The Commander

Talon’s [POV]

In just my underwear, I walked into the kitchen where the dining table sat in the center, remembering one of our conversations when she'd had Commander Luxe over for dinner. I found the chopped coffee beans on the counter and boiled a pot of hot water to make myself a hot cup of coffee. I was used to servants doing this for me, but I was resourceful enough to figure it out on my own.

I sat at the dining table and looked out the window, seeing the flowers growing on the vines that hung from the roof. A hummingbird had just slipped its tongue inside a flower, but when it spotted me, it took off so quickly I couldn't see which direction it went.

Distance has never compromised our connection in the past, but the forest has muffled it. I don't feel you as strongly as I normally do.

I watched the steam rise from the cup of coffee. We're deep in the forest, and the trees are thick.

Are you well?

Yes.

The trees may be too big for me, but that doesn't mean I can't burn them down to get to you.

That will be unnecessary, Khazmuda.

I appreciate what the elves have done for my kind, but their prejudice against you blinds their sight.

I don't blame them for their hatred. I'm an easy man to hate.

And an easy man to love.

I smirked and drank the coffee.

Minutes later, Calista left the bedroom and came into the morning light that brightened the rest of the house. In just a cotton shirt and her panties, she lifted her arms high over her head as she stretched like a cat. "Morning."

Her shirt lifted to expose her little belly, and my hand immediately went to her hip and guided her onto my lap. "Morning."

Her arms circled my neck, and she kissed me.

My hand went to her ass and squeezed it as I felt her warm lips on mine, as I felt the tremble of my broken heart. She thawed the ice in my blood and reminded me of a joy I'd long forgotten.

She looked at the mug on the table. "You made coffee." She grabbed the mug by the handle and took a drink.

"It's all yours, baby."

"We can share." She took another drink and set it on the counter. "Want some breakfast?"

"Depends."

"On?" She left my lap and stood beside the chair.

My eyes went to her ass which was nearly at eye level. "Not in the mood for seeds and thorns, whatever these people eat."

"Well, I promise there won't be thorns in it." She headed to the kitchen counter and got to work, putting together a vegetable skillet that consisted of hearty potatoes with mushrooms and root vegetables. She cooked it in a sauce made of some kind of plant-based milk. The combination of the ingredients and the spices made a smell waft through the house that wasn't half bad.

Minutes later, she brought two plates to the table along with her mug of coffee. I sat at the head of the table, and she took the seat beside me, beautiful first thing in the morning when her eyes were rested and her skin rejuvenated.

We ate in silence.

The potatoes were charred on the outside but soft on the inside, and the other vegetables had a good taste mixed with the ingredients she'd thrown together without a recipe book.

"What do you think?"

"It could use some thorns."

She stopped eating and released a quick chuckle. "Did you just make a joke?"

I continued to eat as if nothing of the sort had happened.

"I don't think I've ever heard you do that, except when you're being sarcastic."

My eyes remained down on the plate to avoid her stare.

"You should make jokes more often."

I finished my plate and then sat back to drink my coffee. In the castle, my breakfast usually consisted of meat and eggs, or I didn't have breakfast at all.

She finished her breakfast a moment later and looked out the window at the sunshine and the flowers. "It's still hard to believe you're here. When you visited me before, it felt like a dream."

A dream with a hefty cost. "Thank you for breakfast."

"Wow, you have manners too."

I smirked. "Don't get used to it."

"I like this new version of you."

It wasn't new. Just buried for a very long time.

She must have watched my eyes fall because hers did too. "You disappear so quickly..."

"There's very little left of that version of me."

She didn't ask why, and I appreciated that.

"If we find the dragons and they agree to fight for our cause and we take back the Southern Isles...then what?"

Taking back the Southern Isles wasn't the ambition. Just usurping the ruler who'd taken it from me. "The dragons will be free. Scorpion Valley will be yours once again. The world will be as it should be."

"You expect me to stay in Scorpion Valley while you're in the Southern Isles?" she asked with pain in her voice.

No, that wasn't what I expected at all. "I don't know what will come, Calista. It's hard to think about the aftermath of a victory that I haven't earned yet. That I may never earn." I might gamble the lives of free dragons and Calista and lose it all. Then my life and soul would be forfeit...all for nothing.

She turned quiet, her pretty eyes contemplative.

A knock sounded on the front door.

I immediately rose to my feet and headed to the front of the house.

"Aren't you going to put something on?" she asked as she stepped out of sight of the door.

"No." I opened the front door and came face-to-face with Commander Luxe, who was completely adorned in his dark green armor and his black cape.

I'd hoped it would be him. "Yes?" I was taller and more muscular, probably because I ate a man's diet instead of foraging for berries and nuts like a fucking rabbit.

His eyes flicked back and forth as he recovered from his surprise as if he'd expected Calista to open the door in appropriate attire. "Queen Eldinar requests your presence in the royal palace. I'll escort you there."

I shut the door in his face without saying a word.

Calista left the kitchen and came into view. She must have heard what he'd said because she went into the bedroom to get dressed.

"Hold on." I came up behind her and shoved her onto the bed.

She hit the mattress and looked at me in surprise. "What are you doing?"

I moved on top of her and pulled her panties off her ass so I could sink into her tightness. I shoved my boxers down before I adjusted her underneath me.

"They're waiting for us?—"

I sank inside her, greeted by her slickness. "And they'll wait."

We walked down the path, Commander Luxe in the lead while flanked by two of his men. The rest of the soldiers walked behind me, keeping a tight formation all around me like I might snap and destroy this forest with my bare hands.

Calista walked beside me in an olive-green dress with flat sandals, her hair combed back to reveal her beautiful face on this sunny day. I felt the attraction the first moment I saw her, but she was in her element here, looking like a princess of the forest. I understood her affection for this place.

After a short walk, we approached the entrance to the royal palace, a building that had ivy and flowers growing up the sides, a statue in the front, either of Queen Eldinar or the Riviana, the God of Caelum. It was hard to know which.

We were escorted inside, Queen Eldinar sitting upon her throne with a spine stiffer than the trees outside the dwelling. In a white dress with the image of flowers interwoven in the fabric and white flowers braided in her hair, she was a woman of unnatural beauty, her appearance blessed by the nearly immortal blood that ran through her veins.

But she was still no match for Calista.

The General of Riviana was at her side, sword on his hip while his palm rested on the pommel. His resemblance to Calista was obvious at that moment. Their eyes were the same. Same color and shape...and the same heart. He seemed to have recovered from the battle, except for the scar on the side of his head.

Queen Eldinar stared at me with her nose turned up like I was a cockroach that had crawled into her bed.

As the ruling monarch, she refused to speak first, so I folded just to get the conversation going. "How may I be of service, Your Majesty?"

Her nose upturned slightly less at my gesture of respect. "We hoped to have more time to recover from the battle, not just physically, but emotionally as well. But according to our scout reports, the dark elves approach our border with the unmistakable intention of breaching it. Tension has existed between our two races, but it's been a very long time since they tried to infiltrate our borders. They must know that we're weary from our battle with the Behemoths at the border and have taken this opportunity to strike."

A smart move. "Then I will meet them in battle and protect your border." One look at me and they would scatter like a pack of squirrels. I would raise an army of the dead to act as a barrier between their lands and the elves'—and no one would cross it. I probably wouldn't even have to lift my sword.

"Under no circumstance are you to disturb the dead, Talon."

"King Talon." I wouldn't allow another monarch to belittle my power, not after everything I'd done to earn it. "If you want me to respect your crown, then you will respect mine. If you're unwilling to do that, then I'll leave you to be overrun by these creatures. Khazmuda and I will find the dragons—eventually."

She sat with her arms on the armrests, her blue eyes angry in provocation. But she didn't refute my request. "You can't call upon the dead to fight for you. They've been disturbed once, and I won't allow you to disturb them again."

"Then you shouldn't have asked the Death King for aid."

She continued her angry stare.

I stared back.

"I will not change my mind, King Talon."

"Then you expect me to defeat an army of elves without magic or Khazmuda."

Her intelligent eyes were pointed but veiled, the truth of her thoughts shrouded in mystery.

I felt the smile move across my lips. "Or you expect me not to..."

"If you're nothing without your curse and your ally, then perhaps you're nothing as well."

"Perhaps." I felt the smile slowly fade away. "I will defend your forest without the dead. And when I'm victorious, you will kneel before me and thank me before your subjects. Are we in agreement?"

She could express so much with just her gaze. For a beautiful woman, she could look so vicious, her eyes like daggers in that pretty face. Her hatred cut through flesh and bone, a storm cloud that billowed around her. "Yes."

"When your men are ready to march, so will I."

General Ezra presented my sword and scabbard in his open arms.

I took it and secured it across my back where my cape was attached to my armor.

Then he presented my dagger and bow.

I took them and returned them to my body.

Then he presented another dagger, the hilt the color of his dark hair and the blade solid black. "The blade is short, but the heft is substantial. Can pierce most armor if it's used correctly."

I eyed it before I took it.

"A gift from my queen."

"An odd gift to bestow upon someone you hope doesn't return."

The general ignored my words and walked off.

Calista came to me next, the storm clouds of worry so heavy in her gaze it looked like it would rain. "I don't like this."

"Nor do I."

"Then maybe we shouldn't do it."

"The dark elves march as we speak. Even if your queen offered me nothing in return, I would still fight—not for her, but for you."

A sad affection moved into her eyes. "I want to come with you."

The statement was so ridiculous I didn't even respond to it.

"Talon—"

"Don't worry about me."

"But what will you do without your army? Without Khazmuda?"

"Khazmuda may not be here, but his blood is still in my veins. Queen Eldinar will be relieved that the dark elves have been defeated, but she'll be disappointed when I return with only a few scratches."

"You don't think she wants you dead, right?"

"I do."

"Why would she want that?"

"So she gets what she wants without having to uphold her end of the deal. The Death King will be gone from these lands, and the location of the dragons will remain a secret, while her greatest enemy has been defeated. I may not like your queen, but I respect her strategy."