I felt a little nauseous.
Raihn threw back his head and laughed.
“Oh,” he said. “Is that all?”
“I told you it was a big gamble,” Vale said, annoyed.
“What else can we do?” Mische asked, grabbing the mirror and tipping it toward her. “If Raihn and Oraya go by themselves, they get killed. If we wait for Simon to come for us, we get killed. If we attack Sivrinaj again, we get killed.” She threw her hands up. “It sounds like this is the only option that gives us a tiny little chance of maybe not getting killed.”
“Other than surrender,” Jesmine pointed out, which earned a face of disgust from every single person in the conversation.
“If we surrender,” I said, “they kill us all, anyway. And that’s not how I want to go.”
At least this way, I’ll die doing something.
No one disagreed.
We were all silent for a long, long moment.
It was outlandish. It was dangerous. It was downright foolish in its riskiness.
It was also all we had.
My eyes slipped to Raihn—and he was already looking at me, resolve firm in his gaze. I knew that look. Same one we would give each other before yet another impossible Kejari trial.
“So it’s decided,” he said. “We go down fighting in the name of blind fucking hope.”
None of us could argue with that.
At least if we were idiots, we were all idiots together. That counted for something, I supposed.
The gears were, once again, set in motion. Alya left not long after, citing errands, leaving Raihn and I alone at her worn kitchen table. We spent the rest of the day there, strategizing with frequent correspondence with Jesmine and Vale. The hours blurred together.
When Alya returned, some time later, she was not alone.
I was so focused—and so exhausted—that I didn’t even hear the door open, until I glanced up from my maps to see Raihn sitting rod-straight, looking at the door like he wasn’t sure whether to run or attack.
Alya closed the door behind her and her two companions: a mustached man with cropped, peppered hair, and a woman, a fair bit younger, with curly dark hair bound tight at the back of her head. Both prominently bore weapons hanging at their hips—the woman a sword, and the man an axe.
I stiffened. For a second, the prospect of Alya’s betrayal nearly shattered me.
“They’re friends,” Alya said quickly at our reaction, raising her palms. “Oraya, Raihn, this is my husband, Jace. And my friend, Tamyra.”
Raihn didn’t relax, and neither did I. I didn’t quite like the way either of them were sizing us up—especially the woman, Tamyra, who seemed like she hadn’t quite decided that she wasn’t going to kill us yet.
Alya glanced between all of us and heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Mother help us, no one has time for this. That’s not necessary, Tamyra.”
The man approached first, each step slow, his eyes locked onto me. I rose, just because it seemed like I should. It wasn’t until he was just a pace away that I saw the gleam in his eyes—the shine of almost-tears.
“You look just the same,” he said, deep voice rough. “Never thought we’d see you again, Alya and I, we —”
He snapped his jaw shut, as if abandoning words.
And then he lowered to his knees.
It took everything in me not to jump—because I found the gesture that startling. And it was even more startling when, behind him, Tamyra approached and lowered into a kneel as well, bowing her head before me.
“Highness,” she said. “It’s an honor to meet you.”
Mother, this was bizarre.
I cleared my throat. “You may… rise.”
My voice sounded much weaker than Vincent’s ever had when issuing that command.
Jace and Tamyra stood, and Tamyra stepped forward. With the lantern light falling across her face, I could see that she was heavily scarred—an angry pink slash across one cheek, and even what looked like fang marks on her throat, barely visible beneath the grease-stained fabric of her collar.
“I know you’re very busy, so I don’t ask for much of your time.” Her voice was low and brusque—the kind of voice that was impossible not to listen to. “My king, my queen, I consider myself a protector of this city. For nearly twenty years, my soldiers and I have looked after the safety of the people who live in these districts. I’m sure you know that in the House of Night, that’s often not an easy task.” Her gaze lingered on mine. “I hear rumors that you’ve acted in a role much like mine for some years now.”