Page 163 of Death of a Mortal

After several tense moments, he broke the stare and said to theroom, “Okay, so we know then where the weak points in Ashthorn’s wards are. Assuming we find a safe way in, we have the infiltration team stationed on the ship ready to deploy. What’s the move?”

It never ceased to amaze me how much Drayce trusted the others in this room and took their input to heart in his grand plans.

“I volunteer myself for the infiltration team,” Sevrin offered quietly. “The rumors say Umbrathrens surround the crown royals. I can help there once we’re inside.”

There was a collective intake of breath from the room. Umbra magic made everyone uneasy, and their unease made me feel dirty and contaminated.

“And I volunteer my best healer, Elene, to accompany the group, in case of…emergencies,” said the leader of the Hearth order.

“And I volunteer my best smiths, here, in the coming days, to construct any weapons and armor that the team may require. I can accompany the infiltration team should a smith be needed on the ground in battle,” Brennor said. At least over the last few weeks of strategy meetings, he’d stopped openly glaring at me.

“I’ll go too as part of the ground unit. The mortals deserve Caedryn’s blood.” This was Kellan. Magic and abilities like light bending and storm commanding were critical in battle, but I’d seen Kellan wield every weapon imaginable. He was at no disadvantage whatsoever being mortal.

“All of your contributions are necessary and appreciated,” Drayce said. “But we need a plan for once we’re in. Naci…none of us know Ashthorn like you.”

My stomach flipped—not because he was right, that I knew a shit place like Ashthorn like the back of my hand—but because it meant I needed to relive my time there.

I took two deep breaths with my eyes closed before I addressed the silently staring room. “If I can find a weak point that we can exploit in the wards, I can get our team from there to the servants’ corridors, where we can navigate to any part of the castle. We would likely run into servants along the way. No guards or royals, though.”

“And we should believe what she tells us? She lived there as one of them!” It was Brennor that spoke up, just as I thought he was coming around to me.

All eyes shot to him. I could feel the anger pulsating off Drayce next to me, but it was Bramick who spoke.

“I’d believe Naci if she told me the sky had turned green and that left was now right. She’s one of us, and if you don’t believe it, thenyou’renot one of us. She’s the damned daughter of the best leader this rebellion has ever seen…no offense, Dray.” He had the decency to look abashed when he looked over at our fearless leader, to which Drayce simply smiled and nodded. “So if you have a problem with her, you have a problem with me. I’ll gladly take this outside if you don’t shut the fuck up and get in line. And that goes for anyone else who doesn’t trust Naci implicitly. If I do, and Dray does, everyone else should too.”

He turned to look at me with his last statement, and I couldn’t help the sting of tears that pricked my eyes over his proclamation. I couldn’t imagine how, just two months ago, I had been thinking of leaving base. These had become my people. My family. And I hadn’t even realized that I’d let them into my battered heart.

Well, Bramick, Aerie, Kellan, and Drayce, anyway.

“Look, I get it. You don’t trust me,” I said to Brennor before addressing the rest of the room. “But my mother lived, breathed, and died for this rebellion, for this family. And I live every moment now in Keryth’s memory, devoting my every thought and effort toward taking down the crown. Caedryn took everything from me—my mother, my sister, and for a long time, my will to live. My dignity, my pride. There were months of my life that were dark and disgusting and frankly made me want to kill myself.”

I was being raw and open in front of this group, but maybe this was necessary. Maybe this was the step I needed to take.

“So if I can stand here beside those of you that have outwardly hated me for months, in the attempt to leave a world behind that’s better than the shit hole we live in now, then I think and hope youcan forget the bullshit the king said about me in his attempt to destabilize our very purpose. If I’m here, and I’m fighting, there’s no way a single word Caedryn said could be true. I am the godsdamned daughter of Keryth Liora, and I’ve never been more proud of anything in my life!”

“We are the flames in the night!” It was Kellan’s exclamation that followed mine that caused an eruption of reciprocation sound through the room. Brennor didn’t join, but he gave me a tight-lipped nod, so that had to count for something.

Drayce spoke up to quiet the room once more. “So now that we got that shit out of the way, what’s the plan for when we get into the servants’ tunnels of Ashthorn?”

* * *

Over the followingweek, we had missives and news coming in daily from messenger birds and avian vey alike. We’d learned that Caedryn was not only sending his forces to Vydran but also building an elite unit to guard the Dolvenar and Ashthorn walls.

They expected an attack. But they were idiots, thinking we’d try to stroll through the damned gates.

I thought back to mine and Nella’s stealthy, undercarriage entrance into Dolvenar with equal parts longing and amusement at the memory. With our intel indicating that the castle guard was patrolling double, there was no way this was a viable option. It would have been poetic, though.

With the tunnel they’d used to rescue me (and apparently for the stunt at the ball, too) no longer an option, weak points above ground were likely the only way in. No one would expect exploitation of unknown weak points in wards and glythyrs. Because only I could know when a glythyr was weak or failing. Bramick had a subtle ability with his extensive ground magic to feel vibrations, even the smallest of pulses from magic, but it wouldn’t be nearly accurate enough for us to exploit.

“We leave the mortal servants alone,” I’d said late into one night of planning at Drayce’s with our inner circle. “They’re innocent, part of what we’re fighting for. If they die, we’ve failed.” I thought of Halden and wanted desperately to find him and save him from Ashthorn.

“Agreed, but the primary mission is to kill Caedryn. We cannot abandon that to protect others,” Drayce responded. “We leave tomorrow, whether or not our plan is final.”

It was time for me to face the hard truth that innocents might die. All heads nodded, including mine.

“I can try and persuade some of the mortals to flee if we see any in the corridors,” Kellan said. “If we’re locked in battle, it may be enough of a distraction to give them a chance to escape unnoticed. I can station a few of my soldiers to guide them to our point of entry, gather them outside the wards and wait for us.”

I beamed. Kellan was quickly becoming one of my favorite people here. We all fought for the same purpose, but he held the fiercest passion for the lives of the mortals. Ofmypeople, whether I was fae now or not.