I set my jaw and lifted my chin. “Ewan is a loyal friend, and I need all those I can get at the moment.” I leveled my gaze on him until he nodded.
“Speaking of which.” Analisa cleared her throat, her features tightening with resolve. “Will your plan accommodate a fourth?”
I blinked and tugged down the hem of my tunic. Our mission to sneak into the castle and retrieve the elixir wasn’t common knowledge. “How did you—?”
Ana rolled her dark eyes and shook her head until the long side of her asymmetrical bob covered half of her face. With an impatient puff, she blew the hair out of her eyes. “Thief, remember? Which is precisely why you need me, eh?”
The girl had grown up on the London streets, blending in and stealing to survive. I had no idea how she did it, but she always seemed to know things before I wanted her to.
“Need you fer what, Ana?” Ewan jogged up beside me and lifted a canvas bag with a triumphant grin. I could only assume the sack contained throwing axes.
“Ana wishes to join us tonight.” The advantages of her going on a mission to rob the castle were undeniable. I turned to Ewan in question.
“The supply boat ’tis small and will only accommodate three of us because we’ll need ta lie flat on our belly’s to remain undetected.”
Ewan’s plan to enter the castle involved a pontoon-like wooden boat that delivered goods to the castle via a little-used door beneath the kitchens. As the providers of farmed goods to the royal pantry, his family members were the only ones who knew where the key was hidden.
“Then I need to go in your place . . .” Analisa hesitated before bowing her head in a rare show of deference. “Your Majesty.”
“Or Oliver can stay behind?” Ewan suggested.
Oliver looped his thumbs into his belt and widened his stance. “I’m the only one who can unhook the generator and collapse the wind turbine without damaging it.”
I nodded. The power generator he’d built on the southeast battlements could be invaluable for our small camp. I wasn’t sure how, exactly, but with Oliver’s brain for invention, the possibilities were endless.
“I’ve stolen for you before.” Analisa’s gaze didn’t waver. “Let me do this. You’re too valuable to risk.”
A light mist began to fall and I blinked the dewdrops from my lashes. Part of me knew Ana had a good point, but another, stronger part argued that if I had the elixir in hand, I might be able to end Addie and this nightmare once and for all. But Oliver and Ewan’s plan didn’t account for me searching the castle for a witch. They had our steps mapped out down to the second. In and out in twenty minutes. Any more and we were less likely to come out alive. Which brought me back to the logic of Ana’s point.
“I can’t deny that your particular skill set would be of use, but . . .” I hesitated. When she’d vowed fealty to the throne, she’d earned an additional level of protection from Addie. It didn’t make my subjects immune to the witch’s spells, but somehow we were able to resist her enthrallment and could not be killed directly by her magic. Unfortunately, none of us were immune to death by non-magical weapons, including me. “I need to do this.”
Ana shot me a cocky grin. “I swear I can get in and out without being seen.”
The girl was stealthy for sure, and yet, something inside me rebelled at letting her take my place. I had two objectives in life—two things that got me out of my bedroll each morning: 1) Keep the Doonians safe. 2) Take out Jamie’s killer no matter what the cost.
I could trust no one else to accomplish either. But this particular mission was only a step toward those goals.
Pain shot into my temple, and I forced myself to unclench my jaw. “I’ll think about it.”
Ana gave a single nod and then took the weapons bag from Ewan. “Then let’s start ninja training.”
My neck and shoulders burned like fire and my right arm felt dislocated from my body, but I kept throwing. Analisa was a relentless taskmaster, which was exactly what I needed. The sun would soon set and then we’d have a few hours to eat, rest, and go over the plan one last time. The question was—would I be a part of it?