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“And how do we go about doing that?” Allister asked, walking into the room behind us and stopped next to his brother.
“Well...” Rayne leaned back in his chair far more calmly about the situation that I felt. I hadn’t felt this riled up since I had to put down my sword at the battle of Tripoli.
“There are many ways we could play this. We could send a letter to Tuma and the others requesting an audience. We could simply do that whole, we know where you are bit,” Rayne chuckled, smirking. “Always a classic.”
“Why don’t we just send a note to Piper? Leave the council out of it all together?” Drake pointed out with a proud grin. “Then she knows we are coming for her.”
“But how do you know they’ll even give her the note?” Allister added on. “They could take the note and just throw it away and then Piper wouldn’t know anything.”
“Antoine could just tell her in one of their dream meetups,” Drake shrugged in return. “No need to send anything.”
Rayne waved a hand in front of him. “No. That wouldn’t work. We still want the council to know we know where she is and that we aren’t just going to sit around and let them fuck us over.”
“Hmmm.” The three of them went quiet for a moment.
They all had fair points. I still preferred my option of running in there and just taking Piper back. However, I could see how that could be dangerous for Piper in the long run. God do I miss the days where everything was far more formal. If you kept someone as a hostage, you’d set up a meeting, negotiate the return of said hostage and then run the other one through. Now, everything had to be delicately handled. Things were easier when you could just talk with your fists.
“Maybe we should ask Antoine what he thinks?” Allister finally offered up. “He might have some more insight into the council that we do not. Some kind of idea as to what we should do to get their attention and yet still make sure that Piper gets the note or whatever.”
“Good idea,” Rayne wagged his finger in the air and then without warning yelled, “Antoine! Come down here.”
The three of us winced against the volume of Rayne’s voice.
“Fuck, Rayne,” Drake growled, wiggling a finger in his ear. “Couldn’t you have just gone up there or something. Way to break our fucking ear drums.”
Rayne rolled his eyes. “You’ll heal.”
A few moments later, footsteps sounded on the stairs. Antoine appeared at the bottom of the stairs with Wynn and Darren in tow.
“Yes?” Antoine arched a brow at the four of us. “I can only assume you have called me down here like a dog because you have something of importance to tell us?”
“Rayne figured out where Piper is being held,” Drake said without warning. “We are trying to decide on a plan of action.”
“I think we should send her a note of some kind,” Rayne offered up, glancing around the room from his chair. “Something that lets her know we are coming for her but also tells the council that we know where she is and we aren’t going to take their shit anymore.”
“This is ridiculous,” I snapped, tired of all of their calm expressions. “We should be breaching their walls and taking back what is ours. Not sitting here discussing it amongst ourselves. Right now Piper could be endangered and none of us can do anything about it.”
Antoine placed a hand on my shoulder. “I understand your frustration, my friend. We all want Piper back sooner rather than later. However..” Antoine let his gaze drift over the others. “We cannot be rash in how we decide this. Piper’s very life may depend on it.”
“That’s what I said,” Rayne shot me a smug look.
“I also,” Antoine continued without removing his hand from me. “Do not think a simple note will suffice. We must make a statement of sorts.”
Wynn stepped into the conversation. “How do you propose that? We can’t very well send a smoke signal telling them to let her go or else.”
Antoine inclined his head. “Yes, it must be a subtle thing. Something that cannot be interpreted as anything other than a concern for Piper’s wellbeing. If the council believes we are threatening them they will move her and then we may never figure out where she is again.”
“Then what do we do?” Drake leaned back against the wall and stared hard at the ground. “If we send a note then they will just throw it away. If they don’t misinterpret what we say in the note. It could be taken in so many ways we don’t mean.”
“Precisely,” Antoine agreed, dropping his hand from my shoulder. “So, we won’t send a note. Or a letter.”
I startled and glared, “But we have to do something. I will not sit by while they make fools out of us.”
“I do not think any of you mean to let that happen either, Marcus.” Antoine locked his gaze with mine. “We are going to send Piper a package. And inside will be something from each of us. Something that reminds her that we are thinking of her and care about her.”
“Won’t they just throw that away too?” Allister asked what we were all thinking.
Antoine adjusted the cuffs of his shirt. “No. Tuma is far too sentimental to allow such a thing. He will have it searched no doubt so it cannot be something so obvious as we are coming for you.” Antoine peered into each of our eyes in turn, making sure that the weight of his gaze was felt. “So, take some time to think of what you would like to send. All items must be approved. We cannot mess this up.”
