“A spear?” I repeated. Malik’s hand stopped moving. “I was unaware such a weapon could pierce a draken’s flesh.”
“Normally, it can’t.” My father set his glass down as Malik began rolling the paperweight between his palm and the surface again. “However, these were spears that appeared to have been designed solely to take out a draken. They were ten times the size of a normal one.”
“How badly was Thad injured?” Poppy demanded, her hands pressed against the table.
“It got him in the chest, just below the shoulder. He was able to make a controlled landing, but we couldn’t get it out immediately.” My father grimaced as Malik continued to roll that fucking paperweight, and it kept scrape, scrape, scraping— “Eventually, we did, and that’s something I do not care to repeat.”
I reached over and smacked my hand down on Malik’s. His stare lifted to mine. I raised my brows as I removed my hand, one finger at a time.
Holding my glare, Malik matched my speed and slowly lifted his fingers.
“What caused the delay?” Kieran asked as Father immediately snatched the paperweight without even looking at it.
My lips twitched when Malik slumped back, eyeing our father’s hand. It reminded me of the countless times he’d done that when one of us was annoying the other.
Father’s next words obliterated all thoughts of the fucking paperweight or the many toys he’d taken from us in the past. “We were delayed in doing so because after Thad was struck, we were greeted at the Rise.”
“Kolis?” Damron asked.
“Varus,” he said.
“Who?” Kieran frowned.
“A god,” my father bit out. “A rather full-of-himself god.” Pausing, he looked over at Aylard. “And yes, an actual god.”
Aylard motioned for Emil to refill his glass.
“I do not believe he is the only one there,” he said.
“How many do you think there are?” Poppy asked, and I wondered why she thought my father could answer that.
“If I had to wager a guess?”
She nodded.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were as many as were in my regiment,” he said, meeting her stare before looking away.
“You took how many with you?” La’Sere’s armor creaked as she leaned toward the table. “Two hundred?”
“Two hundred and fifty,” Valyn corrected.
“Fucking gods,” Kieran muttered.
We knew some gods would side with Kolis, but that many? We hadn’t expected that. “Did this Varus have anything to say?”
My father exhaled as he lifted his gaze to mine. “Only that we would receive word from Kolis soon.”
CHAPTER 45
POPPY
I was still trying to get past the shock of what I realized—felt—when he first entered the chamber. Something that I hadn’t been able to sense before my Ascension.
Valyn had been keeping more secrets than previously known.
Big ones.
But at the moment, I couldn’t really focus on that. What he’d just said took center stage.
