“Any word from our scouts?” Ilyas asked softly.
Talamh shook his head as I answered, crossing my arms tightly.
“Other than to confirm Razia’s presence in Samyr? No.” My tone was biting and short, the bitterness of Razia’s betrayal coating my tongue. “I should’ve killed that cretin when I had the chance. I always knew there was somethingoffabout him.”
“We cannot spend time in the past or focus on what we could have done,” Folami said absently as her fingers caressed a map. “Is that not what you have told me time and time again?” She turned her piercing gaze to me with a raised eyebrow.
I nodded in acquiescence, focusing on what wecouldcontrol.
“Logically, Solace has united with Samyr. Reasonably, we can assume she has use of their army and the support of their tacticians. We need to find a way to outsmart her,” Lex said.
“Where do the Southern Territories and Borderlands stand?” Talamh asked.
I sighed and ran a hand down my tired face.
“Southern Territories—at least Iluul—are allied with Solace. Alivar removed themselves from the conflict years ago. The Borderlands are weak and disjointed. Many of their towns were decimated by her first rampage. They’re nonissues unless she uses the territory to travel across Elyria without impedance.”
Folami shook her head.
“You know as well as I do, Torin, that she won’t travel south just to move north. She’ll want the easiest, most direct route possible. Especially if it means creating a larger path of destruction.”
“Then she’s most likely to head straight east.” Peytor jerked his chin at the map in Folami’s hands.
“I agree. Though what she does after that is the biggest unknown. Will she turn straight north for Vespera? Cut east across the river into Hestin? Then, if she does go into Hestin, will she attack Vespera via Katiska or enter the southern part of Deucena and progress toward Alvor?”
“Or does she board ships on Hestin’s coast and sail to the northern part of Deucena.”
Talamh shook his head. “I think that is the least likely scenario. Our waters, even into late spring, are frigid and full of ice. She won’t risk using ships, just to have their hulls crack apart on ice chunks hidden by dense fog.”
A lull fell in our conversation.
“Then Katiska is our biggest uncertainty,” Ilyas remarked, subtly squeezing Peytor’s shoulder. Peytor grimaced at the mention of his homeland, and I could see the apology ready to fall from his tongue. I held a hand to stay the inevitability.
“Do not apologize, Peytor,” I commanded. “So much went awry that day. It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t your sister’s fault. It is what Fate intended and?—”
“There is no use dwelling in the past,” Folami and Peytor finished for me. The edges of my lips twitched into a smile as they shared a quick, indecipherable look.
“Precisely. That being said, we need eyes and ears in Hestin.”
“Who?” Folami asked. “It cannot be Talamh, he is needed here to command Alvor. You are a god now and needed here should Solace attack.” Folami looked at her quad next. “As the d’Aelius heir, we cannot send Peytor at risk of upsetting the tenuous political balance in Hestin. I must stay in case Itanya returns,” she finished softly.
“And I refuse to leave my Bonded. At least at this time,” Lex stated, his eyes never tearing from Folami. “Ilyas stays with me.”
“Ellowyn,” I said after a beat. I held my hand up to stall the objections I saw threatening, mainly from Peytor and Lex.
“She is still recovering, yes. Her Destruction Magic is . . . subdued for now, but will need to be tethered”—I shot Peytor a beseeching look—“after that, she is our best solution.”
“Won’t sending her carry the same potential as sending Peytor?” Talamh gruffly asked.
Peytor shook his head.
“She was never held in the same regard. To many, she was just a dumb courtesan.”
I growled at the insinuation, and Peytor rolled his eyes.
“She was, Torin. Evenyoucannot deny her naivety. But more than that, my sister knows the manor better than anyone else. She often used the servant’s passages—both those known and hidden—to escape the wrath of our mother.” He shrugged his shoulders. “She could easily enter the manor, find and pressure Dria’s allegiance, all without detection.”
“Then it is settled, Ellowyn will go to Hestin once her magic is tethered,”Folami said, eyes already turning back to the map. “I would imagine she needs Peytor to be her tether?”
