Graylen is quiet for a minute as he considers. One thing I know about Adrian is that if he promises something, he’ll do it. I may not trust him fully, but I know him well enough that if hedoesagree to back the story we craft, then he’ll follow through with it.
But him beingconvincingenough to pull off the lieis a different story.
“Then we tell Adrian only what he needs to know,”Graylen says.
Watching Adrian across the fire, we form a plan through our thoughts. The tricky point in this ruse is guessing what Reichardt told Moros and what he kept for his own scheming, so we have to account for him being aware of everything, just in case.
“So, what do we know Moros knows?”Graylen asks. “Let’s start there.”
I consider it, unweaving the sticky web of everything Moros was involved with since the moment I met him.
“He had to have some idea of how I felt about Reichardt; anyone with eyes could see how much I hated him. Moros hasbeen around long enough that I don’t think he would accept any other alternative.”
Graylen pokes at the fire, embers crackling into the crisp air.“Then we tell him the truth. That you killed him out of self-defense, but you aren’t grieving his loss,”he says, and I nod in agreement.“What else?”
“He knows I tried to get Opal to come with me, so we can’t spin it as me being taken.”This one isn’t easy—everything that involves Opal is where the line begins to blur.“And in the trial when I heard Opal’s screams, his threats were clear about her being in danger.”I shiver, anticipation coursing through me as her pained cries echo in my memory. “So, me pretending to be friendly with him is out the window.”
We continue plotting, creating a believable enough story that Moros might agree to let us stay in the castle. Sneaking in without him knowing would be next to impossible with his connection to dark magic, so we’re left with praying the Divine give us a little boost to pull this off.
“The best time to search for the dagger is at night,”I press on.“While everyone is—hopefully—asleep.”
“And if someone catches one of us out?”Graylen questions.
I chew on my lip, pulling at the skin until a metallic tang hits my tongue.“Then we find a cover convincing enough that they don’t tell anyone.”
“Or we pay them,”he muses.“Everyone has a price.”
We talk through the rest of our plan until we’re left with one final piece.
Adrian shakes his head and says, “He has no choice but to listen to me.”
I blow out a long breath. The abridged version of the plan was hardly out of my mouth before he started to disagree.
Adrian paces my and Graylen’s room, his head shaking as he mutters to himself in the silence of the cozy space. “I’m theking,” he mumbles. “We don’t need some elaborate plan to convince my uncle you can stay.” He pauses and looks over at us to add, “If I say you’re under the crown’s protection, then no one can touch you.”
I grit my teeth together, letting out a slow sigh as Adrian starts to pace the room again.
Adrian still has blind faith in these people—not that I can blame him. He doesn’t know any better. Doesn’t know what his uncle has done.
“And you’re so confident that he won’t go behind your back if he thinks it’s for your benefit?” I ask. “There are ways to kill someone in the castle without anyone knowing.”
Adrian’s gaze snaps to mine, hurt flashing across his face. He knows better than anyone how easily a death can be faked as anaccident.
“You’re confident enough in their loyalty to risk our lives?” I push, taking a step toward him.
A beat of silence passes.
Adrian throws his hands up, surrendering. “Fine,” he huffs. “We convince my uncle you wanted to come back. What’s the plan? He’s brilliant. Lying to him won’t be easy.”
I fill in some of the details, Graylen a silent statue beside me as I give Adrian information that pertains to his part in all of this.
“And you’re certain telling him you killed your father is the right thing to do?” Adrian questions, eyes narrowed on me.
I nod slowly, my patience wearing thin.
“So you just—what? Came back now that he’s dead?” Adrian stammers, gripping the back of his neck.
“We convince him I came back with you.” I flinch as I correct myself, “Foryou.”
