I turned and ran. Anayla and Kiegan were the right people to watch over Cara in my absence.
Now I needed Asrael and Dairen.
Then the Nightwalkers.
“Save her,”Shadowbane urged, as if I could have done anything else, no matter how much rage coiled within my chest.
“I’m keeping her alive,”I reminded him.
“That’s not enough.”
Twenty-Nine
Fear
There was no sign of Riven and Tesa when Az, Dair, and I arrived, but once we were waiting impatiently, they melted out of the shadows.
“I need to get the queen’s guests,” I told Riven. “The mortals she brought here.”
“Bold even for you, Fear,” Riven told me. “It’s dangerous.”
“It is. That’s why you’re finished in the palace as of tonight.”
Riven frowned, confused.
“I won’t risk you two.” I took in Tesa with a glance as well, though it was primarily for Tesa’s sake—for Ander’s sake—that I could no longer bear the risk.
“I’m no use to you out of the palace,” Riven said.
“Two Nightwalkers with your skills will still be very useful to me,” I promised. “And far more useful than dead spies if the queen realizes you helped me. It’s too dangerous, taking them from the palace. She’ll know I had help on the inside.”
“And the mortals are worth losing our eyes inside the palace?”
“Yes, the mortals are worth it,” I said swiftly, decisively. However I truly felt. I had made my decision.
Riven hesitated. “You know we are bound to the queen. She will recall us?—”
“I can sever the queen’s enchantments,” I promised. Riven’s brows rose, but he would have to trust me for now; I needed to get back to Cara. “What’s the best way for us to extract them?”
I knew the palace as I had once known my own hand, but I no longer knew the guards’ rotations. When I was a boy, the palace had been guarded by dragon shifters. Now the queen had her Nightwalkers, with her fingers sliding through their minds.
“They’re in the south tower.” Riven cast his gaze up.
I followed his gaze to the tower that overlooked the city. Arched and mullioned windows looked over us. Was Lidi in one of those windows, looking out? The memory of the little girl beckoning us from the door of the magic shop, urging an injured Dair and me to safety, rose like a ghost.
“We could go in with orders to bring them to the arena,” Tesa said.
Riven nodded. “I wouldn’t risk it if we were staying, but it does get us past an obstacle.”
“We’ll come in if you need us.”
It was good thinking. Clean. A pair of Nightwalkers escorting three mortals toward the arena would read as the queen’s will.
“Do it.” I looked at Riven. “We’ll be near. We’ll come in if you need us.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then you won’t see us at all until we meet at the safe house.”
