Whispers began swarming around me as I walked through the camp with my head held high. A combination of reverie, fear, and disgust shone on the faces of the fae around me.
“It’s her.”
“The old queen.”
“Do you think she’s here to save us?”
“Lead us to our deaths, more likely.”
I didn’t respond to any of them, and people backed away to clear a path. I wandered through the camp until I came to the biggest tent in the center.
I slipped through the tent flap. I was met with a familiar face the moment I stepped inside.
“Towman,” I said, my expression brightening. It was my old griffin guard from the palace. I couldn’t believe he’d survived the siege of Dolinska. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight.
Towman stiffened, like he hadn’t expected the embrace, before he lightly embraced me back and stepped away, falling to one knee in a bow.
“It’s an honor to serve you again, my queen,” Towman said. “I’ve done my best to support the cause in your absence.”
The term threw me off, but I said, “You were always a loyal guard, Towman. I should’ve known you wouldn’t give in.”
I took in the room. Ethan and Finlay were here with Towman, gathered around a table that had several maps splayed out on top of it. I wasn’t sure where everyone else was, but I didn’t ask questions as I fell in beside Ethan.
“Good to see you’re awake, your highness,” Finlay said, tilting his head to me. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Everyone had resorted to using our old titles. I wasn’t very comfortable with it. We hadn’t won yet.
But if we weregoingto win, we needed to believe it. I nodded and said, “Thank you. What’s the plan?”
“We’ve determined that the Crystals of Harmony are being held at the university, in a vault that Gabby herself guards,” Finlay said. “You’ll have to kill her to get the stones back.”
“Easy,” I said with a shrug.
“We don’t know if it will be,” Ethan said. “She’s a goddess, and I’m not completely sure they can be killed.”
“Droga killed Lady Magdalina. We can find a way to eliminate Gabby, too,” I said confidently.
I wasn’t scared. Gabby might be a goddess now, but I was done with taking her shit. She’d been my bully, my rival, and an all-around pain in the ass from the first moment we’d met. I was all too willing to go there now and kick her teeth in. This war had killed people that I loved and was putting our kind at risk, all in the name of her greed. I’d been put on this earth to teach her a lesson, and by the gods, she was going to regret ever fucking with me.
“Once we get the Crystals, we open the portal at the Sacred Gathering, and save the fae,” Finlay finished.
“We still have Droga to deal with,” I said, crossing my arms. “He’s not going to let us waltz out of the university with the stones in hand. If we obtain the Crystals, he’s going to try and stop us, which means we need to make that difficult for him.”
“We’re creating a distraction,” Ethan said. He pointed to the map of Dolinska. “Droga’s army is of the utmost importance to him. He’s preparing to launch an attack on the Miriamic Coven as we speak. We have to counteract that. We’ll send our army of refugees into the barracks, and drive the troops out into the city. There, we’ll have magical traps waiting for them. The others are out setting them around Dolinska, to deter the army and slow them up once they go on the offensive.”
So that’s what my friends were doing. “I still don’t see how this gets rid of our problem.”
“Droga will become paranoid once his army’s at risk. He’ll rush to defend them, leaving Gabby alone and an opportunity for us,” Ethan insisted.
“That’s practically suicide,” I spat. “You’re offering up all these fae as a sacrifice so we have the sliver of a chance to get the Crystals back!”
“We don’t have any other choice. Everyone will be dead anyway by tomorrow evening if we don’t stop this,” Ethan said.
I hated that I had to make this choice, but he was clearly right. Kings and queens had to make hard choices. Not everyone would get to go home.
Finlay sighed. “There’s just one problem. The refugees don’t know they’re fighting for us.”
“You’re kidding,” I said flatly.
