“Done deal.” I stepped back, hesitated, then bid him goodbye before he could see or sense the tears that were threatening to fall.
It had to be close to midday by the time I made it back to the Rossi household. The halls were empty and silent, and there was no music or laughter flowing from the other end of the building—which was no surprise given most would currently be asleep after partying all night.
Ava and Ranel were standing guard at the door into the suite Trey and I had been assigned.
“About time you appeared,” Ava grumbled as she hit the door-open button. “The healer’s been waiting for over half an hour. Where the hell have you been?”
“I went down to check on April. I didn’t think the healer would arrive so soon.”
“Well, he did, and he’s pretty annoyed.” Her gaze swept me. “You don’t look ill—everything all right?”
I forced a smile. “Yeah, it’s just that I need to grab some sleep and I’m thinking I’ll need some chemical help to do so.”
“Ah,” she said. “So what’s going on? The bastards really haven’t told us much. We don’t even know what happened to Gen and Luc.”
“They’re dead, I’m afraid. Lady Saska tossed them over the cliff.”
“I hope the bitch pays for that,” Ranel said.
That bitch was my sister… but I kept the words inside and simply said, “She did. She’s dead.”
Ava frowned. She might not be able to read my mind, but she knew me better than any person alive and I had no doubt she could see the sadness within me.
“There’s something else going on, isn’t there?” she said. “Something big.”
“There’s a major assault being planned,” I said. “One that involves not only both the Night and Day watches, but also all the outposts.”
“Then I hope to hell we’re not stuck here,” Ranel growled. “I’ll be royally annoyed if we miss out on that sort of action.”
A smile touched my lips. “April said much the same thing.”
“I can just imagine.” Ava still looked concerned, but she didn’t give it voice, just stepped back and opened the door. “You’d better get inside and grab some rest. We’ve orders to let no one else in now except Commander Stone or Lord Kiro.”
“Good.” I gave her a quick hug, said a silent goodbye, and then went inside.
A thin-faced man in his mid-forties rose from one of the cloudsaks. “About time, Lady Neve—”
“I’m sorry for the delay,” I said. “Did Lord Kiro explain what I’m after?”
“He said a sleeping draught—correct?”
I nodded, my heart beating a little faster. “And a fairly strong one, if you have it. I want an uninterrupted eight hours rest.”
“That, at least, is an easy request.” He opened the satchel he was carrying and plucked a vial of clear liquid free. “This should do the trick—it’ll work in a matter of minutes, and keep you asleep for at least eight hours.”
“So I take the whole vial?”
“Yes.” He handed it over, then closed his bag and said, “Anything else?”
“No.” I hesitated. “Has there been much of a fallout from the toxin being placed in the water?”
“Numerous deaths in the ranks of the serving class, but only three so far from the ruling houses. Plenty showing unpleasant and possibly deadly symptoms, however, so I’ll bid you a good day, and be off.”
“Thanks for waiting.”
He nodded as he left. I glanced down at the vial in my hand then placed it down on the coffee table and walked across to the discreetly placed buzzer to one side of the main door and kept my fingers crossed our maidservant was one of the ones who’d survived. It seemed luck was on my side and hers, because a few seconds after I pressed the buzzer, she appeared.
“What can I do you for, my lady?”
“I’d like a large platter of meats, breads, and cheese, please. And some wine, too.” I hesitated. “What’s the water situation like here? Do we have any?”
She nodded. “The Rossi are one of three upper houses that disconnected from the old tower’s supply after installing their own tanks fifteen years ago. I believe a temporary pump system has been set up so we can supply water to the rest of the houses.”
“Ah, good. Thanks.”
She nodded again and disappeared. I walked back over to the cloudsaks and sat down. If I wanted to obey the wind and leave tonight, then I had to do two things aside from getting as much rest as I could today. The first was to get hold of both a speeder and weapons, as having both would conserve my strength getting to the Blacksaw Mountains and give me options for destroying the apiary once I was inside.
If I got inside, that was.
The other thing I had to do was convince Trey it had to be done my way, not his.
To achieve the first, I’d have to talk to Kiro. It would be the quickest and easiest way to get what I needed, as his word was the next-best thing to law, at least around here.
The second, however, was likely to prove impossible.
I eyed the small vial uneasily. Using it might just break something that was both new and fragile, but did that really matter given survival was highly unlikely?
It was a question I really didn’t want to answer, even if part of me was screaming that of course it did.
I closed my eyes and tried to rest as I waited for the maid to return with my meal. I must have drifted, because when I opened my eyes, there was a tray of covered meats and a bottle of red on the table, and the fading light streaming in through the windows suggested dusk wasn’t very far away.
I poured myself a glass of wine and ate my fill of the breads and meats. There was still plenty left on the platter, but that was good as I needed some sustenance for my journey. Once I’d finished, I wrapped the remaining breads and cheeses in a large waterproof cloth and tucked them away for later, then slipped the sleeping draft down the side of the sofa where Trey was unlikely to see it. With that done, I stripped off, had a shower, and then headed into the sleeping chamber. The bed Pyra had shattered had been replaced as Trey had ordered, but there were still too many memories of her actions left in the pitted walls and flooring.
I tried to ignore them and crawled under blankets where, despite the turmoil and the belief that I wouldn’t sleep, I did.
The room was wrapped in darkness when I awoke. For several minutes I simply lay there, listening to the howl of the wind outside but hearing no voices within her. The suite itself was silent and I had no sense that anyone was near.
I climbed out of bed and walked into the living area. As I did, the main door opened and Trey entered. He smiled when he saw me, but it held little of its usual vigor, and the redness in his eyes was matched by the weariness that cloaked him.
“You look worn out,” I said as I walked toward him.
“It’s been a rather long twenty-four hours.”
He caught my hand and pulled me into his arms. For a moment, neither of us said anything. We simply enjoyed the comfort of each other’s presence.
“So,” I said eventually, “what decisions have been made?”
“I leave at dawn for Blacklake. The attack is timed for midmorning as that’s the earliest we outpost commanders believe we can get supplies ready and our forces moving.”
“So you’re attacking en masse?”
“No. We’ll cross the river from our various positions and attack the apiary’s known exits on several fronts. Winterborne will send a force into the Adlin homelands to stop any sleuths from answering a call to arms by the Irkallan queen. Hopefully by attacking them on so many fronts we’ll draw their attention away from Drakkon’s Head, and give you the chance to slip in, find and destroy those kids and the queen, and then lay the charges and get out.”
“But what if the queen orders the kids into battle?”
“I doubt she’ll risk their use unless absolutely necessary. Not if she has as many soldiers as Saska claimed.”
Part of me hoped he was right. But the other half—the selfish half that didn’t want to the responsibility of ending the lives of so many children, even if they were indoctrinated into the enemy’s way of life—hoped otherwise.