“I’m in,” Kallon said, but I could tell Rainer still wasn’t convinced. He wanted Brock back just as much as the rest of us, but he was always the most hesitant—the most cautious out of the group—especially if there was a potential of getting caught. It was good. Sometimes the rest of us were too rash. We’d act without thinking of the consequences, and Rainer taught me tocenter myself, to think everything through before I went head first into something.
“What’s your plan?” I asked Dove. “And we aren’t using Rumor as bait, so think of something else.”
“I’ll do it,” Scottie said next to me, and I tensed. “If being a distraction means we can find theanswersto…” She paused. “I’ll do it.”
The answer to keep me alive was what she didn’t say. I hated how Dovelyn was convincing everyone my death was inevitable. But if I had to sacrifice someone from the Light Kingdom in order to save myself, I wouldn’t do it. Even if that meant I had to die alongside the King. All I wanted to know was how to use my fire because what I had now wasn’t enough.
“I don’t like the idea of using you,” I said out loud. Then only to her, I added,We don’t even know if I’ll die, just because Dovelyn thinks so, doesn’t mean it’s true—
“I want to help,” Scottie said, cutting me off. “I’m going with. You can use me in your plan, Dovelyn.”
“Great. Here’s how it’s going to work. Kallon portals us in, and I’ll use my ability to cast invisibility over us. As soon as we get to Lux, we separate. I’ll go to the castle and search for Brock. Scottie goes to the ocean side to draw Arcane out. Kallon and Tezya will go to the statue by the bayside. Once you two find what you need, Kallon portals you guys to Scottie, then to me and Brock.”
“How are we going to stay invisible if you’re separating from us to find Brock?” Kallon asked. “I know you can separate your magic, but we’re not going to be staying in one place. It’ll be too much for you to divide your ability between three different spots.”
“And how do you expect Rumor to lure Arcane out without getting caught?” I added, not liking her plan one bit.
Dovelyn crossed her arms, then shrugged. “I can manage the three locations, but I’ll train Scottie with her enhancement untilwe leave. She can link to my ability within the radius I’ll be traveling. She was already able to do it the first day I trained her with objects I shielded.”
“An object and moving people are entirely different things—”
“I can do it,” Scottie interrupted me. I searched her mind, testing the limits of our new connection. She was confident, yes, but it derived from determination, not experience.
“It’s out of the question—”
“She stays invisible until the last second,” Dovelyn cut me off. “We all go to our spots.” She pointed to three spots on a larger—newer—map of Lux that Scottie and I hadn’t ruined. “Kallon already has portals created in these areas.” She traced her fingers over the locations. Lux was crawling with portals Kallon had made over the years. “I’ll get a head start. Just give me enough time to search for Brock while you two make your way to the town’s center by the bay. Go into the side streets, and spread rumors that someone who looks like Scottie is in Lux. The news will travel to Arcane. After that, Scottie will unlink her invisibility.”
“No,” I said. “There are too many variables.”
“Then pray Pylemo is on our side. If things go wrong, Kallon can portal to us immediately, and we’ll all leave.”
“There’s no way of keeping Scotlind safe during this—”
Kallon cut me off, asking her own question, “And how will we communicate if we’re all in different areas?”
Dovelyn shrugged. “I’d heard rumors you two were busy while I wasn’t feeling like myself.” Scottie stiffened next to me, my senses and our connection radiating to her. I could tell she was uncomfortable with the direction this was going. “I was hoping now that you’re bonded, you could help with that. How strong is it? Do you have telepathy?”
“Yes,” I admitted, ignoring the death glare Sie was giving me. “But it’s not reliable. We don’t know how it works yet.” Scottie and I hadn’t even been able to discuss the changes that werehappening to us. Hell, it hadn’t even been an entire twenty-four hours since we created the bond. Sometimes our minds just found each other, but I didn’t know how it worked yet. I didn’t even know if it was something we could control. “I don’t know if there’re limits yet. It might only work in close proximity.”
“Then test it here before we leave. See how far you can go while still being able to communicate, and we’ll make sure not to go a step further than that.”
“You can’t portal back here,” Dravenburg said. “I won’t allow it. If you’re followed, you’ll be bringing the enemy to our camp. You can risk yourselves for this if you want, but you won’t risk the standing of this camp, my people, or my children.”
“If we don’t come back within twelve hours, then assume things went south,” Dove said. I was surprised by how much she was acting like her old self again, considering she’d been unconscious just hours before. “Dravenburg, you can move the camp to the backup location if we don’t return. Only Tezya knows where it is in our group, and he can’t be compelled, so everyone in the camp will be safe.”
The backup camp was a good call. Dravenburg and I made it decades ago, and we were the only ones who knew the exact location. It was significantly smaller than this one, and only had the bare necessities, but it would keep everyone safe if Brighta was ever discovered.
“Okay,” Kallon agreed. “I’ll go over all my portals with Tezya and Dovelyn before we leave. We’ll confirm we weren’t followed before coming back to the camp.”
Everyone nodded.
“Great,” Dovelyn clapped her hands together. “It’s settled then. We’ll go once we hear word that the King is leaving the city. He’s going to have to travel to Tennebris soon to meet with Synder. So then we’ll only be risking Arcane.”
“And his second,” I said as everyone turned to me. “There’s no way he’ll leave the city unprotected. He’ll leave Athler incharge like he always does. Rumor isn’t going up against them alone.” I knew I couldn’t stop Scotlind from going, but I wasn’t about to agree to a plan where she’d go up against them by herself.
“I’ll go,” Sie spoke. “I can compel anyone that sees us to forget we were there. It will still give us the element of surprise.”
“Your compulsion won’t matter. Every Luxian guard is wearing Alluse now,” Rainer said. “At least the ones in close proximity to the King. After you guys left, Athler and the King ordered every Alluse citizen to come to the castle the night he found out you guys escaped, and most never returned home. I don’t know what happened to them.”
