That suggestion hurts, because what if it’s true?What if Marcus was only ever using me, only ever manipulating me?I don’t want to believe it.I want to hope that whatever was between us was real, but I have no way of knowing for sure.
Maybe some of my pain shows on my face, because Alaric winces in turn.“I’m sorry, Lyra.I don’t want to hurt you.”
I sigh.“We might not be able to manage playing a carefree couple, but we seem to manage a fighting one easily enough.”
Alaric smiles that beautiful, arrogant smile of his.“Just so long as we’re also on the verge of making up in the most passionate ways we can both think of.”
I have no doubt he fully intends to make good on that suggestion, and the thought of it makes heat rise in me.
“Later,” I say.“We’re out here for a reason, remember.”
The reason being that we need to scout the Salis estates before we can infiltrate them.In the middle of the city, we both already know every twist and turn of the streets, both know the best ways into and out of any situation.Out here in the countryside, we need to be better prepared.
So we ride across the fields beyond the city, watched by the farmers who work them.It’s easy to spot when we reach lands owned by a noble family, because instead of small fields with a few farmers working them, there are plenty of servants working in neat rows to gather grapes in a vineyard.
“These are the Salis estates,” Alaric says, gesturing casually towards a house in the distance.It’s a large, sprawling villa, with room to host dozens of guests.Because it’s outside the city, it’s the kind of place that might go untouched by city guards.The kind of place where Selene can do what she wishes, and where we might be killed without anyone ever realizing if we’re caught.
Alaric and I ride along the tracks near it, finally coming to a halt atop a nearby hill near a couple of standing stones that have almost been worn away to nothing by time.We hobble the horses and lean back against them, looking out at the villa and its estates.
“We won’t be able to approach until it’s dark,” Alaric says.“If we’re bringing enough people with us for a raid, they’ll be spotted in daylight, and that will give Selene enough time to escape.”
“Or plan an ambush to kill us all,” I point out.Alaric looks almost casual, lounging against the stone, but I can see the alert ways his eyes roam over the surrounding countryside, picking out the details along the way.
“Or that,” Alaric admits.“Although I like to think I’d survive any petty attempt through sheer brilliance and wit.”
“Of course,” I say.
“It’s you I’m worried about.”Alaric sounds serious.
“Are you going to try to talk me out of this again?”I ask.Alaric seems to alternate between seeing how vital I am to this mission and wanting me to stay in the city where it’s safe.
“Would it work?”Alaric asks.
I shake my head.“I’m going.And don’t try to tell me how dangerous it is to go near Selene.She hates you as much as me.”
“Hates?Probably,” Alaric says.“But shefearsyou, Lyra.”
A part of me still finds that difficult to believe, even with all the things I’ve accomplished, the enemies I’ve defeated, the dangerous situations I’ve come through.I have more power than any beast whisperer alive today, but a part of me still doubts the former arch-magistrate is troubled by me.
“I doubt she’s quivering in her sandals at the thought of me,” I say.
“Then you haven’t been paying attention,” Alaric replies.“From what I hear, Selene was hunting and killing beast whisperers just to prepare for you.She’s tried to recruit you to her side because she thinks you’re the next most powerful magic user in the Republic.She’s had to run from a fight with you.Selene fears you, and that means she’ll stop at nothing to destroy you.”
It shouldn’t surprise me.I already know Selene and I are enemies, and that she’ll kill me, given the chance.But it hadn’t occurred to me she might actually be afraid of me.
“We need to focus on how we’re going to get people in there,” I say, trying to bring Alaric’s attention back to the task at hand.“See that stand of trees?Maybe we can use that as a staging point.”
“There are dog kennels not too far away,” Alaric points out.“If the hounds scent us, we could have every private guard the Salis family’s hired after us.”
“I can stop them from reacting,” I say.It’s one of the things that makes me perfectly suited to this raid.“And look, that river is close enough to the villa for us to move along the banks and avoid being seen.”
I start to pick out the route any group will need to take, crossing the fields, making it to the woodland, slipping unnoticed through the river.We’ll have to go up over the walls, because it’s better than trying to fight our way inside through the gate, but I’m sure we can manage that.
“We need to plan for every eventuality,” Alaric says.Before, he was saying he would rely on his natural brilliance to carry him from danger, but when it comes to the lives of his followers, I suspect he’s determined to be more careful.Or maybe it’s just because my life is on the line alongside his.
“Such as?”I ask.
“Let’s start with what happens if this goes wrong.How many guards are there in and around the villa?”Alaric asks me.
