“I’m sorry.” I waved my hand to shoo my weird feelings away. “It’s just odd discussing the PR aspect of removing a dictator from office.”
Audrey snorted, but it wasn’t humorous.
“This is all such a mess,” Audrey said. I watched her as she rubbed her temples with her fingertips, her eyes closed as she struggled to gather her strength.
“The good news is, Ilia still doesn’t know where the females and children are,” Sergei muttered. “But he probably knows that Leon and his unit are disposed of at this point, since they failedto check back in. We don’t have a lot of time to come up with a realistic plan to relocate over a thousand sirens.”
“Okay, so, what do we do right now?” I asked.
Hush pulled a vibrating phone out of her pocket before furrowing her blonde brows at the screen. Sergei pulled out his own phone that was vibrating as well, and the two of them shared a very, very concerned look.
“Amber must have realized her brother won’t be returning,” Sergei grumbled. “There is another unit of guards several clicks from the cabin, searching.”
“It also looks like we were just given a new assignment.” Hush pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers as she murmured angry words I couldn’t pick up on.
“What’s your assignment?” Audrey pressed.
Silently, Hush strolled up to us to show her the screen of her phone, and on it, was a picture of me. It was from my first and only visit to Lydhavn, unaware that my picture was being taken as I sat on my ottoman at Bandthral between Audrey and Drustan. The language written underneath my picture was in the runes I couldn’t read, but a cold twist in my chest helped me guess what exactly was being ordered.
“They want you to kill Van…” Audrey barely spoke the words loud enough for me to hear. “…If Leon’s sister suspects that I killed her brother, then her revenge would be killing Van.” Audrey scrubbed both of her hands down her face in exasperation.
“This is also clearly a test,” Hush murmured. “This was sent to the generals of Ilia’s guard. If what Leon said was true, and that Amber is suspicious of me conspiring with the halfling and human, then I need to be the one to prove my loyalty to Ilia.” Hush pocketed her phone and slapped her hand down on the desktop in frustration.
“It’s almost as if impulsively killing people isn’t always the correct answer,” Audrey spoke, her voice dripping with derision as she crossed her arms.
Hush snapped at Audrey, “Would you rather we sent Leon and his unit back to Ilia? Let them report exactly where the thousands of missing females and children are? After they already killed Van for spite, of course.”
Audrey flinched and crossed her arms. Not willing to argue with her.
“Leon was a repulsive male,” Sergei chimed in. “Hyvenmere is a better realm without him, regardless of how or why he was disposed of.” I silently agreed with Sergei. Leon always made my skin crawl, and I liked the idea of never having to face him again. “His sister is spiteful and petty in her own way. Even if Leon and his unit made it back to her without finding you three, I would assume that she would have continued investigating the mountains anyway. Once she has a theory in her mind, she won’t let it go until she has answers.” Sergei spoke his theory while opening a laptop on the desk, tapping away on the keys. He grinned at it. “Thankfully, it seems as if the talks with Prince Fergus have gone well.” He pointed to the computer screens, and all of us watched as Liam and Fergus stalked behind the unit that was spread throughout the trees.
Fergus and Liam were undetected, and Fergus threw a wink at Liam before raising his hands and lifting his gaze toward the sky.
Thunder erupted, and within seconds, heavy rainfall descended on the siren guards.
The unit was annoyed, completely soaked. Within minutes, the unit regrouped and retreated.
“I’ll fetch them,” Hush murmured, throwing her hood up as she strode across the office. We all watched as Hush appeared on the security footage, startling the men. They followed her, Liamlooking much more skeptical than Fergus. Later, the two princes strode through Hush’s office door.
“We are running out of time to get all the females and children out,” Liam announced as he entered Hush’s office. Following behind him was the nereid prince, who greeted Audrey and me with a wide smile.
“Ah, if it isn’t my favorite halfling and human,” Fergus grinned. “Though I wish we were meeting again under better circumstances.”
Sergei flattened his palms on either side of the map he was studying.
“I just feel the need to say it out loud…” I lifted a finger to get the attention of everyone in the room. “Regardless of what our plan is, I’d like to stay alive. No matter what.” Audrey continued to frown at that, not appreciating my attempt to lighten the mood at all.
Hush gave me a funny look. “Are you always so desperate to be unserious?”
“It’smydeath that’s being discussed,” I argued. “I’m the one who gets to decide how seriously to take it. But I’m deadass when I ask, from the bottom of my heart, please don’t kill me to prove your loyalty to Ilia.”
“Killing you would be idiotic for us to do.” Sergei finally looked up from his map, his dark hair fell over his forehead, his smirk visible because his mask was down. “It would be a death sentence for us.” Audrey pinched her eyebrows but didn’t voice the question that inspired her confused expression.
“What are we doing instead?” I asked, trying to move the conversation along.
“I need to prove our loyalty to Ilia, to buy us more time to figure out if we can relocate everyone, before Ilia feels the need to send more of his army here to investigate.” Hush nodded toward Fergus, who was leaning against the back wall.
“My parents have been unable to make a firm decision either way,” Fergus announced with annoyance. “Unfortunately, the dark recipes Drustan and his cousin stole from them the night of my birthday not only made them fear Iliamore, they also lost some trust inmefor allowing it to happen.” Fergus lifted a dark eyebrow as he smirked conspiratorially. “However, I am still the beloved Prince of Vanyara. Several Vanyaran guards are working on preparations to host refugees as we speak, without the official order from my parents,” Fergus added, before turning to Audrey and me to inform us. “I can have two trusted spies explore the back end of these tunnels. But based on what that map shows…” Fergus pointed a finger adorned in gold rings to the old parchment laid out on Hush’s desk. “There is a specific route leading to the ocean. That might be the best way for us to transport the refugees out.”
