“This feels impossible,” said Rune, her shoulders slumping.
“There’s a reason they call it impregnable,” said Alex.
“Unhelpful,” said Verity, shooting him a look. She joined Rune on the floor, crossing her legs beneath her dress and leaning over the map as the carriage jolted beneath them. Rune’s nose prickled. One of these days, she would gently suggest to her friend not to dab so much perfume on …
But not tonight. Tonight, if Rune felt exhausted, Verity looked it. There were dark circles under her eyes, and every few minutes, her loud yawns broke the silence in the carriage. Not for the first time, Rune felt guilty stealing Verity away from her studies, certain her friend’s grades were suffering for it.
Verity would scold her if she knew what Rune was thinking. She and Rune were in this together. In it in a way Alex never would be. Rune had lost her grandmother to the purge; Verity had lost her sisters. Both wanted to rescue as many witches as they could—to make up for the ones they hadn’t been able to save.
“I wish I had a spell for walking through walls,” said Rune, leaning her head back against the carriage seat and staring at Alex.
“Is there such a thing?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never come across one.”
Verity pushed her spectacles up the bridge of her nose. “I’m sure there’s a spell for blasting through walls. But you’ll need a lot more blood to pull off that kind of thing. Blood you don’t have.”
She pulled a pencil and notepad from her pocket and started writing. The edge of her tongue popped out of the corner of her mouth as she dutifully made a list.
“We’ll need to know: where Seraphine is located; how the gates work; roughly how many guards …”
“How Rune will get out after she gets in,” Alex added, sounding displeased but taking part.
“What day they’re planning to purge her,” said Rune.
This was her last chance. If she arrived too late this time, she wouldn’t get another.
When she finished her list, Verity lowered her notepad to her knee and started tapping the paper with her pen. “That’s a lot of information.”
“Laila will know some of these answers,” offered Alex. “Her mother’s the warden, and she’s a witch hunter. She’ll have been inside that prison more than once.”
“The girl who shot me tonight?” Rune arched her brows, remembering the opera house, and Laila’s less-than-playful guesses about why she’d been late.
Verity seemed to remember the same thing. She shook her head. “I don’t like the way Laila looks at Rune these days. Best to avoid her. However …” Mischief danced in her eyes. “Her brother might be helpful.”
“Noah’s not a witch hunter,” Alex pointed out.
“But his sister is, and his mother is a warden. Noah’s smart. He pays attention. And …” Verity spoke to Rune now. “… he’s at the top of your list of eligible suitors. If you got him alone—”
“Eligible what?” interrupted Alex. He looked to Rune. “What is she talking about?”
Rune winced, remembering how they’d excluded Alex from this plan. Deciding it was well past time to fill him in, she said, “Verity made me a list of eligible men to—”
“No.”
The ferocity of the word surprised them both.
“I’ll talk to Noah,” said Alex, his voice like quiet thunder. “I’ve invited him and Bart over for cards this week.”
Rune glanced up to find him glowering at her.
“What are you going to do, casually ask him how to get past the gates of his mother’s prison?” She shook her head. “The likelihood of Noah knowing any of these answers, never mind all of them, is so slim. It’s not worth the risk of raising his suspicions.”
Alex opened his mouth to argue, but Rune didn’t let him.
“I already have a better solution.”
It had been burning inside her this whole time, like a quiet candle flame. She hadn’t mentioned it because she knew what they’d say.
Verity looked up from her list. “Let’s hear it.”
“Gideon knows every single one of these answers. If I use my truth-telling spell—”
“You tried that already,” Verity pointed out. “It didn’t work.”
“You tried that already?” Alex dragged his hands through his hair.
Rune ignored him.
“It didn’t work because he refused the wine,” she argued with Verity. “But I can fuse the spell to anything. A coat. A shoe. A watch. I could enchant a thimble and slip it into his pocket. He wouldn’t even know it’s there.”