Swallowing hard, I turn back to Griffin, trying to banish my doubts along with the acidic sting in my throat. “And ruling well is about doing what’s best for the most people?” I ask.
His nostrils flare. He nods once, looking rather enraged by his own principles.
“Then we’ll go,” I say more confidently than I feel.
“On one condition,” Griffin says, his eyes landing on Selena. “We take the best healer there is with us.”
Selena inclines her head. With the slight angling of her delicate chin, she agrees to come.
“I’m going, too,” Jocasta says briskly, standing. “I’m very good with herbs and dressing wounds.”
“No way,” Carver growls. “Not a chance in the Underworld.”
Jocasta glares at him. Her eyes spark a brilliant blue. “It’s not your decision.”
“Fine!” Carver pivots in his chair to face his parents. “Father?”
Anatole opens his mouth but apparently doesn’t know what to say. Nerissa squeezes his hand until the whole appendage turns white, but then he closes his mouth again without uttering a sound.
“Griffin…” Carver all but snarls, turning to his older brother.
“She can come,” Griffin says.
“What?” I’m not sure who shouts louder—Flynn, Kato, or Carver.
Jocasta’s triumphant smile lights her entire face, returning some of the color to it. “Thank you, Griffin, although it’s no longer your decision, either.” Her final words and her eyes land on me.
Good Gods, is she saying it’s mine?
“She needs a guard,” Flynn grates.
“I second that!” I say far too loudly.
“Cassandra,” Kato suggests. “I saw her today, so Piers didn’t take her with him.”
I’ve met Cassandra. Quick, tall, strong, pretty in an unassuming way. She’s Piers’s number two.
“Cassandra should be your sixth teammate,” Jocasta says. “She’s fast and smart. An expert with a blade and a bow.”
A curt nod from Griffin, who knows Cassandra better than I do. “A good idea. If she accepts.”
“Then who will guard Jo when we’re not there?” Flynn asks. He’s turning red. It’s hard to tell where his face ends and his hair begins.
Selena’s voice is like a splash of cool water in the rapidly heating room. “I will.”
Flynn’s head whips around. “No offense, but I don’t know you.”
Selena’s eyes brighten to a striking, luminous blue. The power that suddenly roars around her makes my hair stand up at the roots and vibrate. A shiver ripples down my body, coursing from my head to my toes.
“Do not question me.” Her words aren’t liquid calm anymore. They rumble like a mammoth waterfall.
Flynn stands, blindly undeterred. Or recklessly determined. Wide and muscled, he seems to take up half the room. I’m not sure he’ll back down, and I don’t know whether to block him or to stand in front of Selena. Not that I could even begin to hold back Selena. It would be like trying to cage a hurricane in the palm of my hand. The magic in her eyes is immeasurable, and not a soul in the room moves.
Jocasta finally puts a neat end to the thickening tension by walking straight through it. Flynn follows her with his eyes, his mouth a grim line.
At the door, Jocasta throws the entire room a defiant look, sapphire fire in her eyes. “I have tonics to prepare. When do we leave?”
“Dawn,” Griffin replies stiffly.
