find some way to sneak into the fucking castle, despite every last soldier and sorcerer being on the alert for us. Then we storm Coward’s Silence, because making it to the castle without being caught isn’t impossible enough, and break out our compromised agent—though he’s probably dead already. Then, while we’re not too busy, we rescue the most heavily guarded group of hostages in the place, hostages probably too weak to stand on their own, when saving one a year ago lost us too many good people. On top of that, we’re also looking for someone who’s got mirrorcraft in her, and once we find her, we have to remove that spell so she can fight on our side. That’s if she doesn’t turn on us with her ancient fae weapon first, when Morien the Last snaps his fingers and makes her do it. Plus, there’s only two of us who’ve been trained to fight, and one’s already pounded into mincemeat, so we’re down a man.”
“That’s the long of it,” Cab agreed. “The pain’s not terrible, though. I’ll manage.”
When he met her eyes, Einan was the first to look away. Cab understood. Laypeople did funny things in the presence of death. Like kiss a person, then never mention it again.
Also—One padded lithely to the door—we’re about to have company.
How many?
Thirty, all told, patrolling the streets, sniffing us out. Two Lying Ones. The rest are armed Queensguard with mirrorglass in their hearts. They’ll have to capture us or die. And they’re close. Can we stay and fight them?
So it was true. The Queensguard were controlled by mirrorcraft.
The weight of the truth, the confirmation, stilled Cab for a beat.
Cab had suspected it but never given form to his suspicions. Had Captain Baeth been sharded before she infiltrated the Resistance?
He could think about it when they weren’t in mortal danger. When he didn’t have to focus around the pain of his bones knitting back together.
We can’t take them. Not when I’m in this condition, he told One. Can’t risk anyone else getting hurt.
One pouted but bowed, tongue flicking past her lips, almost as if she was tasting the air. As you say, Master Handsome.
Cab drew a breath, refused to grunt when it jostled his aching ribs, and shared what One had told him. “We’ve been discovered. Not sure how close they are, but we need to leave.”
“Kick all the chairs you like, Einan, if you’re quiet about it.” Uaine grabbed a few packets of herbs from her cupboards, stashing them in pouches and attaching them to her belt. She rolled up her skirt and stuck some in there as well, revealing her scarred legs. “And I’d finally made the place proper cozy.”
82
Inis
Finally, Two said, flashing his teeth and sharpening his claws on the marble fireplace. He left deep gouges, perfectly parallel, through the stone. We get to hurt the fuckers who hurt you.
There were a thousand things that could, and probably would, go wrong. Their plan was foolish. Was it even a plan? Cab had offered his ideas of how best to coordinate their attack, but Inis still had trouble thinking of him as an ally, not an enemy.
Despite that, Inis smiled.
Tomman was never innocent. The charges against him hadn’t been false.
Inis had once viewed them through the eyes of someone accustomed to a world reflected by the Hill’s warped mirrors. Treason was unthinkable, and therefore her family had been innocent.
So what happened when treason was no longer unthinkable, but unavoidable? When it became necessary to rebel against the Crown by denying the Queen her vile source of power?
Tomman had been killed for the Resistance. Killed before he’d been able to see their task through.
Inis would finish it for him.
For her family, those who hadn’t survived. For those who had. For herself. For everyone else in the Resistance, since Tomman had been so committed he’d staked his life on it. Father’s life. Ainle’s. Everything.
Inis gave the red fabric from Laisrean’s room to Rags. He had mirror shards in his hand, didn’t have a fragment of his own, and wasn’t an unstoppable fae warrior prince, so he was the most in need of it.
Inis had Two and Somhairle had Three.
They’d free the fae. They’d make it to Coward’s Silence; meet Cabhan and the others there, if they weren’t killed along the way; and get Laisrean, if he was there, and if he was still breathing.
Then, if she was still breathing, she’d tear out Morien’s heart.
With my teeth or your hands? Two asked, still grinning,