“Sounds like we’ve got our target,” I said. “So what’s our play here, Chief?”
“Surveillance. We need to gather more intel. Then?” She blew out a breath, meeting my eyes. “We’ll make our move. Together.”
Thirty
Gray
“Can you do it?” I asked.
Jael nodded, peering through the binoculars, scanning the scene below.
It was well after midnight, and Jael, Darius, and I were in position on the second floor of an empty office building adjacent to the prison site. We sat in darkness, hiding in shadow from our enemies across the alley. The operation would begin in earnest in twenty-five minutes.
Sunshine and Sparkle were here with me, as always, ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble. In our short time together, they’d become more like companions than guardians, and we’d finally begun to trust each other. They knew I wouldn’t bolt—wouldn’t leave them—and I knew they wouldn’t hurt me. In fact, they’d do anything to keep me safe.
Now, they were as much an integral part of the plan as the rest of us.
“Luck is on our side. Their security spell isn’t fully operational yet,” Jael said. “They believe they’ve still got time. Right now, it’s strong enough to keep the prisoners in and curious humans out of the area altogether. But there are still a lot of loose threads for me to exploit.”
“Threads?” I asked.
“Think of fae magic like a weaving,” he said. “Complex spells like this—spells that need to cover a lot of physical ground, for example—require millions of different threads, each of them precisely woven together. This spell is still in progress. I can feel its threads, so it’s essentially a matter of finding the right one and giving it a good tug.”
“Will it destroy the whole spell?” Darius asked.
“No. But it will temporarily weaken the magic—long enough to give us a window,” Jael said. “Once I give the signal, you’ll have less than two minutes to breach the physical security. The moment they see you, they’ll know the spell was compromised and they’ll go on the offensive. Killing you brutally, of course.”
“Of course.” I rolled my eyes playfully, desperate for a little levity to break up the heaviness. “No one ever accused you of seeing the silver lining, did they, Jael?”
“Fae don’t see silver linings. We make them.” Jael surprised me with a conspiratorial wink. Seemed he needed a little levity, too.
We fell into silence, taking turns scoping out the warehouse through the binoculars. I couldn’t see much—an occasional fae guard patrolling the entrances, a hunter stationed at the corner of the building, playing with his phone. It was quiet outside.
Inside? I could only imagine what was happening. We were assuming the prisoners were being held on the third floor—Darius and the shifters had all sensed the concentration of fear there. But we had no other clues. Reva hadn’t been able to shadow travel—not since she’d escaped the caves. I suspected she was just weakened from her ordeal, but she was understandably distraught about the loss of her powers, no matter how temporary it might’ve been.
Poor kid. Deirdre had concocted a mild sedative for her, and we’d left her home tonight, with one of Elena’s officers posted outside. When we said our goodbyes earlier, she was already camped out on the living room couch with Elena’s Netflix password and enough pizza, potato chips, and ice cream to tide her over. Emilio had expected her to protest, but I was pretty sure she was relieved to be left behind. Reva was tough, but she was also exhausted, scared, and hadn’t even begun to process the trauma she’d endured at Norah’s hands, let alone Jonathan’s.
All of us had already lost so much. And there was still so much more darkness to come. I was certain of it. Freeing the witches tonight? Getting back to Asher? That was just the beginning of a long, bloody fight.
One I was supposed to lead.
“It’s time,” Jael said, his hand on my back. His yellow eyes glinted in the moonlight that streamed in through the windows. “We need to get down to ground level.”
“Jael…” I looked into those catlike eyes, wondering what he was thinking. He and I were connected by our love for Sophie, by the pain of her loss, but we had never spoken about her. Not really.
I hoped we’d get that chance someday.
“Doing this…” I continued, “There’s no going back. If we fail and Darkwinter takes power, you’ll be branded a traitor to your kind. They’ll banish you from the fae realms, and probably worse.”
“I am aware of the risks, and I fully accept any consequences, foreseen and unforeseen.” He stood up straight, proud. But then his face softened, his eyes sparkling with new warmth. In a gentler tone, he said, “If Sophie were here, what do you think she’d have me do?”
The sound of her name on his lips brought tears to my eyes. But for once, they weren’t tears of sadness. I felt his love for her. Felt the joy in her love for him. I was grateful she’d found that happiness, however briefly.
I smiled, blinking away the tears, and grabbed the lapels of his dark gray coat. “Well first of all, she’d probably add a little glitter to this jacket. It doesn’t take much to go from drab to fab,” I said, recalling one of her favorite lines.
Jael laughed, a sound that filled the room with warmth. When he met my gaze again, I saw my tears of joy reflected in his eyes. “Ahh, Gray. Sophie… She cared a great deal for you.”
“She loved you, Jael.”
