Chapter 49

Tavion and Tristan followed a seething Simon back into the dining room where we all watched Trubahn cartwheel away from the astrologer with such shocked terror I almost laughed.

I would have, except for his attempt to force Simon back into servitude and his arrogant blackmail of Torin. She'd planned tonight down to the very last detail and now…I wouldn't miss what came next for anything.

"I believe you remember Cosimo," Torin said serenely as the male in question arranged the blanket over his broad shoulders. "Though it's been a few centuries."

Cosimo was no astrologer.

He was a beast of a male, like Raz and Zor, his handsome face set with grim determination, blue eyes flashing with barely restrained violence that was, thankfully, not directed my way.

The mage looked between Torin and Cosimo, his expression bleeding from confusion to fury.

"You tricked me."

Torin's mouth quirked. "I outplayed you, Trubahn. And as for your blood oath with Simon…" She glanced to Cosimo, who snapped his fingers. The air in the room tightened with otherworldly power, my ears hollowing out as magic swept through the room like ice-kissed thunder.

Fuck, he was powerful.

I flexed my now-numb fingers. His magic was touched with a dark, depthless cold that would suck you dry if he commanded it to.

"That oath is now void." Every word was drenched in rage, not a shred of mercy in those glowing blue eyes.

"And lest you are planning to run to Serpens and sell us out"—Cosimo's smile was pure death—"remember the last time you and I met, and consider that your only warning. Betray us, and I will take you apart and spread the pieces in the town square for the crows."

"However, to prove we are not complete monsters, you can keep the necklace." Torin waved her hand like the thing was a trinket from the fair, not a priceless artifact. "As a token of our good faith."

"I will never forget this," the mage hissed at Torin, now flanked by Zephryn and Cosimo, and I wondered if perhaps Trubahn had a death wish, given the expressions on the two males' faces.

"Neither will I, you piece of shite," Torin said coldly. "Now begone, before you end up dead or worse."

Cold washed through the room, raising the hair on my arms and sending a shiver right through me. Tristan rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes meeting mine. That was magic.

The mage disappeared, head held high, wearing his bruised ego like a shield. The moment he was gone, Torin threw herself at Cosimo and started to sob. The astrologer just winked.

"That was an obliviation spell I hit Trubahn with before he left. By the time he arrives at home, he won't remember a thing about tonight, including who he saw."

Torin scrubbed the tears from her face. "He'll have the pendant and not a clue where it came from. That mystery alone should keep him busy for a few days, at least."

Tavion and Zortracked Trubahn's obnoxious carriage back to the south end of Blackcastle to make sure he didn't head straight to the Keep and turn us in to the king for the reward.

Tristan headed upstairs to find Cosimo some real clothes to wear, while Raziel and I went to scrounge up some food. "Too bad Bexley's not here." I set my hands on my hips and surveyed the barren pantry. "He could whip us up a feast in seconds."

"I could go down to the North Road and petition a passing farmer for a handout."

"And bring the king's soldiers straight to our door." I frowned. "With that army camped on our doorstep, there's no food for miles."

"I'd say that's a good guess." Raziel cracked his neck. "But I know where the supply wagons are." A ghost of a smile played on his lips when his eyes met mine. "I could…borrow some rations."

"That's a big risk to take." I scanned the empty shelves again. "But if we're going to be here a few more days, we'll have to eat."

"I'll find Zor. We'll be in and out so fast nobody will even see us."

I rolled my eyes. "You'd better be. Otherwise, this mission will be over before it's even begun."

The air shifted when Cosimo swept into the room, still wrapped in the blanket, Torin and Zeph trailing behind him. "Tor told me all about you, Anaria. Of what happened in Caladrius." I shrank beneath that steely stare, and Raziel's blue-black magic hazed the air between us.

"Did she tell you about these?" My hand shook when I pulled the handwritten page out of my cloak, hopelessly crumpled after so much transporting. "Did she tell you who…and what we are?"

Finally, we'd know whether those two monsters could be killed.

Whether we stood any chance at surviving this, or if we were doomed to be their minions until they either killed us off or we became the very thing we despised.

The astrologer shook his head like he was in a daze. "She did. The Old Gods brought back to life." He hesitated then reached for the papers. "Before she locked me away, I discovered the cycles and theorized they occurred because of the Old Gods. Torin had just figured out who the Oracle was, but then I was imprisoned before I could do anything to stop her."

He let out a mirthless snort. "All I could do was watch. The joke's on her, though, since I saw everything."

I frowned. "You lost three hundred years of your life."

"I spent them hanging around the Oracle's neck." Cosimo's eyes glinted. "Listening to every plot, every secret meeting, every strategic move she made. Except for the past few months, which I spent inside a drawer, I presume."

His blue eyes sparkled. "She created the perfect spy without even meaning to."

"You heard everything she's ever said?" I echoed hollowly. This was more than I'd ever hoped for. With this information, we could outmaneuver the Oracle. Once that page of symbols was deciphered, maybe we could kill them. I tried to quell my knee-weakening rush of relief.

With luck, this was almost over.

Cosimo's mouth twitched as I set the papers into his hand. "Every word. Which means, the moment she realizes the pendant is missing, she'll come looking." His body stiffened at his preliminary scan of my notes. "Where did you get this information?"

"An old book in Stormfall's library. The fortress of the High Barrens Coven."

"I've heard of Stormfall," he murmured, sliding into the nearest chair without looking up from the page. "Back in my day, the High Barrens were unoccupied."

"Perhaps they were more occupied than we were led to believe," Torin offered blandly, meeting my gaze, unspoken warning glimmering in her pale eyes. Say nothing. Not yet.

Together, at Stormfall, we'd come up with a plan, the seer and me.

A dangerous, reckless, possibly suicidal way out of our mess.

But it was the only plan that ended up with the king dead and all of us alive. A plan that had to remain a secret, for now, because once the others discovered what we'd arranged, there would be hours of arguing and disagreements.

Simon was the only one who knew. Who'd agreed.

Who'd made the lone, dangerous flight to ask for a favor that could change the world.

And as much as it irked me that I was embroiled in Torin's schemes, even I understood the need for such secrecy.

The air in the manor shifted when Zorander returned, a clearly disgruntled Tavion trailing behind him. "The mage is safely locked in his shop, not that Tavion agreed with leaving him alive," Zor muttered. "Tomorrow might be a different story. If Trubahn investigates how he got the pendant, he could end up right back at Wingcrest with Crux and Lyrae and a patrol of royal guards."

"Zephryn will keep watch," Cosimo murmured without looking up, his expression straining as he scanned the paper. "Keeping him alive is in our best interest. For now."

"We should have killed him and been done with this," Tavion grumbled.

"And waste a golden opportunity?" Torin cocked her brow. "Who will the Oracle find when she tracks her stolen pendant? Chances are there is a locater spell on the stone."

"And she'll question him and come straight here," Tavion countered, his gleaming eyes dipping to me, as if calculating how long it would take him to spirit me out of Solarys.

"The mage has no memory of us. In fact, tonight's events are nothing but a black hole in his mind, and she can dig as deep as she wants. She'll find nothing."

"So the mage is a distraction?"

Torin nodded, not even looking guilty. "She'll waste her time on Trubahn while we're assassinating the king without her interference."

"It might have been kinder to kill him," Cosimo pointed out as his dark eyes lifted to mine. So much intelligence there, quiet, calculating. "That is the plan, correct? Get close enough to the king to slip a blade between his ribs?"

"Something like that."

Cosimo set down the papers, his gaze sharpening. "Tell me this plan of yours, Princess, from beginning to end. I'm especially interested to know how, exactly, you plan to circumvent the magic shield the king keeps around himself at all times."

Some madness still lurked in his eyes, but it was tempered with enough wry humor I relaxed, glancing over to Torin.

One dip of her head and I knew it was time the others heard what we were planning, down to the last, preposterous detail.

"It's not the shield we're worried about," I told him, even though I was, in fact, worried about that godsdamned shield. "Torin says you're well-versed in alchemy. How much do you know about the volatility of dragonfire explosives?"