I rotated my neck one way and then the other, grateful when there was a pop. “Did you sleep?”
“Some,” she said with a half-smile. “You’re a bit too buff to make a soft pillow, but I appreciate you trying. I’m sure your legs were more of a cushion than the wall.”
“I’ve slept in worse conditions.” I didn’t know precisely what those worse conditions were, but I had a strong sense that I’d toughed it out and slept rough before.
She nodded as she stood and stretched her arms overhead. “From what I’ve heard, your warbirds are pretty stark.”
Warbird. That was a word I knew. A familiar pang of longing hummed through me.
“I remember nothing specific, but I know they are better than this.”
She laughed. “For your sake, and Jasmine’s, I hope so.”
I followed her lead and stood, moving my legs to wake themand shaking out the stiffness in my arms. When my gaze caught the opening high in the wall, I huffed out a breath.
“I do not think we have time to scrape away a hole large enough for me to squeeze through.”
She followed my line of sight and scrunched her lips to one side. “It looks bigger when you’re up there, but you might be right. Especially if we want to get out and get word to the Vandar before they get lured into the enemy trap.” She rubbed her hands together. “So, if that’s not the plan, what is? I said last night that we had all night to come up with something, but I’m not going to lie. I haven’t come up with anything better than rushing the guards with our spoons. What about you?”
I stared at her. “I do not know.”
Skye frowned. “You’re not even going to spitball something else?”
“Spitball? Is that some strange human game?”
She laughed and ran a hand through her hair, which had not gotten tamer during the night. “No, it’s an expression. It’s like throwing out an idea even if you don’t know how it will work.”
“And spitballing is an effective technique?”
“It is when you’re an underground rebel who isn’t trained in military strategy. I was kind of hoping you’d bring the warrior ideas.”
That made two of us. I wished nothing more than to recall the training that had elevated me to the role of battle chief.
Think, Kolt, I told myself. You must remember something.
“It’s okay,” she said quickly. “We don’t need the most sophisticated plan since there are only two of us and our only weapons are spoons, right?”
Despite her serious expression, I could not help but chuckle. “Are you trying to make me feel better or feel worse?”
She grinned. “You didn’t like my pep talk? That isn’t what you’d tell your raiders before battle?”
I couldn’t recall sending Vandar into battle, but two words floated through my brain and bobbed to the surface. “For Vandar.”
“What?”
“That’s what we would say before battle,” I said, fresh certainty putting steel in my words. “For Vandar.”
“Okay.” She nodded, her smile widening. “That’s something.”
The morning light had shifted, and the air inside the cell warmed as the golden beams slid down the walls. I inhaled deeply, ignoring the rumbling of my stomach and the remnants of the ache in my head.
“We don’t have only the spoons,” I said, as the gears started turning in my mind. “We also have whatever else they bring us.”
“Are you suggesting we attack them with breakfast?”
That might not be the most effective plan, but then I remembered what Skye had told me. “You said they wanted to use you against me. They wanted you to make me fall for you so hard that I could be easily manipulated.”
“That’s right.”
