“Doeseveryoneknowwhatto do?” George double-checked with her gaggle of friends.
A chorus of agreement rang out. A full day had passed since Isahn and she spied on her father and Peros. Yesterday, they met with the group to plot. Today, they gathered in her sitting room for a final rundown of the plan to retrieve the note from Gasparo’stablinium. She felt a mild sense of guilt for keeping Isahn’s impending departure from her friends, but it was nothing compared to the sourness of her stomach since she realized he’d have to go, and what that might mean for them.
It was midday, a decidedly odd time for skulking. But the cover of darkness wasn’t necessary when one’s friends possessed the ability to hide themselves using magic and had a wily elf on their side. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Her father had taken his guests out onto the grounds for archery and games, and the guards were due to change shifts in twenty minutes.
“Let’s do it.” Hildy’s voice was dry and serious.
Dunstan’s was flat. “Never been more excited.”
They organized according to plan at the various exits from herinsulae. Dunstan, Burke, and Ean left via the exterior stairwell to wander toward the kitchens and meet up with Adda. Isahn slipped into the hidden passage after pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead and wishing her luck. With a lantern in one hand and George’s key in the other, he took off to hide in the wall beside the king’s study as a final precautionary measure, ready to cause a distraction should they be interrupted. Wynnie stood beside the main exit where she plumped up her breasts, pinched her cheeks, gave her girl friends a saucy wink, and set off.
Gianis sauntered through the corridor when Wynnie exited, but her presence wasn’t attention-worthy. He didn’t even glance their way.
“Deiwa hathemi.” George closed her eyes and inhaled slowly when the door clicked shut. She helped herself to another deep breath, trying to quell the thunderous pace of her heartbeat. “I can’t believe we’re going to do this.”
“We’ve got it. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have agreed to the plan if I thought it would fail.” Hildy chuckled, clapping her on the shoulder.
She flashed her friend half a smile, then threw up a shield around them both, ensuring they’d look like whatever backdrop they stood against. It was a distinctive and hard-earned facet of her sight magic. She’d been perfecting the skill over the past ten or so years.
“We’re shielded,” Hildy said, her gaze dipping to the doorknob. She’d deadened the sounds of their movement and conversation, allowing them to move through the halls as little more than ghosts.
“Same. No one will see us if you don’t distract me. Let’s get this over with.” George opened the door a crack to ensure noone was nearby. The corridor appeared silent and empty—but appearances in Domos were a tricky thing.
They slipped out and made their way to the stairwell, heading down to hide in wait near the king’s study until Dunstan and Burke arrived—in disguise, assuming all went well.
Wynnie was off locating and hopefully seducing the two guards due to start their shift outside thetablinium.Her goal was to convince them they had time before rotation to share a “snack” with her in the kitchens, something fun and sultry to tell the other boys about. Knowing Wynnie, her suggestive words would be accompanied by blatantly erotic images pressed into their minds.
“Do you think they’re in the kitchens by now?” George whispered to her guard and best friend.
“You don’t have to whisper, and I hope so,” Hildy replied at a normal volume, just fifteen feet from the two legionaries currently outside the study. The men didn’t so much as glance in their direction.
Once Wynnie got the guards to the kitchen, she’d present the soldiers with a special icing, prepared by Ceadda, for their “diverting activity.” Ideally, the two men would lap up the frosting infused with the same herbs used to knock individuals out for mindmolding. Adda’s taste magic would mask the distinctive flavor of the sleeping aid.
George tapped her foot nervously as they waited.
“Stop that, you’re making me stressed.”
She poked Hildy with magic.
While this was all happening, Dunstan and Burke were supposed to be hiding in the pantry with Ean, who would glamor them to look like the sleeping guards. They’d have approximately twenty minutes while the real legionaries were knocked out.
A set of perfectly in-sync footsteps marched down the hall at her back, and George turned to see two men headed their way.
Heart beating erratically, she eyed the incoming soldiers. “Are those our guys?”
“Hard to say, we’ll know in a moment.”
The two guards, a chubby legionary with warm dark skin and cropped black hair, and a tall lean man with sleek brown hair—sort of like Wynnie’s—approached. The shorter man paused in front of the ladies—who hopefully looked like the wall. Bending, he readjusted a shin guard.
The signal.George exhaled. It was them.
Hildy did her thing, masking Dunstan's and Burke's voices to match the guards whose bodies they were mimicking. “Done,” she announced.
George tapped the guys in the crooks of their elbows with her touch magic, the agreed-upon sign that they were good to go. Remaining hidden and behind a protective sound barrier, the women slunk behind the men, staying several feet away as they changed shifts and bid the departing legionaries farewell.
Wynnie slipped around the corner, having come up a different stairwell. Her second task was to ensure the outgoing guards were well distracted, far from thetablinium.
“You’ve had such a hard shift, big boys,” she murmured, sashaying up to the men and stalling both with her palms pressed to their chests. “Would you come play with me? I’m so dreadfully bored.” She simpered, extracting nods from both soldiers.
