“I’d make sure he’s well hidden,” Cornelius says.
That sets Briony running toward the door, already calling Blaze’s name.
Then it’s just me and the old professor standing in the cold Great Hall, the candles flickering around us.
“Do you think we have a hope?” I ask Cornelius.
“Truthfully,” he answers, “I don’t know. I can’t predict the future any more than you can.”
I think of Beaufort and his vision, one that seems hopeful. Maybe he can. Maybe this will work out. Although I do not 100% trust it.
“I think you have fate on your side,” Cornelius continues, “and fate is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. Although, perhaps love is the most powerful of all the forces.”
“You think so?”
“Is there anything you wouldn’t do for that woman, Fox?”
“No, nothing at all.” He smiles at me. “Cornelius …”
“What is it, Fox?”
“It’s one thing to bring the system crashing down. But then what? What comes next? Chaos? Or maybe something much worse?”
“Maybe,” Cornelius says, considering me, “but I think that’s for the people of this realm to decide, don’t you?”
I follow Briony’s scent and find her out on the field with the dragon, whispering to him quietly as she strokes her palm up and down his snout.
“Okay, sweetheart?” I ask.
It’s been a long and difficult day for her. She’s still so young and has already lost so many people in her life.
“Not really,” she tells me truthfully. “All I really want to do is curl up in my bed and pretend none of this is happening. But I don’t think I’m going to have the chance for that, am I?”
“There’ll be time to grieve afterward, Briony,” I say. “And we’ll do it properly. A proper service for that girl. A proper way of remembering her.”
“If we make it out of this alive, Fox,” she says, leaning her forehead against the dragon’s nose.
As always, he’s watching her intently.
“We will get out of this alive, sweetheart.”
“She’s bringing an army, Fox. A whole army of shadow weavers.”
“Beaufort saw it, Briony. The future. All of us together.”
She shakes her head. “His visions aren’t that clear, Fox. I doubt he can be sure what he saw.”
“I still think we can win. If we all work together, I think we can do anything, Briony. Even bring down an Empress.”
“I’m going to try, Fox. I’m going to try for Amelia and for Clare. And all the other students who have died at this stupid academy. All the others that have suffered. All those that have been killed by demons over all these years. So much unnecessary suffering and so many pointless deaths. I’m going to try. For all of them.”
“That’s all we can do, sweetheart,” I tell her. “That’s all we can do.”
Chapter Forty
Thorne
We spend most of the night going over our plan, preparing, and going over our plan some more. If everything works out, the army will be weakened by the time it reaches the academy grounds. Our shadow weavers will launch an attack from the towers, luring the army that way, while we lure the Empress out on the field where we can combine our powers and take her on. Once we’ve rehearsed it to death, we attempt to catch a few hours of sleep before morning.
