Chapter 1 - Scene 1

Dros inhaled a deep breath when Garu’s Reach finally appeared on the horizon, and a bit of the weariness from his long journey fell away. Carved into the face of a sheer black cliff, the strong lines of the fortress that had been his home for five years made an imposing symbol for the realm he guarded with his life. He’d ridden all night, ahead of the bulk of the army, sleeping only snatches in the saddle as he trusted Cordone to see him home safe with her faultless sense of direction and the protection of her fearsome horns. She plodded along the hardpacked road that climbed toward the reach, her heavy footsteps nearly silent for all her bulk.

The nightmare that had woken him the last time he dared close his eyes for longer than a moment still lingered, like claws caught in his chest. Violence and fury twisted around on itself in an ever-expanding spiral. What shook him most after waking was how in the dream he’d basked in every gory moment. How he wore the blood of the thousands he’d killed like marks of honor and was thirsty for more. Hands clenched, he wondered how many more of the horrific dreams he could endure before he was lost to them, like his father had been, and his father before him. He’d already seen more battle than both of them.

The towering gates of the reach opened as Cordone approached, the shape of an immense garu in flight molded out of dark metal as a reminder of who ruled here.

Dros dismounted when a handful of grooms came to see to Cordone. He patted her powerful shoulder in farewell as they led her off. He was picky about the care of his gandas, but he didn’t need to tell them that here. This was home. They knew him.

Weariness made each step heavy as he made his way into the receiving room, passing through a doorway designed to make even the tallest man feel small and into the warmer interior. He fell to one knee on the mosaic seal at the center of the room, head down, exhaustion finally overcoming him. Still, at the back of his head, the rage of battle beat like a distant wardrum that wouldn’t let him escape, no matter the distance traveled.

The majestic raptor stared up at him, wings flared, judging his worthiness to grace these halls.

“My Sword is back where he belongs at last.” The richly feminine voice drifted down to him from the dais that was the room’s focus.

He took a breath, willing himself to push the nightmare and all that went with it from his thoughts; to leave the battle where it belonged, far from this place he called home. He lifted his head to regard her.

Cosi was much as he remembered, her hair falling from a golden diadem in the winged shape of her family’s sigil to just above her shoulders in dark ringlets. She held her smile under tight rein, but he could see the echoes of it in the tension of her cheeks. For her approval, men would march to their doom; for her, he had done just that a dozen times.

At her left hand stood Nahl, tall and stately as he’d ever been, but for the merry gleam in his eyes. His beard was grown in fully for the winter, a rich auburn just a shade darker than his hair.

Together they made a regal image. Dros allowed himself a moment to absorb the perfection of the two of them there, so high above him, before he pushed to his feet and advanced.

Nahl met him at the foot of the stairs and wrapped him in a rib-crushing embrace. “Welcome home.” Nahl inclined his head so their faces touched, then gasped as if stung.

The urge for violence that was as much a part of Dros as his breath slackened for the first time in months. Dros sighed with relief. “Thank you.” A whisper pitched so only Nahl could hear.

Impatient for more contact, Dros claimed Nahl’s mouth. Nahl suffered the bruising intensity of the first desperate kiss after months at war without complaint. If he cared that Dros was filthy from the long journey home, Dros couldn’t tell. Nahl held him close, letting Dros take what he needed, but not demanding anything.

When Dros finally released him, Nahl broke into a smile that brightened the already glorious day. “Go greet her, before she runs us both through.”

Dros kissed him once more, briefly. “If I must.”

“You assuredly must,” Cosi called from above. She seemed to be trying for a haughty stare but her delight at seeing him home and safe shone in her face despite her best efforts.

Dros bounded up the remaining steps and lifted her from her feet, crushing her against him. She peppered his face with eager lips before homing in on his mouth. Her ravenous kiss consumed him and left no part of him unscathed.

He surfaced from her kiss when she allowed it, breathless and weak-kneed. He lowered her to the floor for fear he would drop her. “Gods, woman. You’ll kill me.”

“Not before I’ve had my way with you.” She stretched up and nipped his chin.

Nahl came up the stairs and wrapped his arms around them both, nose and mouth pressed to the back of Dros’s neck. The rage ebbed further, until Dros hardly felt it at all.

He relaxed in their dual embrace, feeling like he’d come home in truth. “At least I’ll die smiling.”

Cosi held the backs of her fingers to his cheek, concern turning her mouth down. “Are you well? You look gaunt.”

“The campaign has left me tired, but nothing a few days of rest in a soft bed won’t set right.”

Nahl snorted a warm exhale of breath over Dros’s neck. “If you think you’ll get any rest in bed with her, you’re mistaken. She’s been relentless while you’ve been away.”

Cosi glowered over his shoulder at Nahl. “Do I use you so cruelly that perhaps you’d like to trade? You can go fight the Samha at our southern border and Dros can stay here to warm my bed.”

Though Dros knew she was teasing, the idea that Nahl might take his place at the front made his chest tight. “I want neither of you any closer to the danger than this. If I could, I’d move you both further north.”

Nahl clutched him tighter. “I wish none of us had to go.”

“I won’t have anyone being somber right now.” Cosi backed away a step, reaching for both his hands. “You only just got home. It’s time for celebration.”

Revelry sounded like entirely too much work for Dros at the moment. “Right now I’d settle for being clean.”

Cosi tugged him forward. “I had a bath started as soon as you were seen approaching. It’s probably just done filling now.”

“You know me too well.” Dros glanced back over his shoulder.

Nahl made a gesture indicating he should go with Cosi, as if either of them had a choice in the matter. “Come find me after.” The smile that followed ensured that Dros would do just that.