"Rodney Sol," Talamayas deep voice rumbled behind Helia, and she turned to face him. Spikes of pitch hair ran his head like shark teeth, the rest rippling like an eel behind in a thin length that fell to his thighs when he stopped. His dark skin made his crimson eyes that much brighter as they assessed both Helia and Pyre. "I started the change for Rodney to become one of my people when the alliance took him. The process is complete now that he's fed fully and rested in his new home. It was the only way he would be allowed to live without someone hunting him."

So Talamayas had poisoned Rodney, in a way. Horus was not going to like this.

Stone stood at Talamayas' side in the same skintight mess as Ghost, but Talamayas no better, always forgoing a shirt to flaunt his body at any mage who dared think to challenge him. With his cloak, Helia had only been able to see how tall and bulky Talamayas was, but without it, the tanned muscle carved its shape into the back of her eyes, flaunting the danger and death in the man if she crossed him. There was so much muscle that Helia imagined he couldn't hug someone without breaking them in half. To top it all off, a tattoo of a simplified sun on his right pectoral was so red it might as well have been done in blood, and the jagged marks on his lower abdomen looked like a monster had picked him up in its jaws only to spit him back out.

No wonder everyone was terrified of him.

The seriousness emanating from both Talamayas and Stone had her and her father stiff as statues and ready to fight for their lives. Even more so, when Shan Sol strode in, his long sheen on black hair whipping behind him in a tight ponytail and his glaive in hand to fell any threat that might present. Like Talamayas, Shan thought shirts were optional, wearing only pants of thin white fabric that layered until they tightened at the ankles. The rest of him was smooth tanned muscle, a shade or two darker than Talamayas' skin, but he had forgone any blood tattoos. Both men were jacked, but Talamayas had an extra twenty-five pounds or so of muscles and stood a head taller with monstrously wide shoulders.

Helia was starting to get how Vice's idea of proper clothing was so warped.

Eyes blacker than oil scraped over her, her father, and Shan Sol even grimaced as he landed on Vice next to her. Did the man not like him? Helia couldn't help the flare of her magic when Shan threatened Vice, and the man gave her a full turn before he bared his fangs. The threat was silent, but it skipped her heart until Vice slipped his hand into hers and gripped her fingers.

"It's all right, Helia," Vice whispered though every vampire in the room could still hear him. "Shan and I have never been the best of friends. Though I appreciate your defensiveness concerning my wellbeing, Shan and I would never truly fight. We are of the same house."

"This is why I said not to take any strays in, Tala. They bring more." Shan grumbled as he dropped his lips back on his teeth to speak to his master. "We need to meet the Cinders at the borders or the gates. It is only your command the men wait for."

So the Cinders were here. That would explain the dire mood of the room.

"Let them in. This won't be settled if we just kick them back into the sands to run home. We will make our stand, and we will put an end to this foolish attack on our people."

"As we should," Shan agreed. "What of Wren? You left to search him out, but I did not hear back. If they use him as a hostage, it will hinder the fight."

"Wren is with them," Talamayas said, lifting just about every eyebrow in the room except for Shan's that dipped low.

Helia was still trying to figure out why they were talking about decimating the Cinder house with its leader and heir standing feet from them. In order for Talamayas to fight the Cinders, he couldn't have any in house that might strike at his back. Locking them in the cells was the safest play and a real possibility, yet no one had come forward with shackles.

"What?" Shan near snarled, shaking his head as if he hadn't heard his master right and his ears needed to be cleaned.

"The Cinders did some magic on him to revert his mind and memory to before he met me. I ran into Wren yesterday when I went looking, and he made his intention to kill me quite clear." Talamayas didn't seem at all upset, more like it was an inconvenience to have the leader of the Songs gunning for his life. Someone was likely always doing so, Song or not, so this was likely just another day for the bastard.

"Talamayas, you can't seriously be thinking of fighting Wren. He's you're mate and you know you can't strike to kill. You should capture him and get him to see reason." Shan's objection was met with stone-faced refusal.

"That wouldn't be fair, Shan." Fair? The man was coming to kill him. "Wren never got a chance to fight me," Talamayas said, his lips dipping with his eyebrows into despair. "I cut out his legs and took that from him. As a warrior, Wren was denied the very essence of his existence. I want to give him that, to fight him on a fair playing field. If I don't, even if he gets his memories back, I would feel I cheated him."

"And what am I to do when he puts you in the ground, Tala?" Shan snapped, his magic fluctuating around him with his displeasure and his hand slipping to his hip like a father scolding a child. Though Talamayas was their leader, it appeared Shan did more of the commanding and thinking. How strange.

"Wren is still your master, memories or not." Talamayas tone was one of warning, letting Shan know that if he touched him, his life was forfeit. "I would expect you to let him leave if that's what he wants. I really don't think he would attack our people nor do I think he will follow through to kill me, but should he do so, your priority is to get our people to safety. That is your responsibility as their leader if I fall."

This slam of Shan's glaive on the ground had Helia jumping closer to her father. Both men were as powerful as they came with magic and physical strength, so if this came to blows, there would be collateral damage. Sand did not fight fire without shards of glass cutting everything in sight asunder.

"You're too stubborn concerning Wren," Shan said icily, every muscle in his body straining to break something.

"My mate deserves everything I can give him," Talamayas said flatly, a statement that Shan couldn't disagree with without insulting them both. "I will deal with Wren myself. No one else will interfere."

"Keep Vice with you at least. The man will protect your life without harming Wren if he goes too far."

"If it will placate you, Vice will remain at my side." Talamayas words had Shan growling his disgust. "I need you at the front of the castle. The rest of the Cinders will attack once the Songs find their targets. I imagine Blaze will lead them while he leaves the Songs to deal with the dirty work."

"Allow me to join him." Pyre's voice threw Helia off, and she looked up to her father's stern expression. The twist of his lips showed his disgust with speaking to a vampire, but what he had to say was worth it to him. "The Cinders are my people, and I can't do much as far as fighting, but even with one hand I can whip spells more powerful than the lot of them. They want to kill vampires so they will rush at you, but they will pause if they see they have to fight me. A portion of them will hesitate twice as much if they see how injured I am from Riff's order."

"I have few other options, so I will accept your offer, Pyre Cinder," Talamayas more spit than spoke each word. "Should you strike at one of mine under such subterfuge, you will not die quickly."

Pyre scoffed. "A promise of torture when I offer you assistance. How expected. Rest assured, I need to clean up my own house before I can even consider yours. Stopping them is just mutually beneficial."

"So you say." Talamayas liked this as much as Pyre, but at least they agreed that working together was better than him stuffing them in cells while he fought off his enemies. "The only real concern is Riff Song. The man put our grand mage out of commission and Forest is exhausted from putting Kopje back together enough just so he could waste his energy healing Pyre. I had no interest in getting our allies wrapped up in a mess I created, so we're on our own."

"I can fight Riff with a few of our generals if I use my magic to emulate Kopje," Vice offered. Stone is best to face Wren anyway since he won't be able to chain him, and I will be just as immune filled with light magic."

"I can't risk my men, you included, Vice," Talamayas responded, but kindly, his voice dipping to something gentle for Vice that he did not offer Shan. "All Riff will need is to grab one of my generals, and it will be a massacre. You know the Sols will be slow to strike down their own, even controlled."

"I'll do it." Helia's voice fell quieter as all eyes turned to her, the worst being Talamayas' and Pyre's. One with worry the other with pity, like she didn't know what she was getting into. "I can fight." Helia argued with the silence until Talamayas spoke first.

"Riff chewed up and spit out Kopje like a marshmallow through a blender. It isn't that I don't believe you strong, just that you have much less experience fighting than a Song war general like Riff. The man is brutal, ruthless, and has no qualms about murdering anyone who gets in the way of killing me. Riff has been around for more than a hundred years, and I honestly couldn't name a living grand mage who could stand against him one on one."

"Well, no offense, geezer," the word pinched Talamayas' face and had Pyre moving closer to her from expected backlash. "Riff knew what to expect from Kopje, since he's a well-known mage. I'm an unknown, I'm powerful, and I would honestly hope not to fight alone. If Ghost and I work together, I'm sure we can at least break a few of his toes until you're done dancing the tango with your mate." Talamayas snorted on her joke, which was better than him breaking her legs, but Shan didn't look amused by her brash nature. "That's what you need right, someone to keep him busy? If we manage to best him, all the better, but at worst, we can keep him off your people."

"You would fight for my people?" Talamayas asked, the words kind yet pointing out what she was saying to make sure she understood the implication.

The Songs were no enemy to the Cinders, so her fighting Riff had no benefit for her personally nor for her family. To fight Riff was to fight for the Sols, a mark that would not easily wash off of her after this. Helia couldn't help but look to her father, to see the disapproval in his eyes, yet there was none. Only that firm line of his mouth when he had something to say that she didn't want to hear.

"Father, I—"

"Helia, you picked up the shovel the moment you got into bed with that one." Pyre pointed to Vice with a thumb, and Vice sank an inch. "You might as well just keep digging." The last words took her by surprise, just as her father's gentle smile did. The softness in a man as hardened to emotion as Pyre brought tears to her eyes, and she squeezed Vice's hand as she looked to Talamayas.

"I will fight for the Sols."

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Word Count: 2109