“Not only did I save both our necks back there, I bought us some time to save Raewyn as well.”
“There is no us. And thereisno time,” I said bitterly. “The execution is tomorrow morning, or did your invitation fail to arrive? I hear it’s quite the event, the talk of the kingdom.”
Folding his arms across his chest, Pharis looked me over.
“You sound like you’ve given up. If I loved a woman as much as you claim to love Raewyn, I wouldn’t let anything stop me or let anyone take her away from me—not even Father.”
“What can I do?” I asked. “My glamour is useless, just as father has always said.”
“He’s always said mine is useless, too,” Pharis said. “But he doesn’t know everything. Or maybe he knows more than he’s let on. Maybe neither of us is as weak and useless as he’d like us to believe.”
Once, Raewyn had told me she thought Father was afraid of me and Pharis. At the time I didn’t believe her, but there was a gleam in Pharis’ eye that was only there when he had a plan up his sleeve.
“What are you suggesting?”
He turned the communication internal, and this time I let him in.
That we work together. Overthrow him. Tonight.
My lungs emptied of breath, and my heart gave a hard thump.Are you serious?
Completely,Pharis said.We could do it, if you’re willing to take a chance and stand against him.Mareth would help us. She could call in her friend Melanthios or maybe a swarm of killer bees or something. The Three Pillars could rule Avrandar. We’d be much better for the kingdom—andallof its inhabitants… including the humans.
For a long moment I stared at him, considering his words as a tiny spark of hope landed on my heart. And then, in a whiff of smoke, it went out.
We are not enough,I said sadly.
Our father’s glamour had always prevailed.
It would take an army of allies, all using our glamours, working together to defeat him. And there is no time to gather allies,I said.
The gleam in Pharis’ eyes extinguished as well. He could see that I was right. Our father was too powerful.
There was a sad smile on his face. “Well… maybe we can at least work together to get Raewyn out of the dungeon… one last time.”
“How would you propose to do that?” I asked.
“I don’t have an army of glamours,” he said, “but I do have more than one.”
“What? How could I not know this? Why have you never mentioned it?”
“I was only able to use my shadow glamour recently. And we haven’t been able to talk that much of late.”
He laid out the plan. He would siphon the jailer’s Vigilance glamour as well as the soldiers’ who were guarding Raewyn, giving me a chance to sneak in and free her. Then he’d use his newly developed shadow glamour to cloak us while we smuggled her out in the dark of night.
Grateful and full of hope, I agreed. As I’d said, my life was worth nothing if Raewyn was dead—I wasn’t afraid to risk it to try to save her.
Apparently my brother was willing to take the same risk.
“I’m sorry I lost faith in you,” I said. “I should never have doubted your intentions.”
“No. You shouldn’t have,” Pharis agreed.
As he left to head down to the dungeon, he still seemed subdued.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked him. If he had doubts about his glamour skills, perhaps we shouldn’t even attempt it.
He stopped and looked at me. “Quite sure.”
