I watched as she slid the lock on my chamber doors into place, then turned back to face me, her voice slightly quieter.
“And Dimi?”sheinquired, slipping another folded sheet of parchment out of her dress pocket.
“Hmm?” I hummed, tilting my head at her.
“There’smore.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Passing through Kyrish so swiftly had reminded me of the way we’d breezed through Fallaine to get to the Ocrein Isles.
Kyrishwas a coastal town, one that was closest to theLevastIsles—where the humans remained in complete and utter silence. In peace, I imagined.
Sounlike what we were facing here on the continent.
“Callum and the navy are passing around theLevastIsles as we speak. They should be here in time—he hopes,” Caelia said, holding a small piece of parchment as she barged into the large tent.
A piece of parchment that had, obviously, come from the vial of a messenger corvid. The very thingwe’dbeen waitingonall day.
It had been six days since Aurora had left and betrayed us all in one fell swoop.
Since then, theValwainand the rest of the South had jumped into action,accomplishingmuch despite the tighter timeline. Even though Aurora hadtakenmany of our plans, maps, and strategies, we still had the element of surprise on our side.
The North didn’t knowwhenwe would strike, onlywhere.
Plus, at the time of Aurora’s betrayal, wehadn’tyet factored the navy into our plans.
The North only knew afractionof the might that was about to rain down on them.
This time, we were not afraid.
“Hehopes?” Quinn questioned, cocking her scarred eyebrow at the princess.
“I know my brother,” Caelia stared back at the general on the other side of the war table. “He’ll be there, and he’ll be right on time.”
Quinn nodded firmly, then turned her attention back to the table before her, which displayed a raised, textured map of the entire continent.
Our entire realm, laid out at our fingertips.
The entireValwainwas present, along with Matea, Caelia, and a couple of Quinn’s army captains.We’dset up camp inGlaytredForest earlier that day, after sailing fromKyrishto the sparse edges of the forest.We’dborrowednearly everyboat in the coastal town, promising to bring them back as soon as we could.
The plans Aurora had taken showed our route to bebyfoot on land, but aftershe’dleft, we decided to stay undetected as we set foot in Northern territory for as long as we could. Now instead of approachingNeokellfrom the south and sticking to the base of the mountains, we wereapproaching fromthe forest to the east.
Nearly everythingwas planned and plotted—there was only one loose end left.
A loose end I needed to tie up.
Allowing the rest of theValwainto double check our army movements, I slipped out of the main tent and headed deeper into camp.We’dspread apart our set up that time, allowing for morespace inbetween tents and such so thatwe’dbe less likely to be seen if any Northerners flew overhead.
My boots crushed dry leaves underfoot as I walked through the darkness of night in the direction of Chess’s tent. Yet before I couldmake it there on my own, a frazzled Ezra came running straight toward me out of the dim night.
“Aviva!” He came to a stop before me and rested his hands on my shoulders. “Chess and I did it.We did it!Come on!”
“Lead the way,” I instructed, then we both broke out into a run.
A few moments later, we were dipping into Chess’s tent, where I finally paused long enough to gather my bearings.
I’dhanded over the small piece ofalychitetoChessshortly after returning from our scouting missions in the North, asking him to find me an antidote of some sort. Ididn’tcare how weak or strong—anything helped.He’dquickly recruited Ezra to the task, realizing that the knowledgeablefaecould bea big help.
