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She nodded and closed the door. We disentangled, reaching for clothes. Once we were dressed, Valek claimed my hand as we joined Onora in the living area.
She sat in one of the armchairs with her bare feet propped up on the table. I wondered what she’d been climbing—the walls of the Council Hall were too slick. Valek and I sat on the couch opposite her.
“Report,” he said.
“It was pretty quiet at the Hall,” she said. “If Zitora had informed Bruns about us, there would have been lots more commotion.”
So far so good. “Fisk?” I asked.
“Down in the cells, with layers of security around him.” She flexed her fingers as if stretching the joints. “I didn’t know you’d taught him the hand signals.”
Valek tensed next to me. “You talked to him?”
“Yup. I scared the crap out of him. Poor kid.”
“Is he...healthy?” I asked, bracing myself for the answer.
“Yes. He was mostly pissed off and upset about being caught, but when I explained you were safe for now, that calmed him down. He says he’s sorry that Bruns knows everything.”
Poor kid, indeed. The desire to hug and comfort him pulsed through my chest.
“Have they been feeding him Theobroma?” Valek asked.
“No, but they used magic to extract all the information from his mind.”
Oh, no. That was a horrible experience. Now tears threatened, and Valek rubbed his thumb on my hand.
“Can you free him?” Valek asked.
Onora pursed her lips in thought. “If there was a major distraction in the Hall, I could rescue him from the cells. Not sure if we’d escape the Hall, though.”
I tightened my grip on Valek’s hand.
He squeezed back. “What about Bruns? Did you see him or Cahil?”
“I did a sweep and found where he set up his office. He’s staying in one of the guest suites on the third floor. Cahil wasn’t around.”
“Are there layers of security around him, as well?”
“Yes. Not as many, but I think a few are magicians. I recognized Cilly Cloud Mist.” She frowned, probably remembering when Cilly tried to erase her memory.
No surprise Bruns was keeping Cilly close.
“Can you reach Bruns?” Valek asked.
Onora sat up, setting her feet on the floor with a thump. “You mean...?”
“Yes. Assassinate the bastard.”
Her already pale face whitened as she pressed her arms on her lap. “I...” Onora stared out the window.
When she didn’t say anything, Valek asked, “Could I reach him?”
“No. You’d never get inside the Hall without blending in. But if he leaves...”
“I’d rather we target him while he’s asleep. That would give us more time to get away. And I doubt he’ll venture outside knowing I’m in the Citadel. Ideally, we’d kill him at the same time we make our move in the hot season, but this might be our only chance to reach him. You’ll have to do the honors.”
She dragged her gaze to him. “I...”
“Never killed anyone?” he asked, but it sounded more like a statement than a question.
“Yes.”
20
VALEK
Onora confirmed what he’d suspected for a while now. She’d never assassinated anyone. Talk about bad timing for this revelation.
“How can you call yourself an assassin, then?” Yelena asked in surprise.
“I have all the training and skills. I just haven’t...couldn’t...can’t...”
Yelena reached over and grabbed the girl’s hand. “That’s not a weakness. That’s a strength.”
Onora gave her a grateful smile.
“What about with the Commander?” Valek asked. “Do you hide your full fighting abilities like you have with me?”
“No. But like you, he stopped me by doing something unexpectedly desperate. And I was glad, because I already knew I couldn’t finish him.”
That explained why the Commander had been so freaked. She’d gotten closer than Valek, and it had terrified him. “What about now?”
She quirked her lips in an ironic half smile. “We’ve sparred a few times, and I’ve identified his weakness.”
So had Valek, or so he’d thought. Ambrose liked to dangle the bait and see if you’d bite. But if he’d been forced to do something desperate, then maybe she truly could beat him. Not like any of this helped them now. He considered their meager options.
Rescue Fisk, or assassinate Bruns. There was no way they could do both. Either would bring instant attention to them. Plus there was Zitora to consider. She could expose everything. A bone-deep ache of exhaustion throbbed through him. He hadn’t had nearly enough sleep.
“Now what?” Yelena asked.
“Tomorrow we’ll go to the Keep’s library and touch base with Cahil. After that...” He shrugged.
“We rescue Fisk,” Yelena said in a tone that dared anyone to argue with her.
He glanced at her. “You have a plan?”
“Onora said she needed a distraction. So we’re going to provide one for her.”
“Go big or go home?”
“No.”
“No?” he asked.
“Go big and go home.”
* * *
They woke late the next morning. Onora returned from her mission while they ate breakfast.
“How did it go?” Yelena asked.
“After I did a reconnaissance of the Hall, I met with the Helper’s Guild and explained our plans to them.” She huffed in amusement. “Bets are already being made. We’re not favored to win, but I put a silver coin on us.”
“Only silver?” Yelena raised an eyebrow.
“No need to break the bank.”
Yelena laughed. “As Janco would say, ‘Gotta love the confidence.’”
Onora smiled, but it failed to reach her eyes. Valek wondered if she worried about Janco’s reaction to her not being quite the Little Miss Assassin he’d always b
elieved her to be. It hadn’t changed Valek’s opinion of her. She hadn’t lied. Everyone had just assumed and never asked her directly. Killing a person was not easy in any situation. Some people couldn’t do it even to save their own lives. Valek, on the other hand, recognized the need to eliminate certain people to ensure the safety of others, but he’d never done it lightly or for no reason. Which was why he had no regrets.
Focusing on the problem at hand, Valek asked Onora if she’d talked to Phelan.
“Yes. The General visited his headquarters late last night. He might be there again tonight.”
“Good. Any signs of trouble?”
“None so far, but Bruns might be biding his time, hoping to draw us out.”
In that case, Bruns would succeed.
When they finished eating, Valek escorted Yelena to the Keep, despite her protests that he was being overprotective.
He was, but this time he had a legitimate reason to tag along. “While you’re checking the library, I’ll search Bain’s office. He might have had the same idea as us, and since he’s the First Magician, the library might have allowed him to borrow Master Magician Ellis Moon’s notes.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Don’t sound so surprised, love. I might start to think you’re only interested in me for my body.”
“Did you say something? I was too busy staring at your muscular chest.”
“Nice.”
They crossed the tunnel into the Keep without trouble. Yelena clutched her hands together while she scanned the empty campus. Valek squeezed her shoulder in support before she headed to the library. Without her touch, he needed to reinforce his mental barrier. Zitora might not be searching for him, but he wasn’t going to risk opening his mind at this point.
He looped around to the back entrance of the administration building that housed the Master Magician’s offices, along with the Keep’s clerical staff. Valek ghosted down the hallway to Bain’s office. Halfway there, a muffled cry sounded. Drawing his knives, he paused to listen. A bang and a thud echoed. Valek tracked the noise to Irys’s office. The door stood ajar. He peered inside and cursed his rotten luck.
Zitora faced the back wall, but before he could retreat, she said, “I know you’re there. I shouldn’t, because of your immunity.” She turned. “But you’re no longer immune. Are you?”
