“Uhm…?” Vestra says, casting a hesitant glance towards her.
“She does that,” Lyra says cheerfully.
“Alright, we need to split up,” I say, pushing the conversation back on track. “To get the Soul of Trees, we need to draw out Jessina from Frostfell. And to do that, we need to start the war. So all of you,” I sweep my gaze over the dragon shifters in the room, “need to take your armies and the fae you have bonded with and head to the battlefield.”
“Which is where, exactly?” Ejnare asks, his brow furrowed.
“Leave that to me,” Diana says.
“And we,” I motion at Isera, Alistair, and Orion, “will head toFrostfell to get the Soul of Trees, and then we’ll join you on the battlefield.”
“I’ll come as well,” Draven says. “You need a dragon shifter to fly you there and back.”
“Yes, but it can’t be you.” I meet his gaze. “You’re the leader of our army. If you’re not on the battlefield, Jessina will know that something’s going on.”
He clenches his jaw. I can see him about to protest. He doesn’t like the idea of splitting up. Neither do I, to be honest. But he knows I’m right, so in the end, he just forces out a long breath and nods.
“I’ll take you,” Lyra offers. “Galen needs to stay as well since he is the second-in-command. But I’m no one, so she won’t notice that I’m missing.”
“You’re not no one,” Alistair growls in a low voice.
Several heads turn towards him. Alarm flashes across his features when he realizes it. However, before he can say anything else, Lavendera yanks up the paper in front of her and then smacks it down in the middle of the table.
“Here,” she announces, and points to an incredibly beautiful map that she has drawn. “There are secret tunnels running underneath the castle in these locations. I’ve searched them all when I was looking for the Soul of Trees myself. It wasn’t in there, obviously. But if you plant explosives here, here, here, here, and here,” she points to several tunnels and rooms she has marked, “you will take out the support structure and the entire castle will collapse.”
For a few seconds, we all just watch her in surprise.
Then a wicked grin spreads across my mouth.
“Well then, let’s go blow up a castle.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Anticipation flutters like erratic birds behind my ribs as I watch the fae of the Seelie Court pair up with the purple, blue, and orange dragons on the fields outside the city. This is it. After all our plotting and scheming, it is now time to enter the final stage of this war. We have weakened our enemies. We have killed Bane and forced Jessina into a state of unhinged rage. We have gathered our allies. We have strengthened our magic and our power with union bonds. And we have a plan.
Now, it is time to fight.
For our freedom.
For our loved ones.
For the people we have already lost.
And for our future.
Now, four dragon clans, both fae courts, and the entire dryad realm go to war.
One last time.
“Selena.”
Tearing my gaze from the crowd across the grass, I turn to instead meet the serious eyes of Vestra, Yerion, and the other leaders of the fae rebellion. I immediately tense up and bracemyself for a fight. They’re not used to being spoken to in the way I did in the meeting yesterday.
“You have done more for our cause this past year than we have been able to accomplish in centuries,” Vestra continues. “I really hate admitting when I’m wrong, but what kind of leader would I be if I didn’t?” Her gaze is steady as she holds mine. “I was wrong about you, Selena.Wewere wrong about you. And I apologize for the unfair way we treated you all these years when you had done nothing but prove your loyalty time and again.”
My eyes widen in surprise. Out of all the things I had expected her to say,thatwas certainly not it. And to my embarrassment, I find that I’m almost a little disappointed. I’m just so angry at everything and everyone. After I threw the doors open to that rage inside me after I was forced to make Draven hate me, I’ve constantly felt that roaring fury burn inside me, and I desperately need somewhere to direct that rage. Iwantto be angry at her. At them all. Because I don’t know what else to do with all of this searing fury inside me.
But maybe I should just save that rage for Jessina instead.
