CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE #2
Deckard shook his head. “You’re so sure they’re good and noble? All of you?”
“Do you think we’d be part of something that wasn’t?” Ilain asked.
“I think,” he said with gentleness, “perhaps they’ve duped you. Just as they did us.”
Brea pulled herself to her full height—though nearly an entire foot shorter than Deckard—beside him.
Her dark eyes met his steadily. “Your cynicism is puzzling,” she said.
“You live your life determined to be good and noble. You act as the ideal Allorian gentleman. Yet, you question the validity of an organization that believes the same values as you. Why? When you’ve lived with the Calders for three months—when you’ve traveled with Vayden, Isla, and me for three weeks—how can you question our sincerity? How can you not trust us?”
Deckard took a deep breath and shrugged. “Everyone has something they want,” he said. “You each have specific goals, and the Alliance will help you achieve them.”
“You think we’re selfish? We have risked our lives for you.” Her gaze darkened, and she dropped her voice so that only he and Evylin beside him could hear. “I risked my life for your brother’s. How can you doubt me when you’ve seen through what few secrets I hold?”
Deckard blinked, hearing the unsaid. He’d recognized her affection for Thom from the start. It wasn’t hard, but Brea was cunning enough to cover her fondness as friendship. But she’d never fooled Deckard.
Wetting his lips, Deckard forced himself to acknowledge the truth. The fact was, he did trust Brea. He trusted Ilain, Vayden, and Isla too. Their intentions were honorable. And if they genuinely believed in the Alliance’s aims. . . .
“They use duplicitous means to accomplish their purposes,” Deckard said, still contending for his point.
Brea smirked. “Not so differently from you. I believe Thom told you that I listen to conversations as a matter of course,” she said. “I listened to your discussion with your father-in-law as well.”
Deckard’s brow rose in shock.
“And you lied through your bloody teeth the entire time.”
Feeling wholly exposed by her accusation, Deckard drew back. Thom snorted, and Evylin set a hand over her mouth, a wave of humor washing out of her despite the tension in the group.
Deckard gave them both a perturbed look.
But he couldn’t deny that Brea was right.
He had lied to Lawton Glaas the entire conversation.
He’d assured him that Evylin wasn’t a soldier; the king had simply granted her an honorary title.
He’d created false personae for Brea and the Calders.
He even told the magistrate that Hewitt’s death was at the hands of a bear in his letters.
At every turn, Deckard lied to make the truth palatable. And he’d done that his entire life.
The Alliance’s duplicity seemed tame by comparison.
Scratching the back of his neck, Deckard didn’t care to admit his crimes in front of his men.
“I will concede that the Alliance may not deserve my full criticism,” he said.
“However, it does not solve the problem we face. Whether or not they’re worth serving is a matter for another day.
For now, we must find a way into the palace. ”
“Would you like us to dig a hole, Highlord?” Rafferty asked snidely.
Deckard sent him a sharp look, but Evylin set a hand on his arm. “I have a suggestion,” she said. They turned to her, waiting. “In our party, we have a spy, a hunter, and a thief—”
“I’m an entrepreneur,” Rafferty corrected.
“It’s their job to be sneaky,” she concluded.
“Technically,” Thom said and pointed to Ethenn, “it’s his job to sit in a tree waiting for a deer to pop its antlers into view.”
“Which requires copious amounts of stealth,” Evylin noted. She swept her arm in the direction of Vayden, Ethenn, and Rafferty. “Let them figure out our way in.”
The three men exchanged looks, though they didn’t appear opposed to the idea.
Deckard grinned at Evylin. “Seems you’re onto something there,” he said and turned to the men. “All right. If you were going to plan this mission, how would you do it?”
A long silence passed as the trio considered the task.
Ethenn spoke first. “We can assume Blount will be in the throne room,” he said thoughtfully. “Where else would you set up your new reign?”
“I do my best plotting in the loo,” Rafferty said. “And I bet the royal facilities are quite posh.”
Vayden chuckled but shook his head. “Blount is a narcissist. I should know; I had to impersonate him.”
“And you did such a splendid job, love,” Isla teased.
“Thank you, darling.” Vayden brushed a hand under his chin, eyes shifting toward the palace. “Ethenn is right. If Blount is in the palace, he’ll want to be on the throne, making judgments. Which gives us a goal.”
“We’ve been to the throne room before,” Ethenn said. “I think I could lead us there.”
Vayden turned to Ilain. “You lived in the palace for weeks. And you said that Carlile taught you about its secret passages and entrances, yes?”
“Four entrances, ten passages,” she confirmed.
“Excellent. Then it merely comes down to finding our way onto the palace grounds, which we already know how to do thanks to our trip to the Space Keep.”
“Which we can only do once we’ve passed through those pretty stone walls over there,” Brea quipped.
Rafferty scanned the massive city walls. “Unfortunately, they’re too high to scale,” he said thoughtfully.
“Even if we could, Blount will have them guarded,” Ethenn said.
“What about drainage gates?” Rafferty asked. “That worked when we saved our dashing Prince Ephren.”
Vayden shook his head. “Blount was trained in warfare. There are many tales of sieges being won by slipping in through the sewers and drainage systems. He’ll have them watched at the very least.”
“Pity.”
Deckard watched the men think with interest. Evylin leaned against the tree behind them, her arm brushing his, the touch a comfort, however light.
“We could wait for night,” Rafferty said. “It’d be easier to move undetected then.”
“It’s a capital city with technology’s latest advances,” Vayden said. “They have lamps lighting the streets.”
“Ah, yeah,” Rafferty said. “I always forget about those. We didn’t have them in Estshire.” He tapped his nose in thought. “I suppose we don’t want to cause a distraction.”
Vayden shook his head. “That’ll just draw attention to our presence.”
“Blounty-boy does know we’ll be coming for him at some point.”
“But he doesn’t know we’re here as of yet,” Vayden countered. “We don’t want to alert him or his men.” He grimaced then. “There is one thing we could try . . .”
“What’s that, Vayd?” Rafferty asked.
“I look like Blount.” Vayden shrugged. “It was my job to impersonate him before. I could do it again.”
“Ooh,” Rafferty nodded, “I do like disguises. We’ll be your retinue. That could work.”
“It couldn’t,” Ethenn interrupted.
“Why not?” Rafferty asked with annoyance.
Ethenn raised his brow. “Do you have nine disguises fit for a king and his royal guard hidden in your saddlebags?”
Rafferty pulled a face. “I suppose the kid’s got a point.”
Vayden sighed. “I’m out of ideas, then.”
“I’ve got one,” Ethenn said casually. “But first,” he looked at Deckard, “how far can you jump?”
Deckard’s brows pinched together in confusion. “As far as the average man, I’d guess.”
Ilain snorted. “I believe he means magically.” She flashed her fingers in a motion that mimicked a poof of air.
“Ah.” Deckard tipped his head, recalling the details of his studies.
His thorough practice over the last several weeks had afforded him a better understanding of the shocking ability.
While he still wasn’t entirely used to the sudden jolt that took him from one location to the next, he was growing more and more comfortable with the stomach-turning process.
“I believe it’s as far as I can sustain with my energy. ”
“It’s unlimited?” Ethenn asked.
“Theoretically.” This plan was already beginning to worry Deckard. “But I’m still developing my strength.”
Ethenn glanced toward the city. “Are you strong enough to teleport into the palace itself?”
Deckard gaped at the young man, baffled by his suggestion.
A long silence stretched as they all considered this wild plan. Then Thom burst out with a nervous laugh.
“That’s insane,” he said. “Deckard can’t jump nine people across miles of land.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting,” Ethenn said. “He only has to jump five of us, including himself.”
Evylin huffed out a laugh at Deckard’s side. He was no less bemused. “That will still take too much energy,” he argued. “I’m not all-powerful, contrary to what you might think.”
“You have the Space Relic,” Ethenn countered. “You’re Bonded. Beyond that, you can share energy with anyone you jump.”
“It will weaken us,” Ilain warned. “All of us.”
“You’re a bloody goddess,” Ethenn returned. “You’ll be fine.”
A small, amused grin at his sharp rebuttal came to Ilain’s lips, but she remained silent.
Ethenn held Deckard’s gaze with fierce determination. “Forget jumping to the palace, in that case,” he said. “If you want to defeat Blount, then we have to outsmart him. He knows we’re coming. So let’s let him think he’s won.”
Deckard frowned. “How?”
“Give him what he wants.”
Tension filled the air as they all listened, skeptical of the plan he was presenting.
“We split up,” Ethenn continued. “He wants us to come to him because he wants the Relics and Evylin. He will allow her to walk to the front gate and have his men bring her straight to him.”