"You would kill your brother?" asked Keelan, suddenly quiet.
"If it was required," said Prince Orráine.
Zayn caught a glance from his cousin. Due to his cousin joining the Watchers, and his desire kill the Lady, their paths might eventually lead to a similar situation, but Zayn knew there was no way he would strike a blow against Keelan.
"Will that trick of yours with a poisoned dagger be enough?" asked Zayn.
"No," said Prince Orráine. "First, the scepter must be taken from him. He's transferred some of his power to it, so taking it will serve two purposes. The first is to weaken him, and second it will keep him from using his gemstone golem army."
"You know about that?" asked Zayn.
"He bragged about it this morning, not specifically, but enough for me to go looking. I found an open door with the panel bashed in," said Prince Orráine. "I know he means to bring war to the city of Invictus."
"So if we take the scepter from him, you'll kill him and we win?" asked Zayn.
"I think so," said Prince Orráine, who didn't look as confident as Zayn would have liked.
A heavy feeling settled into him. It seemed too easy to work, but sometimes the best plans weren't complicated.
Prince Orráine continued, "There will be an announcement in an hour. That's the moment you should strike and take the scepter from him. It'll be when he's most distracted. I assume after that's over, he'll use that moment to announce his plans and attack."
"Will the queen...your mother, be there?" asked Zayn.
"No," said Prince Orráine. "She detests leaving the Eternal City. It’s possible...likely, that she doesn’t know about his plans.""
"What about Ullar?" asked Portia.
"We can drag him in the back and hide him beneath the equipment," said Zayn.
Prince Orráine nodded. "He won't wake up until after the fight."
"Great," said Zayn, nodding. "I think this might work."
Though his face was pinched with pain, Prince Orráine gave a firm nod. "I think it will." He paused. "And Petri will be okay?"
Zayn had almost forgotten about her.
"Yeah, she will," he said, though he worried that she could be an unseen complication. Even from a distance, Zayn felt fear radiating from another part of the embassy.
After Prince Orráine left, Zayn turned to the team. "Everyone needs to switch into their party clothes. Did you find anything on those brooches, Vin?"
Vin's eyes widened. "I almost forgot." He ran backstage, appearing moments later with a handful of the artful brooches and five vials of a glistening orangish liquid. He handed the ambrosia to everyone.
"This should help us against the maetrie," said Vin. "When the fight comes, drink this."
Then he picked up a brooch, holding it up between forefinger and thumb. "There's an enchantment hidden on them that makes the wearer more susceptible to charms. I removed it on these, so they're safe to wear."
Vin threw one to each of them.
"That still doesn’t explain how he’s going to pacify a room full of Hall mages," said Keelan, shaking his head. "Everyone worth their salt should be protected against enemy spells. Even the little helper in the trinket isn’t going to bridge that gap. It doesn’t make any sense to even give them out. They’ll never work."
"There’s got to be a reason," said Zayn, "just like I know there’s a reason they grew this place using their bone magic, rather than building it with human construction."
"Maybe it’s to hide the army?" asked Portia.
"Maybe," said Zayn, feeling like he was missing something.
"What about Petri?" asked Skylar, expression etched with worry. No one knew Petri better than Skylar.
"There's nothing we can do until we free her," said Zayn.
"But what if this experience changes her?" asked Skylar.
"One problem at a time," said Zayn. "But I believe she'll pull through. The good times she had with us will tide her over until she's free."
Skylar nodded, but didn't look convinced.
"Let's focus on taking the scepter from Prince Aethalstar." Then when he saw their shoulders clench and jaws tighten, he added, "Look, I know this seems difficult, but this is what you’ve been training for. Think about how far we’ve come this year. We got into the embassy when no one else could. We smuggled in magical trinkets and disguises. We even found an ally in the royal family. And when we let Priyanka know what the plan is, we’re really going to kick some ass. We can do this. I know we can."
Zayn looked to each of them until they gave him a nod back. When he resumed speaking, their heads were held higher and they each had a sparkle of determination in their eyes.
"What we're going to do is this: before the big announcement, I'm going to contact Priyanka, who’s disguised as Lady Sebella. Then at the appointed moment, Keelan and Vin start a distraction. I don't care what you do, start a fight, anything, but get Captia and Precept to move away from the prince. Then Skylar, I need you to use your shadow cloak on him, just enough to blind him. Then I, Portia, Priyanka, and any of the other instructors we’re able to contact are going to hit him at full faez speed. Portia, go for the knees, Priyanka can go for the head, and I'll go for the scepter. If we do it fast enough, he'll never know what hit him and the scepter will be ours."
"Sounds like it'll work. But what if Prince Orráine doesn't kill his brother?" asked Keelan.
Zayn put his arm on his cousin's shoulders. "Then we'd better think of a new plan, and fast."
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Diamond Court Embassy, May 2016
The unlikeliest of places
The five of them filtered into the Grand Ballroom one by one, using the Veil to enter without being noticed. Zayn wore a dark suit with a dark tie, the only splash of color being a purple carnation. He left his face mostly intact, using only minor enchantments to modify his cheekbones and lips, giving himself a trendier look.
His backstory was that he was a member of the tenth ward council. He figured his time spent at the bodega gave him enough knowledge to improvise past any complications, not that he thought it would come up.
With a glass of champagne in his hand, Zayn moved through the Grand Ballroom looking for Lady Sebella, taking note of the number and spread of maetrie. When the time came, they might have to evade them, and he wanted to know how many to expect.
The massive room held hundreds of men, women, maetrie, and a smattering of other beings. On the north side of the room was a dais tall enough to be seen in the back. Zayn counted himself lucky he saw no runes or other magical devices that suggested Prince Aethalstar would be protected during the ceremony. He probably thought himself invincible in his own embassy.
The only structures that broke up the sightlines were the huge pillars that Zayn had first seen when they broke into the embassy at the beginning of the year. Completed, they didn’t look as much like they’d been grown as when he first saw them, but he still didn’t know what they were made of. Bone, maybe.
Around the outside of the room were the gaudy displays of Diamond Court wealth beneath the glass cases of gold-vented dark witchwood. When Zayn walked past one, he felt a waver of familiarity, like some magic was affecting him. Beneath the glass was an angular crown encrusted in gems. Zayn covertly checked it for magic, finding it as plain as the glass that contained it.
Frowning, Zayn reflexively touched his runed brass bracelet. Whatever magic had tried to affect him must have come from somewhere else, and he hoped that the trinkets they'd smuggled in would be enough protection.
He found Lady Sebella talking to an older woman in a sparkling gold dress. The older woman was carrying on about how excited she was to meet a royal maetrie, oblivious to the look she was receiving from Lady Sebella. The smoky-skinned maetrie looked like she was contemplating murder and barely disguising it.
Zayn stood nearby and cleared his throat to get Lady Sebella’s attention, but when her dark eyes rolled over him, there wasn’t even a glimm
er of recognition.
"Excuse me," said Zayn. "I need to speak to Lady Sebella."
The older woman held her hand to her neck. "I was talking to her first. You’ll have to find another one of them to speak to."
The possessive language brought a wrinkle to Zayn’s lips, but he persisted despite the lack of support from Lady Sebella.
"No, I must insist. I must speak to the lady right now," said Zayn.
When the older woman kept talking, he resigned himself to using magic. It wasn’t the best place, but he had little time. Zayn covertly put a charm on her.
"You really need to use the ladies' room. Like the worst you’ve ever needed it," he said, and her eyes bulged. The woman waddled away with her thighs clenched together.
After the display, he had Lady Sebella’s attention.
"I need to speak to you," he whispered.
Lady Sebella’s face pinched. "Do I know you?"
Zayn glanced around to make sure no one was standing close.
"We don’t have time. I need to speak to you, Pri," he said.
As soon as Lady Sebella stood taller, eyes glancing nervously towards the dais, he knew it wasn’t her. Priyanka would never allow her emotions to slip out like that. Whenever Priyanka reacted, it was for a reason.
"You’re not her, are you?" he asked.
She gave a tight shake of the head, her gaze lingering on the room, scanning for trouble.
"She was supposed to come in my place, but something happened and she backed out, thus forcing me to come," said Lady Sebella with ample amounts of derision.
While it confirmed that his patron had been working to get into the embassy, it complicated their plans with Prince Aethalstar. He expected that Priyanka could swing the tide against the royals of the Diamond Court. Without her, they were a bunch of students who hadn’t even finished their third year yet.
"Something bad is going to happen, isn’t it?" asked Lady Sebella.
"I’m afraid so, but nothing you have to worry about," said Zayn.
"You don’t know Prince Aethalstar then," she said, frowning. "He was the reason I left the court. I should have never returned, but I thought it would be suspicious to decline."
"I’m sorry. I should go," said Zayn.
Before he could walk away, Lady Sebella grabbed his arm. The severe look she wore like war paint before had been replaced with something softer.
"After this is over, if you survive, I would be more than happy to take you as an intern," said Lady Sebella with an interested eyebrow raised.
The smile that lurked behind her lips could have swallowed an ocean.
"I’m flattered, but I’m very busy with school, thank you," he said, sliding away from her.
It was one thing to have unknowingly slept with a demigod of death, but the thought of willingly going to bed with Lady Sebella gave him the shivers.
Away from her, he scanned the room again, searching for new ideas. Without Priyanka, they were outpowered.
Then he saw Instructor Konig standing by himself with a glass of champagne, looking out of place in his tan corduroy jacket with elbow patches. He couldn’t have been more alone on a desert island. It was almost as if he had a No-Look enchantment on, but Zayn knew that wasn’t the case since he’d spent the year in class with him.
"Oh Merlin," he muttered. "I have to get his help."
Upon approach, the instructor did a double take, which had anyone been paying attention to him, they would have found suspicious. Luckily for Zayn, the instructor couldn’t get noticed if he lit himself on fire.
"Zayn?" asked Instructor Konig. "What are you doing here?"
"I don’t have time to explain," said Zayn. "But we need your help." Instructor Konig’s forehead furrowed, so Zayn added, "Priyanka needs your help."
This brought a bloom of excitement to the instructor’s face. He leaned in conspiratorially. "She’s here?"
"Yes," said Zayn. "Things are bad. Prince Aethalstar is planning on attacking the city. He has a basement full of bone golems ready to unleash, and everyone here will be held hostage."
Zayn thought he’d leave out the demigod of death that might plunge the world into a new global war. He didn’t want to overload the instructor.
But Instructor Konig put on his game face. Zayn had never been sure if the instructor had really been logistical support for covert operations, but the way he comported himself in that moment sealed it for Zayn.
"What do you need from me?"
"How good are you at combat?" asked Zayn.
His wincing reaction told him the story.
"Okay, then. What about distractions? No? What’s your specialty?" asked Zayn.
"You’ve spent a year learning it," said Instructor Konig.
"I see. Well, when the time comes, we’re going to attack Prince Aethalstar, to take his scepter so his brother can strike. In that moment, find a way to help. Anything you can do," said Zayn.
"I will. I promise," said Instructor Konig.
"Great," said Zayn, glancing around. "I need to keep moving."
"Good luck," said Instructor Konig.
After he walked away, Zayn said, "We’re going to need it."
But when he looked around the room—at all the maetrie, the numbers of hostages, the complete control of the situation that Prince Aethalstar had—he knew that it was unlikely they were going to succeed. The odds were too much against them. He realized in that moment it was more important to get word to the outside world. He couldn’t physically get out of the embassy, but he knew someone that could visit him, even though the maetrie had put a forbidding on the building. Zayn slipped into a quiet corner and let the Veil overtake him like a prickly blanket until he saw the party through a shimmering haze, and then his mind exploded with pain.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Diamond Court Embassy, May 2016
The Prince's Soliloquy
The strength went out of his knees. Zayn slipped to the floor in a quivering heap with his hands around his ears. Blocking them did nothing for what he was hearing, since it was coming through the Veil, but he didn’t know anything else to do.
It wasn’t a scream he was hearing. He wasn’t hearing anything at all, but it was the only way his mind could translate the waves of agony rolling from Petri. Stark fear radiated from her like a blistering fire, and Zayn had wandered too close.
Zayn didn’t know what Prince Aethalstar was doing to her, but she was in pain and feeling alone and abandoned. He knew this because he could taste it as if her feelings had been imprinted on his soul.
He couldn’t even muster the faez to climb out of the Veil, and even if he could, it would look strange if he suddenly appeared curled in a ball in a corner. But he didn’t know if he could endure it anymore. It was as if her soul was screaming.
When it finally stopped, relief rushed in like cool waters, leaving Zayn gasping as if he’d finished a marathon and had a bucket of ice water thrown on him. He gently probed his own face, massaging the still clenched muscles. It was a miracle he hadn’t screamed.
After a few minutes he was able to stand again. When he realized the relief he was feeling was Petri’s, he knew he couldn’t stay long in the Veil, especially with her so close. If something worse happened to her, it would break his mind.
Zayn cupped his hands around his mouth, focusing his voice not into his world, but into the Veil.
"Katie!"
An older gentleman in a tuxedo who was walking by tilted his head for a moment as if he thought he’d heard something, but he kept going.
Zayn repeated Katie’s name every minute, checking the crowd for signs of hearing him. When ten minutes had passed, he sensed a pressure against his back and turned to find Katie standing halfway out of the wall, her Mohawk falling into her face.
"I like what you’ve done with your hair," said Zayn.
Katie’s nostrils flared. "You’ve screwed up, Zayn. You put us all in danger. I don’t think you know how bad it is."
She lifted one shoulder. "I lied. Get over it."
"I’m sorry, Katie."
Her lips squeezed flat. "I thought I’d found a reprieve here, and all that’s going to change."
His stomach twisted. Though he hadn’t caused her death, or made her stay in the Veil, he wanted the best for Katie.
"Is there anything you can do? Or the others?" asked Zayn.
"We have no power against her, or without her," said Katie, staring in the direction he assumed Petri was being held. "She’s already changing. That city elf is warping her. He’s going to mold her into a weapon."
"I’m trying to stop him. I really am, but I need your help in case I can’t stop the prince here," he said.
"It’ll be too late by then," said Katie, an anguished desperation staining her voice.
"It’s never too late," said Zayn. "I just need you to carry a message to Instructor Allgood at the Academy. Tell him what’s happening here. Tell him that Prince Aethalstar has a bone golem army at his command, and a room full of hostages. That they need to mobilize the city against him. If I can’t stop him, then they’re going to have to do it in the city."
Katie’s hand went to the bruise on her neck. "You know he’ll just enslave them, using her."
"Please, Katie. Go tell him," said Zayn.
She approached him and placed her cold hand against his chest. It was hard for the incorporeal to affect the living, though his being in the Veil made it much easier, but she pressed her hand against him hard enough to move him a step backwards.
"Don’t fail."
She faded from view, but the imprint of her hand felt like he’d spilled ice water on his chest.
"I hope we don’t need her warning," said Zayn, moving behind a pillar to return to the real world.
He was going to look for the others to tell them about Instructor Konig when an odd bass-sounding chime announced the beginning of the ceremony. Like a drawstring, the crowd pulled around the dais, leaving Zayn far to the outside. Prince Aethalstar climbed into view, his lieutenants standing obediently behind him, along with his diminutive brother. Prince Aethalstar had his scepter tucked under one arm like a riding crop and he had the air of a general about to address his troops.
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