Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Thorne
We spend most of the night going over our plan, preparing, and going over our plan some more.
If everything works out, the army will be weakened by the time it reaches the academy grounds.
Our shadow weavers will launch an attack from the towers, luring the army that way, while we lure the Empress out on the field where we can combine our powers and take her on.
Once we’ve rehearsed it to death, we attempt to catch a few hours of sleep before morning.
We wake right before sunrise to find the rain clouds that hung overhead last night have descended to the ground, smothering everything in a dense fog and blocking our view of the land that lies beyond the academy.
“If there’s an army out there somewhere, there’s no way we’re going to be able to fucking see it,” Dray says, tearing at a piece of toast like he holds it personally responsible for this problem.
“There is,” Tudor contradicts him. “The astronomy tower.” Dray, like the rest of us, gapes at him, not sure how star-gazing is going to aid us right now. Tudor sighs. “Have none of you been paying attention in lessons? The astronomy tower houses some of the realm’s most powerful telescopes.”
“And how the fuck is that meant to help us, Prof?”
“They are powerful and magical and can see through all sorts of barriers, including fog.”
The five of us are out the door in the next breath and climbing the astronomy towers spiraling staircase – a staircase that seems to go on and on forever – all of us breathless by the time we reach the top.
Tudor walks among the large golden telescopes, their metal the same color as the dragon’s scales, and selects the one he wants.
He removes the caps from either end, then lines the telescopes up and squints into the eye piece, surveying the horizon and the land that surrounds the academy.
When he reaches the moor, he halts.
“There’s an army gathered out there,” he says.
Which is no more than we expected and yet the news still has all of us shaken.
Beaufort motions for the Professor to move and takes a look himself, then offers the telescope up to me.
The army lurks out in the marshland, right beyond the fog. It’s huge. More fighters than I could ever have predicted. The Empress has pulled every shadow weaver from every corner of the realm and gathered them out there in the mud, ready to attack us – ready to attack and to kill us.
I surrender my place at the telescope to Dray. Beaufort stares at the swirling mists.
“I think I need to go talk with my mother,” he says, almost trance-like, no emotion on his face or in his voice.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Briony says, gritting her teeth together. “You’re staying right here with me.”
“If there’s a chance that I can reason with her, bargain with her, have her change her mind, then I have to try, Briony. For your sake, for my sake, for all our sakes, and for the sake of those kids down there in the academy preparing to fight alongside us. I have to try.”
“And have her ambush you?” Briony snaps. “Have her imprison you again and threaten to execute you? No way, Beaufort. Absolutely no way. I don’t trust her, and I’m not risking your life.”
“Briony,” he says softly, turning his head away from the mists and gazing toward her instead. “You never liked it when I ordered you about. You always hated it when I told you what to do.” She scowls at him. “This is my decision.”
“And I’m asking you not to do it, Beaufort.”
“And I’m asking you, Briony, not to ask that of me. I’m the only person who could change her mind. I’m the only person who could save us all a lot of pain and a lot of heartache. I’m prepared to take the risk.”
“But I’m not.”
“Nini,” I say just as softly as my bond brother. “It’s not your decision to make.”
“But it will be my heart that’s broken if something happens to him.”
The corner of Beaufort’s mouth lifts in a sad sort of smile. “I didn’t know you cared, sweetheart.”
“Yes, you did,” she says. “You know perfectly well just how much I love you. And you know how heartbroken I’d be if anything happened to you.”
“And I’ll be equally heartbroken if anything happens to you, Briony. So let me take this chance to save you, to save all of us.”
They glare at each other. They’re both stubborn, and neither is prepared to back down. But finally, for once, it’s Nini who does.
With a loud sigh and a huff of her shoulders, she says, “Okay. But we have to be careful. We have to take precautions.” She gazes toward Fox. “Are there precautions we can take?”
“I’m sure there are,” Fox reassures her.
“I’ll send a crow out there to the army,” Beaufort says, “and I’ll suggest we meet somewhere neutral, with no one else around.”
“She’ll have others around,” Briony says. “She’ll have her guards, or someone there to step in if she needs them.”
“Then I’ll do the same,” Beaufort says.
Fox walks to the window, to the tall glass panes of this observatory, and stares out at the mist. He drags a hand down his face, pulling at his beard. “If she meets you, you could use the opportunity to—”
“No,” Beaufort says. “I won’t do that. I’ll meet her in order to find a resolution. I won’t be an assassin.”
“Could end things painlessly and simply,” Dray points out with a shrug.
But Beaufort simply sets his jaw and shakes his head.
“I don’t like this,” Nini says, nibbling on her lip.
“Yeah,” Beaufort steps forward to take her hands in his, “neither do I, sweetheart.” He lifts her hand to his lips and kisses her knuckles. “Thank you for understanding.”
As soon as we return to our tower, Beaufort disappears up to his study to compose the note to his mother. I follow after him, leaning against the wall as he writes. When he’s done, he rolls the tiny piece of paper up and calls for a crow.
There’s one tapping at the windowpane almost immediately, and he opens the window. Cold air rushes into the warm room as the crow swoops in, landing on his desk. I help him tie the small note to the crow’s right foot, the bird watching us with its beady eyes.
Then Beaufort speaks to it in the ancient words, the crow tilting its head one way and the other, listening to the instructions. It hops across the desk and then swoops out of the window, disappearing from sight.
Beaufort slumps down into his chair, swinging it from side to side.
“Do you think this will work?” I ask him.
“No,” he says without hesitation. “But I have to know that I tried, for my conscience.”
I stare at him, mimicking the crow. “You never used to have a conscience.”
“Didn’t I?” He shrugs. “I think it’s Briony,” he tells me. “She makes me look at things differently, you know.”
“I do,” I say, nodding. “And for what it’s worth, Beaufort, I think it’s the right thing to do.”
He huffs. “It’s hard to remember what’s right and wrong now, isn’t it? I used to think doing the right thing meant following her orders, doing what she said, being the dutiful son, prince of the realm, powerful shadow weaver.”
“I don’t think those were the wrong things,” I say. “We didn’t know, did we?”
“Maybe we should have,” he says darkly.
But he says no more, our conversation interrupted by Fox entering the room, wanting to discuss plans to keep Beaufort safe if the Empress actually agrees to the meeting.
An hour passes.
And then there’s a tap on the glass. We all look toward the window, and the same crow is lurking there on the ledge. This time I stroll over, unhook the latch, swing back the pane, and let the crow fly into the room. It circles once before landing on the desk.
Beaufort feeds it a little seed before untying the new note attached to its leg. He looks at the small coil of paper in the palm of his hand as if he’s a little scared to learn what it contains. He goes to unravel it, but Fox says, “Stop. Could be cursed or booby-trapped.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Beaufort scoffs, already unraveling it before Fox can stop him again.
There’s no swirl of dark magic, no puff of smoke or explosion, simply a piece of paper, tiny handwriting scrawled along its length. I watch Beaufort’s silver eyes scan the words, his face blank so I have no clue whether she’s consented or declined until he lowers his hands and looks up at us.
“She’s agreed to the meeting. Half an hour. At the railway station.”
“The railway station? Why there?” I ask.
“I suggested it,” he says. “It’s not close to the academy or to where her army is based. It’s entirely neutral. And,” he points out, “I probably know the terrain there better than she does.”
“Half an hour,” Fox says, scratching at his beard. “And you’re clear what you have to do if you think you’re in danger. If you think she’s betrayed you and sabotaged you.”
“Pull on the magic around Briony’s heart,” Beaufort says.
“Right,” Fox says. “Are you sure you can’t be persuaded to take any other weapons with you?”
“There’s no point,” Beaufort says. “My mother is possibly the strongest shadow weaver in the realm. If she wants to kill me, then she will.”
“Then why the hell are you going?” I mutter.
He laughs. “I’m trusting she’s not going to. She knows I’m the best way she has of finding Briony and getting to her. It’s Briony she wants dead really. Not me.”
“Okay then,” Fox says. “I just hope you know what you’re doing!”