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“Elizabeth sounds more regal,” Eliza said. She took our hands with a smile. “Besides, nicknames are reserved for friends.”

“If we want this plan to work,” said Beric, glancing at the afternoon sky. “We have to be rid of The Dark before sundown. It needs to be evident for all to see.”

“Ooh!” I covered my mouth quickly at my volume, pulling on Beric’s shirt in excitement. “We should take the king’s secret passage from the abbey. No one will ever expect us if we enter from that direction, and it’ll take us straight to his room.”

Eliza gave me an appraising look. “So you did come with ideas.”

I beamed at the compliment.

“Come on,” Beric said, suddenly gravely serious. “Let’s get this over with.”

CHAPTER45BERIC

Eliza took us under the gardens and courtyard, expertly guiding us through the dark and into one of the back rooms of the abbey. From there it would be simple to find the back room with the king’s secret passage. We’d leave what happened next in her hands.

Cali and I walked through the torchlit tunnel, and I took her hand, as if that would ensure I never lost her again. The guards clearly hadn’t figured out these passages yet. Perhaps they hadn’t even tried or thought to. Anise probably had them on inconsequential errands, making her incompetence plain to see. Still, it was better to stay alert—it would be foolish to leave the king unattended at a time like this, and it only benefited the guards to understand the secrets of this palace.

Not that any of them would be necessary after the king was dead.

When we were halfway to the stairs, Cali tightened her hold on me.

“Can we go over the plan again?” she asked, her voice shaking.

I hoped this was one of those times she was joking. This was no time to be unsure of what we were doing—one wrong move and we were dead. “Tell me what you remember.”

“You dampen his magic, I corner him with a shield,” she said. “Then you stab him, and I … close my eyes.”

I smirked. Cali was so perfectly adorable, but this wasn’t the time or place to truly enjoy it. “That’s it.”

“It feels too simple to work.” We walked on a bit in silence. “Doesn’t it feel wrong to you? To ambush a man in his own bedroom?”

“Tyrants die in worse ways all the time.”

“A very blunt way of putting it,” she said, cringing. She gripped my fingers between her hands. “But I suppose there’s no point in sugarcoating what’s about to happen.”

I halted her a few feet from the stairs. “Be ready to act as soon as I open the door.”

As if my words summoned reality, Cali suddenly looked afraid. “Please do it quickly.”

Her fears mirrored mine. I still wore my earplugs around my neck—an accessory I was certain I’d never need again—and I quickly transferred them to her.

“Wear them if you need to,” I said.

She put them in without hesitation.

We crept up the last few steps.

And I wasted no time in opening the door.

This direction of attack was much better. The king’s couch faced away from this secret door, so he’d barely gotten up and turned around before Cali had shoved him into the wall with her shield. I raced forward, sword drawn.

“Traitor!” His roar ended in a whimper as I plunged my sword into his gut.

He gasped. Gagged. Coughed up blood and stared at it in his hand. Disbelief and confusion were written across his face. He’d never expected this. Even after Cali had confronted him last night, even after our fight earlier … he still believed no one would dare oppose him. Not truly.

Suddenly I panicked. I hadn’t killed him immediately. This wasn’t the plan.

He deserved to die in pain like this, and yet I felt guilty for making him do so—even though he’d killed so many, one thing he never did was make his victims suffer.