Sinead led with Henry close behind, her head tilted as she listened for the sounds of approaching footsteps.
“We’re early,” I said, keeping my voice low.
Henry nodded, clenching his fist as he raised his hand in the air. Everyone halted in their tracks, settling in as we awaited the caravans.
Sunlight dappled the ground in haphazard patterns, and I crouched behind a fallen log as I surveyed my surroundings. Shuffling sounded nearby, and I glanced over my shoulder to find a young man, barely out of boyhood, hunched next to me.
His clothes hung off his frame, but his bow looked to be well-maintained. He cleared his throat, then opened his mouth before thinking twice and closing it.
“Spit it out. I’m not waiting through this awkward silence while you work up the courage to speak.”
“Henry said your sister is the bride of the Unseelie Prince. Is that true?”
I hesitated. There was no denying Ryker’s position within the royal family. The same family that abandoned their people when the Wraith Borne proved themselves far from eradicated.
Yet, the boy appeared curious rather than affronted.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Josef.”
He thrust his palm in my direction, and I clasped his hand, feeling the rough calluses there. “Callum.”
He nodded, but his gaze remained eager.
“What if she is?”
“Then why is she helping us?”
His question held no malice. He simply couldn’t understand her position.
“Her reasons are her own.” I wasn’t sure how much I could reveal, and I wouldn’t risk Cadence’s safety.
A pair of striking grey eyes and a crop of dirty blond hair filled my vision, a sinful smirk tilting frustratingly perfect lips.
Why the hell was I thinking ofhim? Andfrustratingly perfect lips? Something was wrong with me. Perhaps his bothersome company had finally rotted my brain.
“Not everyone inside the palace is as ruthless as you might perceive them to be. Some are annoyingly good-hearted.”
As soon as I’d spoken the words, I regretted them. My mouth had a mind of its own, and I wasn’t impressed.
But it didn’t matter. All those who stood by and watched as Ryker imprisoned my sister, allowing him to use her for his own purposes, were the enemy. No amount of witty banter and boyish good looks would ever change that.
The thought burned through me until movement drew my attention. Sinead crawled toward us, her intense green eyes dragging me back into the present.
“There,” she said, pointing to a caravan of three wagons making their slow procession down the road. “Six guards. Two per wagon.”
Henry’s massive frame settled beside me, his voice a low murmur. “Fewer than I expected.”
“They’re trying to be inconspicuous,” I reminded him, gesturing toward the ridge overlooking the trail where a gleam of silver caught the light.
Henry cursed, having spotted the ambush.
“They are expecting the rebels to attack from cover, not march straight down the road.”
“What do you propose we do?” The question came from Sinead, her anticipation mounting by the second.
“We have to split up,” I said, my mind racing as I calculated our chances. “The first group will approach from the west,making enough noise to draw their attention. The remaining fighters will circle the ridge and deal with the archers.”
