Chapter 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

In all of Arkon’s dreams, he never imagined sitting at his father’s table with half the Council of Ten, the doge, and the Wolf Mage, all breaking bread together. That was exactly what they were doing the following evening.

Arkon and Zarya had spent a day in bed, alternating between sleeping, talking about magic, and fucking until they couldn’t move. All in all, the best of days.

They had been given until the afternoon before Zarya’s mother had started to subtly pull on the threads that bound them. Arkon’s father had gone for the not-so-subtle approach and started throwing rocks on their roof until they came out. Tiziano knew exactly what strings to pull to annoy Arkon the most, and rocking his roof while he was sleeping was a teenage memory that had him raging within moments.

He had stuck his head out the window to tell his old man to fuck off when he saw the crowd of his friends lingering around the main house with drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces.

Arkon hadn’t expected to see any of them so soon, but apparently, they all wanted to make sure that he knew how pissed off at him they were. They had turned up in person to tell him.

"You do that again, and I’ll sign you on as Grand Sorcerer for another decade," Gio said and hugged him. It was the hug that made Arkon realize just how worried he had been.

"I’m sorry. At least we found the last camp though, right?" he said with his devil-may-care smile.

"You are lucky you have Zarya to watch out for you," Gio replied, looking across the crowd where she was talking with Ezra and Astrid. "I’ve never thought that meeting her would be good for you, but it has been, hasn’t it? She makes you feel less lonely."

"Very perceptive of you." Arkon smiled and nudged him with his shoulder. "You know when you find someone that makes you feel that way, you should hang onto them."

"I know," Gio replied, eyes sad. "But I can’t seem to bring myself to make any plans for the future until the emperor is dead and this war is over. The king of Constantinople is offering us a new and excellent trade agreement, but only once Arkadi is dead and the threat of a siege is gone."

"Of course!" Arkon rubbed his chin. "But what’s going to happen to the government once he’s dead?"

"Ministers are already working on it. A few have contacted me wanting peace talks, but once again, it hinges on Arkadi being dead. They are all too afraid to openly move against him until then." Gio crossed his arms. "Well? What are you going to do about it?"

"I like that! I’m the one who was tortured in a death camp yesterday, and it’s still up to me to solve everything?" Arkon demanded, throwing up his hands.

"You put yourself in that death camp, and you’ve had a full day in bed to recover which is more sleep than I’ve had in the past three days," Gio argued, but he was smiling again. "This is your plan with the Wolf Mage, Arkon. Only you two can end this, and you know it."

"I know," Arkon replied. He drained his wine. "Arkadi has retreated with his general to his winter palace in Zatoka. Zarya knows the palace and the best way to attack it. We are going to need soldiers to help us take it because it will be too guarded for a handful of us. Zarya and I could do it if we wanted to level the place entirely, but that’s not who we are." Gio raised a brow. "Okay, fine, it is who we are, but just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should."

"Zahir already has djinn recruited to take the palace,” Gio replied. “None of us want to risk the lives of any more soldiers, and I can’t have Dom and the young half of my council run off to play warriors all the time. I let them go to rescue you because it was you, but they are the future of Venice. The djinn will be able to overpower them and seize the soldiers’ weapons without conflict. The soldiers are only going to be used as a shield, and I want a minimum loss of life so that the ministers in Kyiv are softened for the peace talks."

Tiziano joined them with a wine bottle and topped up their glasses. "I hope you boys aren’t talking about work."

"Have you met Gio, the doge of Venice?" Arkon teased.

"I have, which is why I’m coming to break up your scheming." Tiziano’s eyes glittered with good humor. "I like your new girlfriend, son. She’s the first one you have brought home."

"Correction—she brought herself here. I had no say in the matter."

Tiziano snorted. "You lost that say by acting like a damn fool."

"And here we go," Arkon sighed, readying for the lecture.

"I’m sure Zarya gave you a hard enough time over it. You should keep groveling because I swear she was ready to tear Veneto apart when you were taken. You’re lucky to have a woman like that in love with you."

Arkon grinned. "You like her."

"I really do," Tiziano said and lifted his glass to his lips. "Her mother isn’t bad either."

"Don’t you fucking dare," Arkon hissed, and Gio roared with laughter. It was good to hear him laugh, even at Arkon’s expense. His father didn’t have the decency to look the least bit worried about Arkon’s threats.

"You know how you always planned to run away to Torcello after the war?" Tiziano said once Arkon’s feathers had smoothed out again. "Perhaps you should re-think that plan."

Arkon frowned. "Oh?"

"I don’t think the island of monks will suit you," Tiziano said and looked in Zarya’s direction. "What about the mountains? Somewhere with some forests. Still close to Veneto, but far away enough to be left alone if you want it. Just a thought."

Arkon hugged his father. He had to have gotten his brilliance from someone, and when they got down to it, he was more like his father than all of his brothers.

"Thank you for all of this," he said.

Tiziano patted him on the back. "You should bring them here more often. You know I like visitors. After the war is done, let’s make it a habit, hmm? I want my son around."

"You have six other sons around," Arkon pointed out.

"But they have wives and families and aren’t as interesting."

"Ah, finally you acknowledge I’m your favorite," Arkon said and laughed wickedly.

"Just don’t tell the others." Tiziano’s laughter eased off. "When are you leaving again?"

"Tomorrow. Zarya is eager to see the end of this, and the longer we wait, the more time Arkadi has to run away and hide," Arkon replied. He and Zarya had already discussed it. The djinn backup would be worked into their plan.

"Astrid did some magic last night," Tiziano said curiously. "It was trance work and quite amazing. She asked me to keep an eye on her while she went journeying."

"Any idea what she was up to? Oh god, she didn’t come up with a prophecy, did she?"

Tiziano shook his head. "No. She said she was going to talk to the gods. I don’t know what about, but she had a gleam in her eye. The kind her daughter got when she went off to rescue you."

Zarya did say that her mother was twice as sweet and three times as dangerous as a fairytale witch.

"She’s the high priestess of a war goddess. Something we all should remember when all she shows us is the nice side," Arkon pointed out.

Tiziano topped up their glasses again. "The family is growing again. Seeing you happy makes me happy. Don’t fuck it up."

Arkon tapped his glass to his father’s, and they both drank. He looked at Zarya and his heart was full. "I won’t."