Damar stayed silent for a long mont, his tongue flicking out in that way it did when he was deeply calculating. He wasn’t just thinking about the threat; he was thinking about the possibility of not missing his children’s first winter.
"You want to negotiate with the Pride Alpha," he stated, his voice dropping into that smooth, dangerous velvet.
"Yes. And I want you there. You have the patience of a serpent and the authority of a king. They won’t listen to a ’helpless female,’ but they’ll listen to you, who, if they’re going to listen at all. And if they don’t want to listen..." I narrowed my eyes. "You might as well whip them until they want to."
Damar looked toward the southern pass again. He thought for a few seconds before speaking, "If we are to do this, we will do it my way. We will intercept them at the gorge, before they see the walls and get ideas about lting them. And Fenric and Noah will stay behind."
I winced. "They’re going to hate that."
"They will," Damar agreed, a rare, sharp smirk touching his lips. "Noah will howl until the moon falls, and Fenric will likely try to bar the door with his own body. But if we go as a group, as powerful as we are, they will perceive it as a challenge of war. But if we go as the Queen and her Consort, it’s a diplomatic summit."
"Exactly," I whispered. Calling himself a consort was hot, by the way.
Well, that’s settled. We’ll spring the idea on them by surprise so they can’t retort and then make a run for it.
Yeah, that was the plan, but it was as if the universe had a sense of humor and always liked to hit in the face with my own plans.
A low, rumbling growl echoed from behind the listone piles, and I flinched. I didn’t even have to turn around to know that the ’overprotective committee’ had arrived.
"Diplomatic summit?" Fenric’s voice was deep and cold, as if soone had just told him he was stuck on diaper duty.
He stepped into view, his massive fra casting a shadow that swallowed both Damar and .
I gulped.
"You are twenty-seven days from birth, Arinya. You are not walking into a nest of fire-cats."
Noah was right behind him, his tail stiff and his ears pinned back.
"I heard ’Caracals’ and ’no fighting’ in the sa sentence. Little tiger, I love you, and I love your brain, I really do, but sotis it forgets that so things just want to eat us."
I blew a strand of hair out of my face and leaned on my side, bracing myself.
They forget that I’m the one who has twenty-seven days left to give birth, and a pride of fire-cats 1is heading our way. Do they not see the danger?
Anyway, if I were going to make this kingdom more prosperous, I would have to win this argunt first.
"Boys," I said, putting on my best ’Land Mother’ authority to use, despite the fact that I really just wanted to sit on a soft cushion. "Sit down. We need to talk about the industrial revolution and why none of you are going to behead any cats today."
But they didn’t sit. Instead, Fenric and Noah stood there like two massive, unmoving pillars of "No," their arms crossed and their expressions set in stone.
"Industrial revolution," Noah repeated, his nose wrinkling. "Arinya, I don’t know what that ans, but if it involves you being anywhere near cats that breathe fire while you’re heavy, the answer is a very loud wolf-no."
"Think for a second," I said, pointing my charcoal-stained finger at them. "We are building a kingdom. A fortress. But stone and water only get us so far. We need fire. Those Caracals can lt tal with their bare hands. Do you know how much faster we could build the southern wall if we had them welding the heavy slate beams? Do you know how warm the nursery would be in the dead of winter?"
I looked at Damar, then back at the other two. "Damar hibernates, rember? He misses months of our lives because the cold is too much for his nature. With the Caracal’s heat channeled through the palace floors, he could stay awake." My voice grew heavy with emotion, and so did my face. "He could see the babies grow every single day."
That hit ho. I saw the flicker of hesitation in Fenric’s eyes and the way Noah’s tail gave a tiny, involuntary twitch.
"And," I added, lowering my voice to that soft, convincing tone I knew worked on them, "if we fight them, we prove we’re just another territory to raid. If we hire them, we beco the most powerful industrial hub in the Beastworld. They won’t want to destroy the walls if they’re the ones being paid to reinforce them."
Fenric let out a long, heavy sigh that sounded like a landslide. "And the Trident?"
"Thalor is letting use it," I lied through my teeth, though I knew Thalor would probably agree once he saw the blueprints.
Besides, the sea king handed it to to begin with.
"It’s the ultimate ’sit down and shut up’ tool. They’ll see the power of the Sea and the authority of the Land Mother. They won’t attack."
"They better not," Fenric growled, finally uncrossing his arms. He stepped closer, his shadow still looming, but his posture softening. "If a single hair on your tail is burned, Arinya, I will turn the desert into a graveyard."
"I’m coming too," Noah barked. "I don’t care about the ’war challenge’ look. I’ll hide in the shadows. I’ll be the ghost in the trees. But I am not letting you go to a gorge with only one snake for protection."
Damar gave a dry, sharp hiss. "I am more than enough, Wolf."
"Oh yeah? I don’t think so." Noah argued back.
"Enough!" I barked, feeling a sharp kick from the kids inside —as if they were cheering for the chaos. Kids these days. "Noah can track from the ridgeline. Fenric, you stay here and coordinate with the Sea King. If Nereus sees us all leave, he’ll think we’re fleeing. We need you to keep the palace running."
Fenric looked like he wanted to argue, but he knew I was right. Soone had to stay and manage the rman builders and the mountain of treasure currently sitting on our riverbank.
"Fine," Fenric muttered, reaching out to cup my cheek with his massive, warm hand. "But you co back before sunset. Or I’m coming after you with the beavers and the bears."
"Deal," I whispered, leaning into his touch.
I looked at Damar, who was already eyeing the Trident leaning against the wall. "Alright, guys. Let’s go hire so fire-cats."
So, note that while we have wolf packs, we have cat pride. And just as we have Alpha for wolves and Boars, we also have Alpha for cats
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