” Zeke says. “The only way we get to have Longclaw troops is to let him keep her. So Rafe can’t go and get her yet.”

“That’s terrible.” Percival reaches out and puts a palm over my hand on my chest. Warmth spreads from that spot and then the stabbing pain becomes just a dull ache.

“Magic,” Zeke whispers.

“There have to be some advantages to being half-fae,” Percival shrugs. He steps back, looking tired. “If the pain becomes too much, send for me again.”

I take several deep breaths, the first I’ve been able to take since being separated from Ainslee. “You aren’t going to the north?”

“I need to coordinate things here. And, clearly, you need me,” he replies. “We can’t have our king toppling over before he gets his queen back.”

“Thank you for that.” I sink down into a chair next to the map table. “And I want to thank you for thinking of us. We’re all grateful to have the Hybridians here.”

He smiles. “It’s yourself you have to thank for our coming here. We heard how you treat your people and decided we were done with Tormentia if there was a possibility we could live peacefully here. I mean, the heir to the throne is a hybrid. That’s really something.”

I’m quiet a moment, but I have to ask the question. “Geoffrey Poe, the man fighting to be King of Shadowglade, is also a hybrid. I hate to ask it of you, but if you can, would you be willing to bring him to me? Alive?”

“As long as you promise not to kill him outright. He may be a hybrid, but not all hybrids are good people. Just as all the rest of you are not good or bad people. It’s a mixed bag,” he says.

“Thank you. I want to question him. I don’t want to kill him outright. And, when you see what he’s done to the northern territories, I don’t want you to kill him outright, either,” I respond.

His eyes narrow slightly. “What has he done to the northern territories?”

“Women and children are dead. So are the old. The crops have been destroyed in the fields and the villages and towns have been burned to the ground,” Zeke pipes up. “I haven’t seen it for myself, but His Majesty assures me it is truly horrible.”

“I will tell my men not to harm this Geoffrey, no matter how much they want to, so that he can face the king’s justice for his crimes,” Percival says flatly. “But if it is as you say, it may be difficult for my men to hold back.”

“Trust me. I understand. All you can do is try to get him here alive. We’ve sent word with the Longclaw troops as well. Geoffrey Poe is to arrive here in one piece. Or at least alive. Mostly,” I reply.

Percival’s smile is feral with just the slightest hint of fang. “Mostly alive, I think we can do.”

“Good.” I look over the map again, this time looking for suitable land for the Hybridians. They’ve been fighting for me for quite some time now, and they deserve their just rewards.

“We will settle in the north, if that is all right with you,” he says, interrupting my concentration.

I stare at him. “It’s in shambles.”

“All the more reason for us to go there. We will rebuild and hopefully show our fellow Shadowglade citizens that we are not as scary as they may think,” he says.

Seeing how genuinely good this man is, I wonder how Tormentia ever convinced us that half-fae were savages. “You will have everything you need to rebuild.”

“Thank you.” He then looks down at the map himself. “I will send my men here.” He points at a weak spot in our defenses. “It seems logical the Rallegrad army will try to break through there.”

“I agree,” I say. “You’re quite the tactician.”

“You have to be when King Dartmoth Croft is always looking to squash you somehow,” he replies.

“Hmm. Good point.” I look at Zeke. “I think we’re doing the best we can now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he agrees.

“I’m going to dismiss this council now with my thanks,” I say loudly to the room. “Zeke, Percival, I’ll leave you to coordinate the details. I’m going to my office to pen a strongly-worded letter to Alpha King Bleiz.”

Percival makes a doubting sound. “Maybe you should go easy. He already thinks you’re a monster.”

I grind my teeth. “He took my mate.”

“He gave you his troops,” Zeke reminds me. “As he promised.”

“He has my daughter,” I argue.

He raises an eyebrow. “She’s not even been born yet.”

My shoulders sag. “Ainslee must be in such terrible pain. And she doesn’t have a magic fairy godfather to make it better—no offense, Percival.”

“None taken. I like that. I’m a fairy godfather,” he grins.

“I need her back. We need her back. I know Scott is about as motherly as they come, but Drake still misses his mommy. I know it. I miss his mommy terribly. This,” I gesture around with my hand at our surroundings, “doesn’t work without her.”

Percival pats my shoulder. “You’ll get her back. You just have to convince Alpha King Bleiz that you are a good man.”

“How do I do that?” I sigh.

“By continuing to be one,” he says.