“Something you said wecan’tdo,” Ilain retorted.
Brea didn’t appear offended by her caustic tone. “True. But we can take what we know about him and ask the question: How might he try to subvert us?”
Silence filled the tavern.
Evylin and Deckard shared a worried look. This was a question they hadn’t even considered, but it was a necessary, frightful one. Blount was good at crafting plans with devastatingendings. They’d lost the Fire, Day, and Time Relics to his cunning. They’d lost Hewitt to his attacks. They couldn’t afford to lose anything more.
In their hesitation, Brea continued, “We are assuming that Blount will go for the Terrae Relic. But he’s assuming the same about us. All this time, he’s used you. He’ll do it again. He’ll let you retrieve the Terrae Relic for him while he goes and enacts his own cunning plan.”
“Like what?” Rafferty asked. “We’ll already be expecting an ambush.”
“And he’ll know that,” Brea said. Then she held up a finger. “So he’ll do something you aren’t expecting. Like going for the Space Relic.”
Auden sat up straighter. “Going out of order is suicide. Blount knows this.”
“Does he?” she asked.
“The prince did study the Relics for decades,” Vayden cut in. “But Obel intentionally worked to keep his learning stunted—not that he had to work that hard.”
“How does Obel play into this?” Deckard asked.
“He’s Blount’s godfather,” Vayden explained. “That’s why he and I are friends. He trained me to pose as the prince. And he taught me all that Blount knew about the Relics, which was very little. Blount didn’t even know the locations of the Relics, which leads me to doubt he knew the order in which to obtain them.”
“Igavehim the locations,” Auden said. “I told him to go in the order of creation.”
“And you think he’ll listen?” Brea returned. “We can’t afford to lose the Space Relic to him.”
“We can’t afford to loseanyRelics to him,” Auden argued.
Brea shook her head dismissively. “That’s where you’re wrong, Auden. We have a Space Mage now, who will be Bonded in a matter of hours. With the Night and Space Relicsin his hands and the Wind Relic in Ilain’s hands—she is the most powerful Mage in two centuries, after all—along with the support of a Wind Mage in Isla and a Day Mage such as yourself, plus three Warriors fighting for you, do you have any doubt that we can beat Blount, who only obtained his rank as ViceMage in the Order of the Night by means of bribery and murder?”
In their stunned silence, she scoffed, brushing a hand through the air. “Let him have the Terrae Relic. He will burn himself out using five Relics while we divide our own, giving us control over his most powerful connections and the strength to defeat him.”
“Don’t underestimate Blount because he’s a selfish bastard,” Ilain said tersely. “He’s studied under the best Night Mages for decades. He was capable of shrouding himself, following us around Ephria, and moving through the entirety of the Day Keep undetected. He has the Orders on his side—there arehundredsof Mages he can charge to fight us. Even if he isn’t well informed about the Relics, his power is great. And if we hand him a fifth Relic, we may as well offer him the whole continent to go along with it.”
“You’re blinded by your fear,” Brea said. “Blount knows that you will follow the order of recovery. He knows you will go for the Terrae Relic, and he will make his plans accordingly. So we must change our tactic to beat him at his own game.”
“By getting ourselves killed in the Space Keep?” Auden said bitterly.
Ethenn angled forward, interrupting. “What if the lieutenant’s right, though?” he asked. “What if Blount does go for the Space Relic? What would that mean for us if he gets hold of it?”
There was a long pause in which Brea glared at Auden and Ilain, demanding they answer honestly.
Auden clenched his jaw, chin dipped. “It would mean our defeat,” he admitted. “If Blount obtains possession of the Space Relic...there’s no taking it from him.”
Evylin jumped in as he paused, asking the question she knew the Calders didn’t want to hear. “And if we get the Space Relic, regardless of whether or not Blount has the Terrae Relic, what wouldthatmean for us?”
After a long inhale and glance at his sister, Auden shrugged dejectedly. “Likely? It would mean our victory, even if it was hard fought.”
“So,” Evylin concluded, “we have no choice. Wehaveto get the Space Relic, even if that means risking the loss of the Terrae Relic.”
There was no response from any of the Alliance members, so Evylin pressed on. “Because Blount doesn’t know about Jonn. He doesn’t know that he’s a Mage, let alone a Space Mage, which means he can’t know that we’ll be Bonded when we do confront him again. And if we have the Space Relic, his demise is secured no matter what.”
Reluctantly, Auden nodded. “Yes.”
“Then we have our answer,” she said. “We go to Loclight, retrieve the Space Relic, and hope we can beat him to the Terrae Keep.”
“If we do that,” Auden said in a last-ditch effort to convince them, “we risk our lives. The Space Keep is the most dangerous, the most difficult. With only two Relics in our possession...success is nearly impossible.”
