“We trust them.” Cara spoke for me, and to my surprise, I appreciated it.
Ander glanced over at her as if he had forgotten her and then, realizing she was barefoot, leaned over and pulled off first one boot, then another. He threw them at her feet. “The ground is rough here.”
“You think he does these things just to make you mad,”Shadowbane mused, though I had not invited him into discussion.“But I think he is probably just superior to you. Giving up his shoes rather than carrying her? It’s metaphorical, really?—”
“Please shut up,”I said to the ancient being in my head.
“You probably do not understand ‘metaphor.’”
In the meantime, Cara and Ander had argued over the boots. Cara, however, was willing to lose to him, and she finally sighed and smiled and pulled on the boots. “Thank you.”
“She tried to stab me,” I reminded Ander, Cara, and Shadowbane alike. And myself, perhaps.
“I understand.” Ander clapped my back. “She didn’t stab me.”
He winked at me, then moved forward in the forest.
“You’re in a spirited mood today.” Annoying though he might be, I was glad he didn’t seem beaten down by the queen’s games. “Remind me why you’re here?”
“What’s your plan?” Ander demanded. “The queen is crushing the clans. She’s starting with Obsidian, but if we don’t unite now, I doubt she will end there. She’d rather see the kingdom overrun by monsters than us freed.”
There was no hiding the bitterness in his voice. His gaze moved from mine to Cara’s. “What has changed? Is now the right time for a new rebellion?”
Hope lit his gaze. It would’ve embarrassed him if he had known. Ander would prefer to act as if he were beyond hope.
But none of us were. Hope was our strength and our weakness.
“I hope Lightbringer will allow me to ignite mortal magic,” Cara admitted, her voice steady. “But so far she has rejected me.”
“Not you,” I disagreed. “She’s angry at Shadowbane and me. That has nothing to do with you.”
“If it had nothing to do with you, she would talk to me. I am failing in some way.” Cara looked rueful. “It would be easier if she would tell me how.”
“You two have a lifetime together. It will come,” Ander promised.
“Apparently, Fear and I willalsohave a lifetime together.”
Ander looked from her to me to her again. “You didn’t know?”
I raised a hand to pause him. I never minded if Ander punched me and I had the chance to return the favor, but time was waning. “She already tried to stab me once, remember.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Cara said swiftly. “What matters is Lightbringer’s powers haven’t yet manifested.”
“If she can draw the stolen magic away to give it back to mortals, then she can take the queen’s magic. Then we have our chance at killing her.” I had fantasized a thousand times about the look on my mother’s face as her power fled.
“Our second chance,” Ander said, rather than avoid the subject of our disastrous first attempt, which would have been polite. He had never been polite with me—first because we were brothers, then because we were enemies.
“Touching that you consider it ours.” Since he had introduced the subject, I asked, “Why would you try again?”
“Why would you?”
“I asked you first.” I regretted the pettiness as soon as it was out of my mouth. Gods, he brought out the worst in me.
“Fair.” He smiled slightly, as he always had when he found me childishly amusing. He had been older than me when we were boys and never forgotten it for a moment. “There’s no other choice left. It is time to tear her off the throne.” His jaw worked. “Clan Amber will fall anyway after Obsidian if we do not act now. And personally, I have little left to lose.”
If Ander saw Tesa now, he would be too furious to throw his lot in with mine. We were in a fragile time.
“But I can’t ignite mortal magic, so as Fear would say, this plan is ‘a bit academic.’” Cara broke in.
