“So we’re going to kill him?” Darius asked, sounded all too ready for that idea.
“No,” Gabriel barked. “And don’t you for one second plan to either.”
“Oh good golly, I think I get it!” Geraldine cried, bouncing in her seat and drawing my attention to her tits. “This is an old fashioned distract and dongle move, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Gabriel agreed.
“What the fuck is that when it’s at home?” Orion asked flatly.
“It’s when you tell someone to expect a slap to the face, but surprise them with a Long Sherman up their begonia instead!” she explained like she was talking to a child and Xavier neighed a laugh.
“Exactly that. But instead of getting anywhere near Vard’s rotten begonia, we’re going to sneak up on him and steal the shadow eye right out of his sub-standard Seer’s face,” Gabriel said proudly.
“So you want us to steal his eye without killing him?” Seth asked like he thought that was an impossible task.
“Oh Seth Capella, anyone would think you have never plucked an eye from a conniving little Roger before,” Geraldine chastised. “Sometimes, I think you boys are as wet as a kipper in the morn.”
“Are you saying you have experience of plucking people’s eyes out?” I asked her, half grossed out and half turned on by the idea of that. Geraldine in badass warrior mode was pretty much my ultimate wet dream - and I had it really damn often.
“Lavinia and Lionel will need to be drawn away from the palace to give you the best chance of striking at him. Vard will no doubt lock himself away in his chambers the moment he starts getting visions about all of these death threats against him, so he should be simple enough to find.”
“And I can get us into The Palace of Souls thanks to the ring Tory made me which gives access to the king’s secret passages,” Orion said, his eyes brightening at the idea of striking at them right at the heart of their power.
“Precisely. I think you, Darius and Geraldine should head after Vard and the rest of us will attack the new Nebular Inquisition Centre that Lionel just opened to the west of Tucana,” Gabriel said.
“Have you seen a way for us to take it down then?” I asked because we’d been trying to figure out how to rip that place apart since it had been built.
Lionel had clearly grown tired of us destroying his detainment facilities and had built this latest place with so much magic that the rebels had yet to come up with a viable plan for destroying it and freeing the prisoners he was holding inside without triggering the defences which would kill all of them instead.
“Yeah, with the help of my family, I’m confident that we can get the prisoners out of there,” Gabriel confirmed and my blood started to pump faster at the thought of heading into the fight once again.
"Oh I do love a good showdown,” Geraldine squealed, clapping her hands.
“Geraldine will be in charge when you get to the palace,” Gabriel ordered, making both Darius and Orion’s bloodthirsty grins turn to scowls.
“Why?” Darius demanded.
“Because she is the most unpredictable. Besides, I know that she understands the plan - you can’t change your minds and decide to kill him or he’s going to see you coming. He has to be so overwhelmed by all the death threats that he can’t see a simple injury so you can only plan to take his eye.”
“We have to leave him alive?” Darius asked, looking pissed as all hell about that. “Do you know what that sick fuck did to Roxy?”
Xavier whinnied sadly, looking to his brother with an ache in his eyes.
“Believe me, I know,” Gabriel growled, his brotherly love for her clear in his tone but he stayed firm in his decision. “His day will come, but it can’t be today. We need his eye more than we need his death. I can’t see the shadows and it’s the only thing that will be able to lead us to the rifts, and I can see a future where we have used that eye to find them and have succeeded. I’ve had my family testing the holes in his capabilities with non-lethal attacks and I can confirm that he never sees them coming. He’s not fucking fit to put his ass on the Royal Seer’s chair and I’m looking forward to proving it when you pluck that fuck ugly eye from its socket.”
“So that’s why your little gang of hooligans have been slapping Lionel with shit pies to the face, making him trip and fall into questionable puddles and throwing Dragon dick dildos at his head during his public appearances?” Seth asked, his eyes filling with understanding. “You were figuring out the limits to Vard’s abilities.”