“Okay, so journal, creatures, Beaumont slash Venay, then last but not least, Maeve's new glow,” Sawyer listed off on his fingers, then turned towards Sebastian. “Seb, anything to add?”
Sebastian held the blank journal in his palms. He shook his head. “The order sounds fine. But in regard to Venay, I’m leaning towards Sawyer’s idea.”
Sawyer looked stunned. “Seriously? That's a first.”
“We can drug her with magic suppressant. I saw a vial of it when I was in the infirmary. Then when Maeve’s finished interrogating her, she can either compel her into secrecy, or we can use the stuff Venay used to make Kohen forget the ritual. It will be like it never happened, for her at least.”
“There's the Sebastian I know and love.” Sawyer pulled him up from his chair and into a death grip of a hug. Which would have been normal, but considering the secret that lingered between him and I, the embrace appeared to be an awkward attempt at an unspoken apology.
Sebastian palmed his chest, shoving him away. “Come on, man.”
“So are we bumping Venay up on the list?” Pia questioned, her eyebrows arched over the piece of parchment she scribed on.
“Fuck yeah, we are!” Sawyer cheered. “Tell me where the vial is and I’ll get it right now.”
“Hold on.” Kade stood up. “There aresomany ways that this could go wrong. How do you plan on locking her up, and where? And how will we distract Archer?”
Delani raised a hand. “Leighton and I will take care of Archer. He’s been showing us a bit about gardening. I’m sure we can keep him busy with that for an hour or so.”
“Fine. And Venay?” Kade reiterated.
“I’ll fake an injury or tell her I haven’t been feeling well. She’ll take me to the infirmary ward, then we can jump her,” I offered.
Kade shook his head. “She’s smarter than that. It has to seem real. Better yet, it should be real.”
“Alright,” I shrugged, pulling my dagger free from its usual place against my thigh and pointing the tip at my wrist.
Sebastian shot out of his seat, tearing the dagger from my hands in one swift motion. “Fucking gods, Maeve, slow down.” He flipped the dagger between his fingers. “I’ll handle Venay.I’m still not back to one-hundred percent, so she’ll believe me when I tell her that my ankle is still bothering me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is it?” Come to think of it, he had still been limping a tad.
He ignored me, tuckingmyblade intohisback pocket.
“We should execute this tomorrow morning. You can get the magic suppressant tonight during dinner,” Kade advised, looking at Sawyer. “If you can find the memory-eraser, grab it. If not, we’ll take route two. Everyone on the same page?”
When we all voiced our approval, Kade yanked out the doors to the common room, throwing himself out as if he couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
“Is he always that grumpy?” Leighton asked, angling her thumb at the door.
We all saidyes, at the same time.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
At ten in the morning, we all gathered in the common room, aside from Delani and Leighton, who had an easy time convincing Archer to teach them about a new hybrid of flowers they thought they’d discovered. In addition, Sawyer had found both vials we needed when he raided the infirmary last night, which I ruled down to pure luck.
“You know what to do, right?” Sebastian asked everyone, clarifying our plan.
Sawyer nodded. “I’ll make my way to the infirmary and wait in the second room on the right of the hall. That’s the room you’ll direct Venay to.
“Yes. And once she is in there, I'll hold her down and you’ll make her swallow the suppressant,” Sebastian said in affirmation.
“Kinky,” Sawyer winked, and Sebastian rolled his eyes.
“That's when Kade and I come in,” I piped up. “Once she's tied down, Sebastian will open the door. I’ll come in and interrogate the bitch while Kade keeps guard in the hall.”
“Kohen and I will watch the end of the corridor. If anyone tries to enter the infirmary ward, we’ll do our best to redirect them,” Pia added, taking Kohen’s hand in hers.
