Her eyes filled with panic and she opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off with a shake of my head.
Her mouth turned down and she took a shaky breath through her nose.
I handed her the book. “You must give this to Orion—the Frost Dreki. It was Dad’s and he asked me to get it to Orion. You can’t show anyone, or tell anyone else. Can you do that for me?”
She nodded.
I stroked her hair. “Be safe.”
I made to stand but she grabbed my hand. “Come back to us, Anya. Please make sure you come back.”
I gave her my most confident smile. “I intend to.”
* * *
“Dante won’t be joining us,” Vesper said.
We were gathered outside the lords’ quarters, weapon- and battle-ready. Although the plan was to get in and out using stealth, being prepared for the worst was a smart move.
Vesper was looking at me, waiting for me to ask the inevitable question.
Who was I to disappoint him? Besides, I wanted to know. “Why won’t he be joining us?”
“Oberon’s keeping him as collateral,” Vesper said. “We get Dante back when we deliver payment.”
My pulse kicked up at the thought of Dante in the wildlands at those creatures’ mercy. They were ravenous and insane.
“Don’t worry,” Vesper said with more than a hint of sarcasm. “Oberon won’t hurt him. The condition is more for show than anything else. Oberon trusts us, but he needs to keep up appearances for his people. They’re starving, and this causes unrest. Holding Dante hostage shows them that Oberon still has power. We focus on the mission. I’ll lead and we—”
“Hold up,” Bran interrupted. “Have you ever done stealth work?”
Vesper frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean what experience do you have with infiltration.”
Vesper’s eyes narrowed. “I’m older than all of you put together. War and tactics are in my fucking blood.”
“This isn’t war,” Helgi said. “This is a rescue mission. The objective is to get it done without combat.”
Vesper pouted in thought. “You want to lead?”
“Not me,” Helgi said. “Anya.”
Bran nodded. “Nile and I are good with that.”
For a moment I thought Vesper would argue, but then he smiled tightly and turned his full attention on me. “So, Anya, what’s the play?”
He was looking at me as if he expected me to bumble so he could make his point.
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. I’d done this kind of shit before; never to extract more than two people, but the principles were the same. The thought process that we needed to go through to prepare was the same.
I met his expectant gaze with a thin smile of my own. “We have no idea of the layout of the place, and once we’re inside we’ll be running on a clock. Our objective will be getting the word out and giving out a rendezvous point and a time for the humans to meet us. We’ll need to find a location close to the exit, somewhere we can control easily, and wait it out until our time to leave rolls up. Minimum exposure with maximum coverage. With no idea how many humans are in the sector, we can’t anticipate how many we’ll be able to convince to leave, but if we pull this off successfully, we can go back for another sweep at a later date.”
“And if the Draco attack?” Vesper asked.
“Then we fight our way out.” Which would mean possible casualties…A thought popped into my head, one he wasn’t going to like. “I don’t think you should come with us.”
He balked. “Excuse me?”
“You’re too important to the Dreki movement. We can’t risk you being captured.”
“I can take care of myself.”
I arched a brow. “You were captured once before.”
“So were you.”
“But I’m no one. I mean nothing. You, on the other hand, have an army that relies on you. The Dreki need you.”
He exhaled heavily, his jaw working. “If you come under attack, the four of you may not be enough.”
“Then give me a couple of good fighters as backup.”
He plucked at his lip, his gaze lowered as he thought it through. “We keep a unit outside the sector while the four of you go in. We set a timer. If you’re not out by then, we set off a series of explosions, a distraction to draw fire and take the heat off you, and I can send in a couple of men to extract you.”
“I saw walkie-talkies in the warehouse,” Helgi said.
But the Dreki couldn’t use them. Shit. Unless… “Bran, Nile, one of you needs to stay with the unit outside Sector 8.”
“I’m coming in with you,” Bran said.
Nile shot him an annoyed look. “You want me to be your contact outside?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “I’ll do it. But I swear, Bran, next time you fucking sit out the action.”
Bran grinned at him. “You got to best me in an arm wrestle first.”
“I’ll arrange for a second troop to meet us by the leyline,” Vesper said.
We had a plan. Now all we needed to do was execute it, and once we had the humans, it would be time for me to go after Dad.
* * *
The leyline we needed was on the outskirts of the settlement. We took the mageri passage and came out in the library. Lorance looked up in surprise as we all trooped through.
“Your Grace.” He rose quickly, almost tipping over his chair, and stood with his hands tucked into his sleeves.
“Relax, Lorance,” Vesper drawled. “I’m not here to chew you out. We’re leaving but should be back by tomorrow at the latest.”
“Leaving?” His gaze flitted over us. “A mission?” His eyes lit up and Vesper’s gaze grew speculative.
“Having a mageri on board wouldn’t be a bad thing…” he said.
“I can assist,” Lorance added.
“Fine, come on.”
We headed out of the building with Lorance trotting to keep up.
“Where are we going, Your Grace?”
“To Draco territory. We’re going to liberate the humans.”
“The humans in Sector 8? But Your Grace, how will we get inside? Magick will not aid us in breeching
