CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Irrien smiled in grim satisfaction as his flagship scraped up against Delos’s docks. With the enemy fleet in tatters, it had been an easy thing to break the harbor chain and pour into the space behind like a stain on the water. He felt the deep rightness of things going as he had planned them.
Flaming missiles flew over his head, but Irrien didn’t duck. A leader couldn’t afford to show weakness. Especially not a First Stone. Irrien had taken his position by defeating the last holder of the seat, seizing his interests and finally slaying him. His men liked to profess their loyalty, but he knew there was always someone, somewhere, who would try to take it from him if they felt that they could.
So he stood tall, ignoring the pain in his arm where Akila had wounded him, ign
