thief or the fae prince, because Inis had cut off their connection, presumably to handle the interruption.
Cab wasn’t left alone.
Hello?
Cab didn’t recognize the new voice. Male. Gentle. Threaded with anger he was fighting to keep at bay.
Still here, Cab said.
Oh! So you are. Cabhan of Kerry’s-End, isn’t it? We’re going underground, the young man’s voice said. Three says she’ll be able to guide One, so don’t worry about how to find us.
The newcomer: another master for the silver fae creatures.
Don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me what we’re walking into? Cab asked.
I wish I knew, the voice replied. My name is Somhairle Ever-Bright. A prince was one of the masters? That was nearly as unlikely as one of the loyal Queensguard joining the Resistance. If only we were meeting under different—
Be ready for a fight. Inis again. It would take too much time to describe.
Sadness colored her explanation, tied so tightly to her connection with Two that Cab couldn’t determine who was the true owner of the emotion.
There you have it, One concluded. They’re off, about to act. We should do the same.
It took Cab a moment to recover. When he opened his eyes, the world was tinged in fading silver. He blinked, blinked again, and finally his sight returned to normal. Einan stood in front of him, arms crossed over her chest.
“We have to move,” Cab said.
Einan tutted. “That much was obvious the second we got here. You’re telling me that’s all you got from your mystical communications? I could’ve told you that for free.”
Cab stood. He ached from head to toe, ribs bruised, knuckles and face bandaged where they’d been bleeding. He needed a healer’s undivided attention, and to sleep for a week. Einan gave him a look like she wanted to help him stay upright, then clenched her jaw and stayed where she was.
Cab appreciated that. He needed to see if he could do this on his own. If not, he had to be jettisoned. He’d only slow the group down.
But he’d been taught to ignore pain, to ignore his needs, in favor of the greater good. Which wasn’t service to the Crown. It was moving against it.
“We have to go to the castle,” Cab explained. When Einan scoffed again, a raw whip of laughter and a roll of her eyes, he breathed out heavily. “Your man on the Hill’s been compromised. He’s being held in Coward’s Silence. Likely getting tortured. If we don’t break him out, they’ll kill him.”
Sil pressed her small hands to her cheeks, then covered her face in despair. Hope touched her shoulder. Einan calmly kicked one of Uaine’s chairs over.
“I’d thank you not to take it out on the furniture,” Uaine said. “Although I get the feeling I won’t be returning to this old house.”
“We have other allies on the inside,” Cab continued. “Including the Masters of Two and Three. I spoke with them.” Don’t ask how, Cab willed, because damned if he could explain it. No one asked, although Einan’s sharp green gaze narrowed. “Two of them have mirrorglass in their hearts. The Master of Two, and—Rags, the thief who started this.” Sil nodded. She’d known, must have learned that from One. “If we can get Sil to them—if she can help others the way she helped me—then we might be able to turn the sorcerer’s control. We might be able to make a stand.”
Or escape with some of their lives.
They’d need to get real lucky, and soldiers weren’t supposed to believe in luck.
Where they’d go—if they survived—was another matter. He’d figure that out if they managed to mount a successful break-in—and out again—of the castle. Cab focused, recalled what he knew of the castle’s layout: the grounds, the barracks, the little he’d been shown of the Queen’s sanctum. He’d been a promising young soldier, but no Queensguard was allowed to know everything about the castle they protected. Only about the points they were meant to protect.
“I must save the others who are trapped,” Sil said. Einan’s face tightened. The danger was a knife hanging over Sil’s head. “Or die in the attempt. I cannot leave them to suffer what I have suffered. Some are close to death.”
Hope touched his brow as though he felt it, too. “I will defend you in this task. They will be saved.”
“So that’s it, is it?” Einan choked back a dark laugh. “Here’s our plot: We march up to the one place that’s least safe for us, where the entire Queensguard is stationed, and