“That was my exact thought.” Sol sounded impressed with her reasoning. “There’s a separate entrance up one of the canyons in the cliff.”
“Oh,” Meena made a sound with mouth, to let Sol know he had been heard. She just did not know what his revelation meant.
“I’ll go out again tonight and scour the northern cliff side. We can still carry out the plan tomorrow night.”
Meena’s hands suddenly felt clammy. “Sol, we don’t even have a plan. There will be guards, and locks, and more guards.” Meena’s voice trailed off. She didn’t want to think of Sol being hurt. Suddenly, this adventure was getting too real.
“We will have made contact with Neven by tomorrow night, hopefully,” Sol added. “A secret entrance from the side should not be heavily guarded and between the two of us, with our magic unleashed, Neven and I should be able to take them down and empty the magic receptacle.”
“You know how to do that?” Meena asked, her fears not assuaged by his confidence.
“You displace the chaos magic with harmony magic. I’ve practiced on small items when I got the chance.”
“Won’t that require an awful lot of harmony magic?”
“Yes, but harmony is the natural antidote to chaos,” Sol explained. “The more chaos you displace, the more effective the present harmony is.”
Meena nodded. “And what is my part in it?”
Sol paused, a little of his confidence leaving him. “I need you to keep Jules and Younn busy so they don’t notice anything amiss.”
“Are you sure you won’t need more help than that?” Meena asked, slightly disappointed in her role, though she wasn’t surprised.
“If anything goes wrong,” Sol said, leaning down a touch closer to her. “I don’t want you anywhere near.”
“I’m not here to remain safe,” Meena said. She wanted to feel touched by his words, but she didn’t. She felt protected, but not in a good way.
“It’s not because I don’t trust you,” Sol said. “It’s just that ... if you are there, I will protect you.”
Meena could no longer see the moon reflected in his eyes. “I am not another one of your responsibilities,” Meena whispered. He did not want to create ties. “I will keep Jules and Younn busy or whatever else you need me to do.”
She swallowed, hoping the darkness was enough to cover her face.
Chapter 27
Sol stopped at the window of the bedroom before he climbed out of it. He had changed his elegant princely clothes for his own comfortable trousers and basic shirt. Under cover of darkness, he was ready to find the secret entrance to the fortress cellar.
But something held him back.
Meena sat on the edge of the bed, holding a lit candle, watching him leave.
Sol glanced at the door, triple checking it was bolted closed. Perhaps it would be safer if he and Meena stuck together, now that Younn was on to them.
“Do you want to come with me?” Sol whispered. This had nothing to do with the way her face transformed when she was looking at the sparkling blue effect of the waves. Or the fact that he was going to be walking along the shore for a good part of his search.
She stood instantly. “Yes.”
His chest inflated with a strange light feeling when she readily agreed. “You’re sure? It might involve a little scrambling down some steep paths.” She probably hadn’t meant it and he didn’t want to get disappointed.
“I’m very good at scrambling,” she responded. “Let me change my clothes into something more fitting. Or, less fitting, actually. Something loose.”
Sol opened the window, inspecting their escape route as she quickly got ready. He smiled. They were getting close to their goal, he could feel it.
“I don’t think I could sleep anyway, after everything that happened tonight,” Meena whispered at his side.
Sol nodded in understanding. “Let’s go.”
She jumped nimbly up onto the window ledge. She’d changed into a loose pair of trousers, shirt, and an over shirt held in place with a tied belt.
