Chapter 56
Florian
As Florian finally laid down, shoulders propped up on his pack, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get up again.
Though the ground was hard packed and cold, Florian was far past the point of caring.
They’d settled on the edge of a pond surrounded by tall reeds.
A chorus of frogs and insects was steadily filling the air as the sun set.
The ripples of the pond’s surface were reflecting the last light of the day rather idyllically.
It was a beautiful spot, but at the moment, he might have settled for a bed of coals as long as he could lie still there for even a few moments.
After three hard days of riding, his body was exhausted.
He was hardly alone. Even Rhea’s incomparable stamina was beginning to fray as she grew steadily less patient and more irritable.
She was currently on the other side of the fire speaking with Lilith in hushed tones.
It seemed like an argument, and so Florian had averted his attention to afford them as much privacy as possible.
Beside him, Knox was sharpening his swords, his silver eyes gleaming as if they were a reflection of his blades.
Florian had often puzzled over his ability to focus so intently on a single task.
Knox could spend hours hunched over a sketch pad or carefully crafting a potion.
On the other hand, Florian had never been able to keep still long enough to learn such crafts.
As a child, his tutors had told his mother on a number of occasions that his wandering mind would cure with age.
Florian wasn’t holding his breath anymore.
On his other side, Gareth was feeding the fire absently, an even greater marvel. Somehow he could focus on nothing at all for great lengths of time, repeating mindless tasks with no sign of impatience or even boredom. Florian was getting restless just watching him.
Perhaps that is what drew his eye to where Yvette was positioned, as far from the rest of them as possible.
She was wrapped tightly in her cloak and staring absently at the fire, which she was too far away from to feel any true benefit.
Though they were a great deal further south and no longer plagued by snow, it was still winter, and the night air was cold enough to bite.
Florian could make out dark circles under her eyes as they blinked slowly, heavy with exhaustion.
A pang of guilt stirred in his gut. Of course, when he had learned that Yvette had played a part in Keira’s abduction, he’d felt betrayed. He hadn’t been angry with her, not really. It was more like the sickening feeling of missing a step, the lurch of surprise that not all was as you thought.
He hadn’t spoken to her, not truly, since that first night.
Not even the next day when she’d ridden with him for most of the morning.
Yvette had sat behind him, arms wrapped around his chest. He’d imagined her hands on him about a hundred times before that moment, but it did not bring him the significance or pleasure he had anticipated.
He had felt only the weight of her betrayal beneath her touch.
But now as he saw a shiver run up her spine, watched her breathe heat into her fingers, it only summoned the remnants of his first instinct, to help her. The others had been keeping their distance from her as well, only speaking to her the night before in order to learn more about her magic.
It had been surprising for him that her abilities were so different from Keira’s, who was admittedly the first person he had truly known with any magic at all.
He was sure that Keira had never been able to alter someone’s mind with only her words or render herself utterly invisible.
On the other hand, Yvette seemed incapable of changing herself into the likeness of animals or many of the other spells which Keira was able to summon on a whim.
After hearing what she was capable of, the conclusion was clear: if it came to a fight, Yvette’s magic would be far less effective.
However, her gifts of illusion might make it possible to avoid one entirely.
As such, it was quickly decided that this rescue effort would be an affair of stealth.
Florian sighed. She had been open with them, even as their questions had bordered on interrogation.
She had traveled with them without complaint, though the pace had been unforgiving to even the most seasoned among them.
Not to mention that she had sought them out in the first place.
How long would they punish her for a mistake she was trying so hard to right?
He stood, having made his decision. Perhaps he was a fool for believing his intuition so ardently, but he had always felt that Yvette wasn’t a bad person. He didn’t know how she’d gotten herself tangled in all this, but she was trying to break out of it. What more could they ask of her?
“Florian,” Rhea said shortly, summoning him.
He hesitated from being set off his course, but then Rhea turned to Yvette as well.
“Come speak with us,” she said, more of a command than an invitation.
Yvette pulled herself off the ground, moving slowly either from soreness or chill; it was impossible to tell. At least she was coming closer to the fire.
Florian waited until Yvette had chosen a seat, still as close to the outskirts of their gathering as possible.
He took a place between her and Lilith, who was playing with the balance of one of her daggers idly.
Yvette’s brown eyes widened slightly as she took him in, and Florian managed a small smile.
Her response was drowned by Rhea as she claimed their attention.
“You two will be going into Deepgate alone.”
Florian swallowed heavily as Yvette paled. He had made it his life’s ambition to never see the inside of that place for himself. Yet, imagining Keira wasting away in such a place was enough to harden his resolve.
“With any luck, they won’t even know you’ve come until you’re gone,” Rhea said.
“What if they do find us?” Yvette asked, concern coloring her voice.
“You can alter minds. Can you not simply tell them you are meant to be there?”
Yvette shook her head. “The more resistant a person is, the less likely it will work,” she explained with a note of desperation.
“If I ask a person to do something they might have done anyway, they probably will. But to ask them to do something they wouldn’t ever do or that they’re directly opposed to, it almost never works. ”
“You convinced Caspian not to follow after the woman he loves,” Lilith pointed out.
“That was different.” Yvette’s voice was small. “He was asleep… It was a deeper sort of magic. It took time.”
“So you could not simply instruct a guard to release a prisoner?” Rhea asked thoughtfully.
Yvette sighed. “It depends on how committed they are to their post.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “That is not a gamble we can take.”
They were silent for a moment.
“You said that you had broken in once before,” Yvette said quietly. “What did you do last time?”
“I’m going to play dice with Gareth,” Lilith said, suddenly standing.
“We do not want this to go as it did last time,” Rhea said seriously.
Florian caught her gaze following Lilith with a touch of concern.
Her face was not easy to read, but Florian had known her long enough to distinguish even her subtlest expressions.
“It will be better for all if this can be done without raising alarm.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Yvette said uncertainly. “I can make myself invisible, but…” She glanced over at him and then quickly looked away.
“Have you ever tried to extend the magic to another person?” Florian asked.
Her brown eyes found him again, first with surprise and then uncertainty.
Florian raised his hand to her. “Try.” His voice was soft, just for her.
He watched her chest as she inhaled deeply before placing her hand flat against his own.
Before she had finished blowing out her breath, she was gone.
It was bizarre, fascinating, surreal even, to feel her soft touch against him but not to see her.
And that was nothing in comparison to when his own likeness disappeared.
Unable to help himself, he raised his other hand in front of his face.
A strange lightness, like morning mist, hung over him and wisped against his skin as he moved.
Florian was so mesmerized by the sensation that when his hand landed on something solid, a jolt of surprise went through him.
Yvette’s touch withdrew at once, and she reappeared, looking at him wide eyed.
Florian actually felt his face flush and had been about to administer an apology when Rhea spoke.
“It seems that this will be a great deal easier than last time.” Rhea offered a satisfied look between them. “But we will still need a plan.”
Florian nodded. “Yes, wouldn’t want to stumble into anything blindly.”
Rhea scowled at his joke, but he thought that perhaps Yvette’s cheeks reddened a bit. Warmth spread through his chest despite the seeping chill.
It was an effort to focus on Rhea’s words as she discussed the layout of the prison, the guard patterns (as best as she could recall them from years ago).
Yvette, however, seemed to soak in her every word.
He found himself watching her fingers as they twirled anxiously around the end of her braid.
She was nervous and had every right to be.
How easy it was to forget that not everyone courted danger as brazenly as the Blades did on a regular basis.
The impulse to reach out and still her hand with a reassuring touch was not easily swallowed.
Once their plan was set, Rhea left them to discuss matters with Knox.
“You know,” Florian said, once they were alone. “My uncle says that there’s a banshee that wanders the lower levels. The shrieking drives you mad enough for it to suck out your soul.”