use the shadows on the way up.”
“And I could hardly fly up there visibly,” the warrior acknowledged. “But we could assume there’s a less protected spot up there and build our plans around that.”
“No. I don’t like counting on an assumption. She may not be using the roof at all—it would please her to pick the option that suits her form less well just to confuse us. And no doubt whatever entrance she uses will be heavily guarded regardless, with those on the inside having all the advantage. You’ve smashed through reinforced walls before. I don’t suppose—”
Thorn was shaking his head before I’d finished the question. “I considered that myself, but I don’t think I could summon enough strength to break all the way through so much of those metals with their weakening effect, not to mention the steel reinforcing the walls as well. An army of warriors could batter their way through, no doubt, but even with you and Flint and Bow… I don’t think brute force will be the answer with our current numbers.”
“That’s fine,” I said quickly, not wanting him beating himself up any more than he already had for failing to convince the other two wingéd to come on board with our mission. We’d gotten by without brute force before. Our mortal herself had come up with all those pacifistic plans—well, pacifistic by our typical standards.
But there were no employees for Ruse to charm, and even if we had the time to ferret out a loved one or two beyond the factory walls, what could they possibly tell us that would present us with a way in?
An army, Thorn had said. The words resonated through my thoughts and clicked into place. My mouth opened automatically with a rush of inspiration and an almost furious delight. “What if we—”
I cut myself off with a clenching of my teeth. No. That was the kind of viciously daring plan I’d have taken the same delight in centuries ago—the kind that had stirred rages in my victims and brought down suffering on innocents’ heads. I’d been done with that past version of myself for so long. What the fuck was I thinking, nearly giving over to it on a moment’s whim.
The others were watching me now. I should have kept my mouth shut.
Vivi crossed her arms over her chest. “Whatever idea you have, spit it out. It’s got to be better than the nothing cherry on a nada sundae you all have come up with so far. And I didn’t come all this way to watch you not get my bestie away from this maniac.”
“I’d prefer we stick to plans that don’t stand an equal chance of sealing Sorsha’s doom.”
“It looks like her ‘doom’ is guaranteed if you don’t do anything, so fifty-fifty odds sound good to me.”
I restrained myself from baring my teeth at her, feeling my hair ruffle with a current of frustration. “Maybe those who won’t be involved in the actual rescue attempt shouldn’t be spouting opinions about it.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have invited me here if you didn’t want to hear my opinions,” Vivi shot back. “Do you actually care about Sorsha or only about making sure you don’t look bad if your plan has a few hitches?”
A few hitches? She had no idea what she was talking about. But even with that knowledge, something about her words cut straight through me.
Even after everything we’d been through, some part of me wanted to deny that I cared about our mortal. Not because she didn’t deserve that caring, but because when I cared… that was when all the hellish inclinations in me came out to play, and the outcome wasn’t generally pretty. The way I got by, the way I made sure I didn’t lead anyone into a shitstorm of my own making, was by tamping down on every emotion I had in me and focusing on pure cold strategy.
It hit me then in a way it hadn’t before that Tempest had been wrong about me. I’d never forgotten I was a monster. I’d spent the last few centuries with that fact at the forefront of my mind and doing whatever I could to chain the beast inside.
But Sorsha hadn’t seen my beast as a monster—or if she had, it’d been one she’d embraced as much as she had Snap’s cruel hunger and Thorn’s brutal strength. She’d lain beneath me on a bed less than ten feet from where I currently stood with my jaws clamped around her