That was glorious.

Nothing compare to sex with a big, strong Thalanil. I can’t believe I missed out on this for years and years. 

I have some catching up to do. 

When both of us have regained our breath, I prop myself up on my elbows. The last time we had sex, it ended with me storming out angry. I don’t intend for that to happen again. 

“I’ve been thinking,” I say. “About what you said last time.”

Tau opens his eyes, and I can see a look of concern flash across his chiseled face. 

“So have I,” he says.

“I have made my decision.”

He sits up, completely focused. 

“And?”

I grab his hand and squeeze it. 

“I have decided to stay here, in this world, with you. I feel like I can make a difference here. I want to help the Thalanil. I want to help you.”

A massive smile spreads across his face. 

“You’ve made me the happiest man in the universe,” he growls. He leans in and kisses me deeply, our tongues twirling around one another, and I close my eyes and enjoy the moment. 

The heat in my core is still lit, but I try to keep my focus. There’s something else I have to tell him.

I’ve got a plan, and he’s not going to like it.

“Excuse me, my prince…”

We stop our passionate kiss. One of the Thalanil is outside our cave, asking for Tau’s attention.

“What is it?” he asks. “Is it urgent?”

“Err, perhaps. I have a little girl here who has something for the princess. She says it’s very important.”

That’s got to be Celaena. 

“Send her in,” I say as I grab the sheets and pull them over our naked, sweaty bodies.

The familiar little girl comes skipping into the room, her toy dragon held tightly to her chest. 

“Hi there,” I say. 

“Hi,” she says shyly, looking at the floor. “I have a gift for you.”

“What’s that?”

She thrusts Fenrir out. 

“Here. This is for you.”

I raise my eyebrows. “I can’t accept that!”

Celaena walks right up to the bed and places the stuffed dragon in my lap. 

“You’re new here, and I know how hard it is to sleep in a new place, so I thought you needed Fenrir more than I do,” she says. 

The little girl flashes me a bright smile and runs straight out of the room, leaving me with a heart so full of emotions it might burst.

“What was that about?” Tau asks. 

I run my fingers across the soft toy. What a kind, sweet gesture. 

“Just the sweetest thing ever,” I say. 

This only strengthens my resolve. I really want to help the Thalanil — and I can’t do that by staying in the safety of this cave, with Tau and his people taking care of my every need.

That isn’t right. 

Not while Sera is still kept captive in the Fortress of Bones. Not while all the other Thalanil women are kept as Qroq slaves, and the men imprisoned in their dragon forms. 

I have a plan… but it’s risky.

“I’ve been thinking,” I start.

“About what? Baby names?” Tau grins, running his hand across my naked belly. 

“About how to defeat the Qroq.”

My mate stiffens, a curious look on his face.

“And how do you propose we do that?”

“While I was a captive, I was a servant to General Vakgar, and—”

“Don’t speak his name,” Tau growls. “That’s history.”

“Please, let me finish. I served wine at a meeting of the generals, and I noticed there was a lot of discord between them. They were nearly bashing each others head in, if it wasn’t for all the drink.”

“And?” Tau says. “The Qroqs have always warred with each other. It is their way. That is why they never posed a threat to us, until Qotl, their so-called ‘emperor’, united the tribes, and turned them against us… I wish a thousand curses upon his name.”

I lick my dry lips. Here it is. 

“What if I return, and try to play the generals out against one another?”

A deep frown forms on my mate’s deep blue face.

“Return?” he growls. 

“Yeah. I’ll be able to make a real difference. Just imagine what we could do if we had someone inside the Qroqs inner circle.”

“Return?!” Tau says, his voice echoing off the cave walls. “Have you lost your mind?!”

He steps out of the bed and paces around the cave. 

“Saving you was the most dangerous, most reckless thing we’ve ever done — and now you just want to return? People died saving you!”

“Do you think I don’t know that?!” I scream. “I can’t stop thinking about that! I never asked to be brought into this world — but now I want to do my part, to repay your people for all they’ve done for me. I won’t rest on my laurels!”

“You’re impossible,” he growls. “You can give me an heir. Isn’t that enough? Isn’t my love enough?”

I pull my knees up to my chest. I knew he wasn’t going to like it, but I didn’t expect him this angry. Tau is furiously pacing across the room, gesticulating wildly as he explains just how stupid my plan is. 

I’ve already made up my mind though. 

“Look. I saw their maps,” I say, trying to stay calm. “I can do more for your people, for our people out there than in here. Don’t you want to fight?”

“I want nothing more, my melethril. Nothing more. If it was up to me, I would have died on the battlefield a thousand times over, but it’s not about what I want. It’s about what is best for our people.”

I look around the cave. “And is this really the best? Cowering in here, like a wounded animal?”

Tau’s eyes open wide, and I can tell from his expression alone I wounded the proud warrior. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh — it just slipped out. 

“Do you think that this is what I want for my people?!” he growls. His eyes seem to glow, just like when he shifted into his dragon form. He storms out of the cave, his blue skin glimmering with scales.

Well, that went poorly… but I haven’t changed my mind yet. And with Tau gone, now is my moment. 

He might never leave me out of his sight after this.