Both men were silent for a beat, emotions flitting quickly across Peytor’s face as Torin stared in stony silence.
“I agree,” Torin finally said, and Peytor turned shocked eyes on his friend.
“Youagree?” he said incredulously. “I thought wejustdiscussed that Folami going to Vespera was not in anyone’s best interest.”
I bristled at his insinuation and tone, even though I agreed with him.
“Just because we’re sleeping together does not give you the right to dictate where I go and what I do,” I said with deadly calm.
Peytor ran a hand through his hair, leaving the ends sticking up.
“That’s—Fo, that’s not how I meant it,” he sighed, exhaustion creeping into the edges of his voice.
“No? Then how did you mean it?” I challenged.
“Please don’t make me choose between you and what’s right for the realm, not again,” Peytor mumbled, and I could barely comprehend what he was saying.
Torin held a hand between us before I could question Peytor, effectively silencing our debate.
“I suggest you both air out your . . . grievances together in private,” Torin said, eyeing both of us. “We’re on borrowed time right now—it’s evident our goodwill with Lord d’Leocopus is running thin. I wanted to wait for further intelligence to move, but I fear we don’t have a choice at this point.”
“I will go to Vespera alone. If Folami were to try to come with me, I fear that either Lord d’Leocopus would send a spy ahead with word of who was in my traveling party or you’d be recognized on sight”—he turned his hard hazel eyes to me—“additionally, I know what that place . . . means to you, and I refuse to put you in a painful situation if I can avoid it. Especially with the sensitivity of this mission.”
I paused before jerkily nodding my head in thanks.
“But, I agree, you need to leave Lishahl. If the Bondsmith has agreed to look after Itanya, then I need you as my eyes and ears in Samyr.”
“Why?” Peytor interjected sharply as he slowly rolled the cuffs of his shirtsleeves up his arms. My gaze instantly snapped to the movement, pulled in by the corded muscles on his forearms. Before his stint in the Crystal Mines, Peytor wasa broad, hulking man. Now, he was more finely honed, his muscles more chiseled and refined.
Peytor quirked his lips into a self-satisfied smirk when he caught me looking.
I barely restrained rolling my eyes with a huff before refocusing on Torin.
“Samyr has always been an odd territory. Rumor has it that they’re negotiating some sort of transfer of Vessels with the Warlord. I need to know what is happening and what they’re planning. It’s no secret that there’s no love lost between the Warlord and the current ruling faction—they overthrew the d’Refans from power, after all—but I need to know if there’s something there we can use. Folami, as a Vessel, you have the highest chance of gaining access to their territory without much of a fight.”
I nodded my head in acknowledgment.
To Samyr I go.
“You will need to stay here, Peytor,” Torin added gently, and Peytor rolled his eyes.
“No shit. Thank you for that reminder.” Peytor’s tone was caustic, but I knew the hurt came from feeling inadequate and unable to help.
“Folami and I will leave for Vespera and Samyr in the next few days. I will enroll in the Academy while Folami conducts reconnaissance on Samyr’s movements. Once everything is in place, Folami, I’ll need you to come back to Lishahl and have a small task force of our troops ready for deployment. Have the Bondsmith give you and Peytor a way to communicate, if possible. I don’t want you in Samyr longer than necessary; find out what you can about the Vessel movement and Samyr’s allegiance to the Warlord, then get back here,” Torin clipped.
Torin’s plan seemed so . . . easy. Infiltrate Vespera and the Academy, conduct reconnaissance, report back findings, then . . . attack?
“What is the goal, Torin?” I asked, trying to piece it together in my mind, but drawing short. “This mission alone isn’t going to take down the Warlord.”
Peytor glanced at me before furrowing his eyebrows in thought, clearly drawing the same conclusion I was.
“No, it won’t. But we’re not attacking Vespera, not yet,” Torin said quietly as he and Peytor shared a look. “We’re going to get Ellowyn back.”
My mouth dropped in shock. I knew Ellowyn meant something to both of them, but was she reallythatimportant that we had to conduct an incredibly dangerous undercover mission just to retrieve her?
Something about it didn’t settle right in my gut.
“You’re going to risk yourself, some of your best Mages and Vessels . . . for one girl?” I asked dubiously. Torin’s eyes never left Peytor’s as he spoke.
