Chapter 42

Azlan

To my surprise,she's back asleep within minutes and I'm left there in the dark, examining her face, the thoughts rushing around in my mind as I try to formulate a plan. One that extracts the Moreau boy from my uncle's grasp but keeps Rhi out of harm's way. Again and again the ideas I find hit a stumbling block, some impassable hurdle, and I'm forced to scrap them and start again, all the time watching her face for any signs of another dream.

The last one had her trembling and clutching at her throat, struggling for breath. It was terrifying to see, and I don't want her to suffer another one like that. The first sign she's plunging into another of those dreams, I'm waking her up and dragging her out of it.

At last the dawn filters through the curtains, the darkness chased away by the light, and I know there's only one way we can do this. Gently, I nudge Rhi awake, and after we're washed and dressed, we return to the kitchen.

The first thing I spot is the pig. He's no longer lying on his side, trembling and feverish. He's trotting around the kitchen, snorting at everyone and demanding food and affection. He's also wearing what looks like a cardigan and a bonnet.

I frown, but Rhi's already dropping to her knees and scooping him up into her lap, showering him with kisses.

"Pip!" she cries, "are you better?" She looks up at her friend. "Is he better?"

"His fever broke this morning and now he's back to his usual lively self."

Phoenix mutters something under his breath, but both girls ignore him, Winnie crouching down beside Rhi and adding her own kisses to the pig's head.

"That pig receives more affection than any of the rest of us," Stone mutters, pouring out a coffee for Rhianna.

"That's because he deserves it," Rhi says.

I shuffle on my feet. We don't have time for these niceties and distractions.

"Rhi had another dream last night," I tell the others. Rhi's body stiffens and she buries her face against the pig's body.

"The same one?" Phoenix asks.

I peer at Rhi. "This time the beast was … dead."

Winnie gasps and falls backwards. "You don't think Spencer's–"

"No," I say firmly, more for Rhi's sake than Winnie's or any of the others. "I think Rhi would know if he were. But I think it means we have limited time. We need to act now." They all stare at me.

"You have a plan?" Phoenix asks.

"Yes," although they aren't going to like it. Hell, I don't like it. "We're going to have to hand Rhi in."

"What the fuck?" Barone says, leaping to his feet, and knocking over his own cup of coffee. "To who?"

"To my uncle, to the Lord Protector. It's the only way we'll be able to make it inside the house where I think Spencer is being kept."

"You're fucking crazy," Phoenix scoffs. "You'd hand Rhi over to him? And then what exactly?"

"Together, Rhi and I can fight him. We can rescue Spencer and Tristan."

Phoenix shakes his head.

"Even if you were strong enough to fight your uncle," Winnie says, "you couldn't fight him and all his guards too."

"We'll have the element of surprise. He won't be expecting us to attack him. Not if I'm handing her over to him."

"That's the most stupid fucking plan I've ever heard. In fact, it's the most stupid thing I've ever heard and I've taught twenty-year-old students for the last five years. The amount of idiotic crap they speak!"

Rhi ruffles the pig's ears and stands to her feet. "You think it's the only way?" she asks me.

"I can't think of any other way we'll be able to get inside my uncle's house. Even if he were to trust me enough to let me in alone, I wouldn't be able to defeat him by myself. With you, there's a chance."

Rhi thinks about this, her eyes flicking around us all and landing back on me.

"Okay," she says.

"Rhi!" Phoenix says. "This is madness. It's a stupid fucking idea. We can think of another one."

"I've been trying to think of one all fucking night, Phoenix. This is the best I have, the only plan I have."

"And we don't have time," Rhi says, "if we wait, if we're too late …"

"Christopher Kennedy knows that Azlan is your fated mate. There's no way he'll believe Azlan has had a change of heart and is now handing you in to the authorities."

"There's a chance he might. My uncle has no understanding of love. His own loyalty has only ever been to himself and the family. He may believe I've ‘seen sense' and am doing what's right."

"He won't," Phoenix says flatly.

"Then you'll have to do it," Winnie says to my friend.

"Me?"

"Yes, he doesn't know you're Rhi's mate too. He's more likely to believe you'd hand her in."

"And why's that Miss Wence?" he says, eyes narrowing at the girl.

"Because you're always going on about how broke you are, Stone," Rhi says, "and the reward for my capture is considerable."

"A fucking fortune," Barone adds.

"And of course, I'd do that. I'd stoop so low as to shop some girl – a student of mine, my friend's mate no less – right into his hands, all for money," he spits.

Rhi shrugs.

Phoenix begins to pace. "Okay, so maybe that works, maybe he believes me, maybe lets us in, past all his guards, maybe together we take him out, find Spencer and Tristan. It still leaves one giant problem. How the hell do we get out? I'm assuming the Kennedy mansion is now more fortified than ever."

I hesitate. Then nod, my shoulders slumping. He's right. It's a major flaw in a plan already full of plenty. I look towards my mate, her face contorted with worry.

"I'm sorry, Rhi, he's right."

"No," she shakes her head, desperately, "there must be a way. There must be a way we can get out."

"There is," Barone says, spinning his knife, "me."

"You?" Winnie says, eyeing the assassin with suspicion.

"Yeah, I can shoot us out." He says this like it isn't a big deal, spinning the knife around like the conversation is actually quite boring.

"I don't understand," Winnie says.

"Renzo can … travel through time and space."

"A contortionist?" Winnie says, mouth falling open.

"Yeah," he says, yawning.

"But can you take others with you?" I ask.

"I took Rhi," he says.

"That's one person. This would be four excluding yourself."

He shrugs.

"Could you shoot us inside the house too?" Phoenix asks, hopefully, clearly still unhappy with my proposed plan.

"Better not to push my luck," Barone says, and I conclude shooting four people with him across time and space is going to be harder than he's making out.

"That's decided then," I say.

"No, it's not," Phoenix insists. "How do we take Barone with us?"

"You pretend you're working together. That you captured Rhi together and you're both handing her in to collect the reward."

Phoenix laughs. "Me and him?" he says, thrusting his thumb in the assassin's direction, the assassin peering up at him from his knife. "Working together? I don't think so. Maybe your uncle will buy the fact I'm some money-hungry bastard with no morals. But he won't believe I'm working with him."

"Phoenix," I say, walking towards my friend, "the entire world has turned upside down. People are desperate out there. People are leaving their morals and their scruples at the door. There are men and women who have always despised my uncle, now licking his asshole. It isn't so unbelievable."

"And we are old friends, after all, right, Prof.?" My gaze flicks to the assassin. Old friends?

"We were never friends, Barone."

"Friends?" I say. I thought I knew everything there was to know about my best friend. He's certainly revealed his deepest darkest secrets to me and I've revealed the same to him. We've seen each other at our best and at our worst, at our downright lowest. But friends with Barone? That has never been mentioned before.

"Something to discuss later," Rhi says. "Do you think that would work?" she asks Winnie. "Do you think Azlan is right, that they'd believe Stone and Renzo were working together to hand me over?"

Winnie leans on the table. Perhaps I should feel insulted that my mate doesn't trust my judgment, but actually I can see she's smart. She wants to gauge everyone's opinion – like any good leader would – and Winnie is intelligent.

"It's a crazy amount of money, Rhi. And people are motivated to do really crazy things by money like that. Plus, I think if anyone could use his charm and wit to fool Christopher Kennedy, it would be Stone."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Miss Wence."

"You can be rather charming when you're not being a complete asshole," Rhi tells him, smiling at him and, my friend, for all his bravado, sarcasm and downright grumpiness, can't help but smile right back at her.

"Fine," he says, utterly weak in the face of Rhi and what this girl wants, "fine, I'll do it – I think it's a crazy, stupid, completely ridiculous idea – but I'll do it."

"Surely by now, you've worked out that I am crazy, stupid and on occasion completely ridiculous." Rhi walks up to him, balancing on her tiptoes, twining her arms around his neck and kissing him. "Thank you, Stone," she says earnestly.

"Hey," Renzo calls out. "How about me? Do I get a thank-you kiss too?"

"No," Phoenix says, curling his arm around Rhi's waist and kissing her right back.

When the kiss goes on for a little longer than is necessary, the pig starts snorting loudly and butting his snout against Rhi's ankles.

"For fuck's sake," Phoenix mutters, glaring down at the pig as Rhi pulls away from him, "I preferred it when you were unconscious with a fever."

"Ignore him, Pip," Rhi says, "he was as concerned about you as the rest of us." Phoenix looks at me with an expression that tells me he disagrees.

"Come on," I say to them all, "let's pack up. We can finalize the details of this plan on the drive to Los Magicos. We'll take Winnie's car."

They all nod, filing out of the kitchen, Rhi cradling the pig in her arms. Only Phoenix remains.

"You do know this is madness," he says with concern when we're alone. "And it puts Rhi right in the heart of danger."

"Yes, Phoenix, I know. But I believe this is something we have to do."