Aiden stilled.
But Dario’s aura flared. “We’re here,” he said. “That’s your answer. Now sit down, both of you. You’re upsetting the guards.”
“Give me your word,” Lyr said. “I want your word that you’re going to do everything in your power to complete this mission.”
“We can’t,” Aiden roared. “We can’t give you our word. All right?”
“Why the hell not?” she asked.
“Because!” I shouted, and then we were all standing. Everyone stilled, turning to stare at me. “Because,” I said, my voice cracking. “They already gave their word to my father.” I sat back down, pulling my chair violently in toward the table. “They’ll do whatever he asks, and that’s it. So enough! He wants a shield, and this is how he’s going to get it. Everyone sit down and open your fucking scrolls. We’re doing this. We’re doing it right. And we start now!”
Lyr sat down next, followed by Meera. Finally, Dario and Aiden joined, everyone adjusting their seats and rearranging their scrolls.
“I think the best place to begin,” Lyr said, clearing her throat, “is to memorize the schedule that day, as well as the layout of the Palace. Places marked for chayatim, dungeons, rooms—” she cleared her throat again, “rooms that the Emperor can easily, or secretly gain access to. We need to make a list of every place where Jules might be kept.”
Dario shook his head. “We’re not going after Jules. We’re going after the shield.”
“I know. But once she’s free, it’s our job to make sure she isn’t taken from us again.”
“Focus on the shield,” Aiden said. “His Highness has her rescue set.”
Lyr’s nostrils flared.
“No shield, no Jules. We need a starting point for the theft.” Dario tilted his chin. “Look, I’m in. I’m all the way fucking in. And I don’t like losing. So let’s study. Memorize the schedule, pick starting points.”
At this, Lyriana and Meera shared a look, but both seemed to be in agreement.
Silence filled the room as everyone’s scrolls began to unroll. My heart was still pounding. My body still reacting to the knowledge that its secret had been revealed.
But then I thought of Jules. Of her last letter to me. Of the way her friendship had been all I had when I’d returned home from Bamaria, my heart broken over Lyr.
I pushed all other feelings aside. I was getting her the fuck out of there. Whatever else was happening tonight between me and my old friends—it didn’t matter. I began to read, my fingers unclenching, and like everyone else, I pored over the maps before me.
Sometime later, Lyr set her scroll down with a sound of frustration. “I have no fucking idea where to start,” she said.
“We can mark a few places off-limits though,” Meera suggested. “Some are too far, and too guarded for us to hide in. Those make no sense and should be crossed off as possibilities.” She pulled her map out toward the middle of the table, and stood, grabbing a few markers from her pack, and blocked off some sections. After a few moments, we all agreed. Meera eyed the map carefully. “Seeing the Palace like this, I think we can narrow down our startingpoints to half a dozen locations. Here.” She set down the first marker. “Here. Here,” she placed two more. “And any of these spots along these three corridors.” She set the final markers down.
“And there,” Lyr said, adding one more.
Everyone leaned forward, their eyes going back and forth between Meera’s map and their own.
“This is good,” I said. “We can begin planning around these entry points, and cross-reference the guard schedule and locations.”
Aiden tapped his fingers against the table. “Lyr’s entry point lines us up with most of His Highness’s Palace guards.” He frowned. “But we have less chances of being seen if we follow this one of Meera’s.” He pointed to a marker just outside the Throne Room.
“You’re sure?” Dario asked.
“We have to look out for the chayatim,” Aiden said. “The Emperor’s cloaked ones. They’ll be able to read your minds, see us coming.”
“Won’t we have protection?” Dario asked. “The potion that protects our minds?”
Meera put her head in her hands.
“The Imperator has that?” Lyr asked, her voice high.
“Of course, he does,” Aiden said. “We can’t walk in there with a crime in our thoughts. We’d be caught instantly.”
“So, we’re using magic that was stolen from a vorakh?” Lyr asked, her voice filled with disgust.
