Sebastian smiled grimly. “After, I’ll improvise.”
“You will not improvise, Sebastian,” Tobias chastised. “You will plan. Know exactly how you are getting in, your extraction route, and your contingencies before you step foot in the temple.”
Something passed across Sebastian’s face. Not quite embarrassment. But close.
“I will,” he said quickly.
Tobias looked at him for a long moment. Kara stared down at the table. “Good,” he said finally. “Now, just you?” He glanced at Kara. “You mean to make the assault alone?”
Sebastian didn’t even hesitate. “She’s not coming with me, Father.” His tone made it clear it was not up for discussion.
Excuse me?
“Like hell I’m not,” Kara snapped. Both men turned to look at her. She flushed deep red, but lifted her chin stubbornly. “You’re not going alone.”
“Kara, I’m not putting you at risk again. I’d be–” Sebastian broke off, looking for the right words, “I’d be distracted–”
“I am not letting you go in there alone, whilst I wait in some tower not knowing if you’re alive or dead,” she interrupted fiercely. “I can help. Let me help.”
Sebastian sat resolute, saying nothing. Tobias was watching them both closely, his expression carefully controlled. “How effective was it?”
Kara frowned. “What?”
“Your sleep magic,” Tobias said, looking towards Sebastian, who shifted uncomfortably, his hand fiddling with the edge of the map.
Though they had talked about it since, Kara didn’t think he’d appreciate her sharing it with his father. So she said nothing.
Finally, Sebastian said, grudgingly, “Very.”
Tobias leaned back slightly as he considered that, brows drawing together in concentration. He looked back to Kara. “And if you sharemagic with my son?” His voice was quiet, assessing. “I imagine Thorne strength makes it considerably more potent, Lady Hale.”
Kara thought back to the moment when they had woken up surrounded and their magic had turned gold. She had put four soldiers under without trying.
“Yes,” she said. “It does.”
Tobias’s eyes widened a fraction, and his look turned calculating. He tapped the map with one finger. “Then perhaps the question is not whether you should go, but how best to use you.”
Sebastian’s expression darkened, his hands now fists on the table. “No. She’s not a soldier. I won’t have her dragged into the middle of this.”
“It’s a little late for that,” Kara pointed out.
“And I almost lost you because of it,” he snapped, standing abruptly from the table. He paced the room like a caged animal. “I can’t risk–”
“You think I don’t understand that?” Tobias interrupted. “I buried my wife. I know what it is to lose someone you can’t replace.”
Sebastian made to speak but Tobias held up a hand.
“I also know this – surviving this will be difficult – even for you. And if Kara makes that survival more likely, then she goes. That’s good strategy.”
Sebastian looked as if he might argue again. Or hit something. His hand actually twitched towards the hilt of his blade.
“He’s right, Sebastian,” she said quickly.
He didn’t look at her, but his shoulders dropped – a reluctant surrender – and he sat back down, exhaling sharply through his nose. The sound of a man who knew he’d lost.
“I don’t like it,” he muttered.
“No,” Tobias said evenly. “You’re not meant to. But I want you alive, Sebastian. Both of you. If that means bending the rules of what you think a soldier is – so be it.”
