My eyelashes fluttered as my breathing grew erratic and the reality of the situation sank in.Fuck.How had I not seen that until now? I felt like such an idiot. I had spent years in Malakai’s grasp, witnessing first-hand how important I was to him for his own gain.
The chatter about where we could dock our boats died down at my words. An eerie silence permeated the air, only broken up by the lapping of the waves against the siding of the ship and creaking of wood as we rocked with it.
Elijah’s gruff tone brought me to present as he asked, “What do you mean, Kyella?”
The wheels in my brain were spinning as I pieced it together. Flicking my eyes up to him, I explained my thought process. “I thought it was so strange that they said Malakai gave them orders not to return until they had useful information to share about the Tridian Empire. If I was his prized possession, wouldn’t he want them to take me back to him immediately?”
Kolvar’s boots scuffed against the floor as he kicked absentmindedly, mulling over my words before nodding in agreement with me. “All I was worried about was getting you back, and when we did, I never gave it a second thought, but you’re right. It doesn’t make sense that he would value information about the Empire over returning you to him.”
Elijah’s eyes sparked in realization as he seemed to catch up to my train of thought. “It was a ploy,” he breathed out as his hands curled around the top of the chair in front of him, cracking the wood effortlessly.
Crossing my arms against my chest, I took a deep breath before blowing it out and adding on, “It was. They always intended on launching their fleet into a war against us, and they wanted us focused on a single ship…on my capture by Holmeth. They didn’t want us focused on the fleet that would be sailing toward us. I was merely bait. They must have begun to gather their forces the day after we left this wretched land.”
“Fuck,” Dakath grunted before smacking the table hard in his frustration before stepping back to pace. “We played right into his hand! They were likely just going to keep you at sea until Malakai arrived and took you onto his ship, not drawing any focus back to their lands until it was too late.”
While I understood his anger and frustration, I knew this setback wasn’t the end for our strategy. Or for us. I refused for it to be.
Letting my voice rise, I infused every ounce of calming energy I could into my words. “Initially, we may not have seen his intentions, but not all hope is lost. We still came to their lands before they could launch their attack, giving us the upper hand. It is still true that he is a prideful, arrogant man who likely expected us to cower after Myrin’s death. But did we?”
“Nos” were mumbled, but the paltry response wasn’t good enough for me.
“I said,” I paused for emphasis as I looked around. I met their eyes, shoulders pushed back as I stood tall. I clenched my jaw and drew a deep breath before continuing, “He thought we would cower in fear. DID WE?” I yelled in sharp demand, staring each man and woman in the room in the eye, daring them to cower even now.
“No!”
“No, we didn’t!”
The energy of the mood instantly turned from somber and dejected to one of fizzling energy. It permeated the air, almost tangible, like I could wrap my hands around it and feel a jolt in my bones. It was infectious, and I knew it was enough to use in our plans.
Focusing back on the map, I laid my hands against the wooden table and squinted at every little detail as I mulled over our options. There was an empty patch, beige in tone near the water that had nothing written on it. Pointing to it, I looked at Tristan on my right and asked, “What is this?”
His brow furrowed, a contemplative look on his face before a smile lit up his entire face. “That, my friend, is our new dock.”
Smirking at his jovial attitude, I asked, “Care to inform the rest of us of your brilliant plan?”
His chuckle permeated the air before he said, “Don’t mind if I do.” His smile was devilish as he turned and yelled, “Listen up! Plans have changed. We will be splitting into two groups moving forward: a stealth team and the main force.”
I raised an eyebrow in question and a devious glint flickered in his gaze as he smirked.
“Let’s use his own ideas against him. The main force will draw their eye to the harbor and send all abled bodies to fight there. Our stealth group will dock at the beach you pointed out and will travel through the towns on the outskirts until it reaches the back of the capital city.”
“Brilliant,” Elijah murmured. “We’ll trap their forces between our two in a pincer movement, and it’ll expose their backs to us.”
Barnabus fluttered down from the wooden beam he’d been watching from quietly and landed on my shoulder.
This is the perfect opportunity to evacuate the towns as you go.
Reiterating what Barnabus said, I was pleased that everyone was seemingly in agreement with this new plan, however, there was one small snag. “How are we going to get the main forces docked at the harbor?”
With a grunt, Tristan glanced at my three men, who’d gathered at my back, before admitting, “Our stealth team needs to take the small boats to the harbor and light their ships on fire before the masses wake and the daylight gives us away.”
Dakath’s voice dropped dangerously, vibrating as he asked, “And why do you look like we’re going to kill you for this plan?”
That was an easy assumption. There was only one thing that would rile all three of them up so quickly.
Standing to my full height, I announced, “Because I’ll be leading the stealth group, and Tristan will lead the main forces on our ships.”
Reaching up to scratch Barnabus beneath the chin, I hoped my guys would understand the advantage of him being able to scour the sky and scout ahead for us while relaying anything he found into my mind. We had to use every single advantage we had if we were going to pull this off, and with Tristan noting the way I interacted with Barnabus, I had a suspicion he was beginning to wonder about our connection.
