go. “But it’s not an incorrect application. The subterfuge could potentially work, is what you’re saying.”
“It could,” Ambrose replied, stroking Merle’s feathers, sounding vague. “If Her Highness agrees. It is Her hand, after all, claimed by you or not.”
Everyone looked at Lia like she might be a vurgsten package about to explode. She huffed, extracted her arm from mine, and paced to the table. “I’ll agree it’s not an entirely awful plan for entrée to the citadel. Nor is setting off vurgsten in the throne room a bad plan for creating a distraction from our true purpose.” She slid a keen glance at me. “Suicidal gambits are right out, however. The game belongs to us for the moment, so let’s set it up to our best advantage. I want contingency plans in place—and I want contingency plans for our contingency plans. We should figure out all the ways things could go terribly wrong and plan for them. Then there’s no room for emotion to drive decisions in the heat of conflict.”
She pinned me with a knowing glare, and I bowed my head in contrition.
Acknowledging that, she continued. “I suggest that we begin with the desired result: extracting the captives and removing them to a safe location. That is the thrust of our strategy. Everything else is secondary. Get in, get the royal captives, get them out.” She looked around at everyone, waiting until they agreed.
“Get them to where?” I asked. “Not here.”
“Why not? Calanthe is closest.”
“But is it safe?” I asked. “You’d be putting Calanthe in jeopardy, especially if Anure’s wizards pursue.”
“True. I say it’s a risk Calanthe should take. I realize this is a change in My policy, but what point is there in having retained our sovereignty if we can’t use that to help restore the other kingdoms?” She gave me a rueful smile of her own, and I nodded in appreciation for her concession to our long-standing argument.
“Also,” she continued, “I’m learning more all the time. This morning I strengthened Calanthe’s wards. The wizards can try their tricks, but they’ll find it much more difficult.”
“I can verify that,” Ambrose said with a smile. Merle croaked an unhappy sound.
Lia looked abashed. “Ambrose … it didn’t occur to Me that you two would be affected, because you’re already on Calanthe and so—” She cut herself off, giving him an odd look.
He smiled back, the two of them exchanging some kind of understanding. “You made it uncomfortable for us.” Merle flapped his wings in indignant agreement. “The wards are excellently woven, so I think any other wizards would be hard-pressed to penetrate Your defenses. And, if they escalate their efforts, You would know in time to take steps.”
“Thank you,” she replied, still seeming bemused, then drew herself up. “So we sail the captives to Calanthe. Unless someone has a magical method to fly them over the ocean…” She trailed off, and we all looked at Ambrose.
Merle cawed in indignation, and Ambrose gave us all a disbelieving look. “Seriously? After all this time, I’d think you’d understand that is not—”
“Not how magic works,” we all chorused with him.
Merle flipped his wings to his back and Ambrose huffed. “Well, it’s not.”
“With that settled,” Lia continued gravely, though her eyes were lively with humor, “we should agree that the limiting factor to our plan is putting the captives on a ship in the first place. Indeed, given new information, we’ll need several ships, depending on their capacity.”
“They’d have to be fast ships,” Kara said. “Unless we manage to extract the captives in total secrecy, we’ll be pursued by more than wizard magic. Even with the bulk of Anure’s fleet decimated, we cannot outfight his remaining ships. We’ll need speed.”
Everyone very carefully didn’t look at Percy, but he threw his hands up with an exclamation of disgust. “Fine,” he hissed. “Take the Last Resort. She’s the fastest thing we’ve got—but do try not to wreck her this time.” He leveled a mean look at me, and I did my best to look grave and not triumphant.
Lia held up an elegant finger. “Thank you, Lord Percy. Your generosity will be remembered. However, the Last Resort will not be enough.” She turned the finger to crook it at Ibolya, who hastened over, extracting a folded envelope from a pocket of her gown and handing it to Lia. “I have not been entirely idle.” She gave me an arch look, but I only raised my brows expectantly. “We have an idea now of how many people we