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“Juliana?” he breathed, voice ragged.
Dillon.
Juliana dropped her knife and catapulted into his arms, ignoring the stinging cold around them, the brush of snow against her skin. Dillon. Dillon was here, andsafe,and for a split second the darkness inside and out seemed to recede.
“I feared you might be dead,” he whispered, clutching her tightly.
“I feared the same for you.” She pulled back, brushing her damp cheeks, hoping he didn’t notice. “What are youdoinghere?”
“Recon mission. Miriam sent me.” He pointed to the doublet beneath his cloak; white and gold, stitched with thorns, splattered slightly with blood and at least a size too small for him. “I received a temporary promotion. There was an opening. I’m an unofficial knight.”
He didn’t seem thrilled by the prospect, but of course he didn’t. His uniform belonged to someone else.
She didn’t want to ask who.
“What areyoudoing here?” he pressed.
Juliana sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“Simplify it.”
She took a deep breath, and filled him in on the details—how she and Hawthorn had fled, how they were connected through their dreams, how they’d come up with a plan to break the curse.
Dillon paused when they got to the bit about Serena’s role, and thumped his head with his fist.
“What?” said Juliana, brows knitting together. “It’s a decent plan.”
“It’s a perfect plan,” Dillon hissed, teeth gritted. “If we can get back into the palace… Vines and spirits, she wasright there.Any one of us could have… Miriam is going to be so annoyed when she hears about this.”
Juliana smiled. “Then let’s make sure she does.”
Dillon nodded, but then his gaze cast out to the quarry behind them. “We just going to leave all these guys here?”
“Not sure we have a choice.”
“If they get to the mortal world—”
“I know,” said Juliana swiftly. “But taking out an entire army? I’m not sure that’s in my skillset.”
“Hmm,” Dillon nodded. “Agreed. Shame though. The way they’re all gathered together. We could flood the place if we had the power to melt things.”
Juliana snorted. “I think even dear Prince Prickle would struggle with that kind of firepower…”
She imagined him trying, though. He’d been a formidable force against the sluaghs, even when outnumbered and they had the benefit of flight. How much damage could he cause here before the forces reached him? He had a sound tactical mind. If he took out some of those levels with a few well-aimed fireballs, cut off the escape routes, maybe set off those explosives being loaded into carts…
Juliana paused.
They were putting explosives into carts.
“Juliana?” Dillon nudged her elbow. “You have scheming face.”
“I donot.”
“I’ve known you your entire life. Youdefinitelyhave scheming face. That’s the exact face you pulled when you were working out how to sneak inside Prince Hawthorn’s room and tie his hair to the bedpost.”
At that, Juliana’s smile widened, her confidence strengthening.
As a child, you snuck into a highly guarded location, committed a crime against royalty, and got out. You can do this.
