“And where does that get us?” Hunt asked.
“It gets us in a lab with Pippa and Ophion—and if we time it right, a pack of dreadwolves will arrive right after they do.”
“Solas,” Bryce said, scrubbing at her face. “How are you going to get out of that?”
Cormac smiled at Tharion, as if sensing the direction of his thoughts. “That’s the big distraction. We blow it all to Hel.”
Ruhn blew out a breath. “That’ll certainly get the Asteri’s attention.”
“The lab’s twenty miles north of the Eternal City,” Cormac said. “It might even draw them out to inspect the site. Especially if Pippa Spetsos has been captured.”
“You’re cool with handing over a fellow rebel?” Hunt asked the prince.
“I don’t see any other options.”
“Keep the casualties to a minimum,” Hunt said to Cormac, to Tharion. “We don’t need their blood on our hands.”
Bryce massaged her chest. They were really doing this. She got to her feet, and they all looked at her as she said, “I’ll be right back,” and padded into her bedroom.
She shut the door and strode to a photo on her dresser, staring at it for several long minutes. The door opened behind her, and Hunt was there. “You all right?”
Bryce kept staring at the photo. “We were really happy that night,” she said, and Hunt approached to study the photo of her, Danika, Juniper, and Fury, all grinning in the White Raven nightclub, drunk and high and gorgeous. “I thought we were really happy, at least. But when that photo was taken, Fury was still … doing what she does, Juniper was quietly in love with her, and Danika … Danika had a mate, had all these secrets. And I was stupid and drunk and convinced we’d party until we were dust. And now I’m here.”
Her throat ached. “I feel like I have no idea who I am. I know that’s so fucking cliché, but … I thought I knew who I was then. And now …” She lifted her hands, letting them fill with starlight. “What’s the end goal in this? Somehow, someway, overthrowing the Asteri? What then? Rebuilding a government, an entire world? What if it triggers another war?”
Hunt tugged her into his arms and rested his chin atop her head. “Don’t worry about that shit. We focus on the now, then deal with everything else afterward.”
“I thought a general always planned ahead.”
“I do. I am. But the first step in making those plans is finding out what the fuck Sofie knew. If it’s nothing, then we reassess. But … I know how it feels to wake up one day and wonder how you got so far from that carefree person you were. I mean, yeah, my life in the slums with my mom wasn’t easy, but after she died … It was like I’d had some illusion ripped away from me. It’s how I wound up with Shahar. I was reeling and angry, and … it took me a long, long while to sort myself out. I’m still sorting it out.”
She leaned her brow against his chest. “Can I admit that I’m scared shitless?”
“Can I admit that I am, too?”
She laughed, squeezing him tight around the middle, breathing in his scent. “I’d be slightly less scared if you were staying here, and I could go in knowing you’re safe.”
“Likewise.”
She pinched his ass. “Then I guess we’re stuck with each other, venturing into the lion’s den.”
“More like a sobek nest.”
“Great. Really reassuring.”
He chuckled, the sound rumbling into her bones, warming them. “Ruhn talked to Declan. He’s going to hack into the security cameras at the palace—turn away the cameras while we’re in there. We need to give him our route through the building so he can turn them without being noticed by anyone monitoring the system. Flynn will run support for him.”
“What if we wind up needing to take a different hall?”
“He’ll have backup plans, but … we’ll really need to try to stick to ours.”
Nausea roiled her gut, but she said, “Okay.”
Hunt kissed her cheek. “Take your time, Quinlan. I’ll be with the others.” Then he was gone.
Bryce stared at the photo again. She pulled out her phone from her bathrobe and dialed. Unsurprisingly, Juniper’s phone went to audiomail. It was five thirty in the morning, but—she knew Juniper would have picked up before.
“Hey, this is Juniper Andromeda. Leave a message!”
Bryce’s throat closed up at her friend’s lovely, cheerful voice. She took a breath as the audiomail beeped. “Hey, June. It’s me. Look, I know I fucked up, and … I’m so sorry. I wanted to help, but I didn’t think it through, and everything you said to me was absolutely right. I know you might not even listen to this, but I wanted you to know that I love you. I miss you so much. You’ve been a rock for me for so long, and I should have been that for you, but I wasn’t. I just … I love you. I always have, and always will. Bye.”
She rubbed at her aching throat as she finished. Then removed the photo from the frame, folded it, and slipped it inside her phone case.
69
Ruhn found Cormac sitting alone in an Old Square dive bar, face stony as he watched the late-night news show, a glossy-haired celebrity laughing her way through some interview—a shameless promo for her recent movie.
“What are you doing here?” the Avallen Prince asked him as Ruhn slid onto the stool beside him.
“Flynn was notified of your location. Thought I’d see why you were up so late. Considering our appointment tomorrow.”
Cormac studied him sidelong, then drained his beer. “I wanted some quiet.”
“And you came to a dive in the Old Square for that?” Ruhn indicated the blasting music, the wasted patrons around them. The sylph puking green liquid into the trash can by the pool table in the back.
His cousin said nothing.
Ruhn sighed. “What’s wrong?”
“Does it matter to you?” Cormac signaled for another beer.
“It matters to me when we’re relying on you tomorrow.” When Day and Bryce were relying on the prince to be alert and ready.
“This isn’t my first big … appointment.” Ruhn glanced at the male—the immaculate blond hair, the unfailingly arrogant angle of his chin.
Cormac caught him looking and said, “I don’t know how your father never managed to do it.”
“Do what?” Ruhn leaned his forearms on the oak bar.
“Break you. The kindness in you.”
“He tried,” Ruhn choked out.
“My father did, too. And won.” Cormac snorted, taking his fresh beer from the bartender. “I wouldn’t have bothered to check on you.”
“Yet you expended a lot of time and risk on finding … her.”
The prince shrugged. “Perhaps, but deep down, I am what I’ve always been. The male who would have gladly killed you and your friends.”
Ruhn tugged on his lip ring. “You’re telling me this right before we head off?”
“I suppose I’m telling you this to … to apologize.”
Ruhn tried not to gape. “Cormac—”