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“Amaranth, Samara,” Newt listed off. “Hell, we’ll take them all down. Every one of those sorry, no-good, stab-you-in-the-back rulers. They won’t hold us hostage anymore!”
It would’ve been nice if Reed had warned us of Newt’s exhausting personality beforehand. Not that it would’ve mattered. We’d have come regardless.
“Alright,” Newt answered, bringing down his waving arms to his side. “I’ll help you. But only if you do something for me. Prove that you’re worthy of the cause. Do that, and I’ll give you your army.”
“Just say the word,” Griffin spoke for the first time. “We’ll do whatever you need.”
“Is that so?” Newt paused for a moment, scrutinizing us with his stare. “Very well, then. On the second floor of the royal palace is the queen’s study. And in her study are important documents tucked away in her desk. Bring me those documents. Oh, but be careful. Her room is directly across from her office, heavily guarded.”
I glanced over at Cassian, whose mouth was gaped open. “How the hell are we supposed to get that?”
“That’s for you to figure out,” Newt answered. “I’ll help you with the blueprints, but that’s as far as I go. Do me this favor, you have my unwavering alliance. I’ll allow you a minute to discuss your decision outside. But don’t keep me waiting. I’m a busy man.”
He waved them off, grabbing more darts to throw at the pictures, laughing loudly every time he hit a bullseye.
The five of us stepped outside the tent and off to the side, where we had a bit of privacy to speak openly about our decision.
“What do we do?” Ember asked, jumping right in.
Cassian shook his head. “We leave. Let’s face it, this dude’s wacko. Breaking into the fae queen’s royal palace, digging through her desk? I can’t imagine that it would end well if we were caught. It’s not worth the risk. Let’s thank the guy for his time and get the hell out of here.”
“Not so fast, Knox. I’m not going anywhere.” Griffin stepped forward, facing off with Cassian. “You don’t make my decisions, Alpha, and I don’t think we should be so quick to leave.”
“But it’s dangerous,” I interjected, putting a stop to the testosterone before the claws came out. “If we do this, we’re risking our lives. And for what?”
“For an ally,” Griffin said, losing his patience. “Did you forget why we came here in the first place? Quill didn’t pan out, so let’s take what we can get. If we do this, we have a guaranteed alliance.”
“Yeah, but then we ruin any chance of an alliance with the High Council. You think the queen will want to help after she finds out we raided her castle?”
“But if we don’t do this, who’s to say we’d have an alliance with the High Council? Should we risk losing this alliance and ending up with nothing? Everyone’s been telling us how pointless it is to contact the High Council. How they won’t do anything to help us. Why sacrifice a sure alliance for a possible one that we aren’t even certain we can get? Why? Because it’s bigger?”
Cassian pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily. His tone was stiff, filled with irritation. “Yes, but if we’re caught, we risk not only losing the High Council’s approval but their punishment, as well. That’s putting my pack at risk, which isn’t worth a small village of fighters.”
“Hey!” Ember shouted, breaking up their argument. “Why don’t we take a vote?”
I nodded, agreeing with Ember, though Cassian and Griffin weren’t as open to the idea. Neither one wanted to relent in their position in the debate.
“Anyone for leaving this camp and going home now, raise your hand.”
Cassian shot his hand into the air before Ember could finish speaking. Sheepishly, my hand rose, and I avoided Griffin’s disapproving look.
“And on the other end of the spectrum?” Ember asked, and Griffin raised his hand in response. Ember rose hers, bringing us to a tie. “Rohan, you’ll be the tiebreaker.”
He took a deep breath as we waited for his answer. “You should do it. We need as much help as we can get. If your only concern is the High Council finding out, then I’ll do it. That way, it can’t be tied back to you, and you can keep your alliance.”
“You would do that?” I asked, in total awe. “But, why?”
“Because the important thing here is to rid the world of Samara for good. To end this curse my wolf brethren face every night. If it takes breaking into the queen’s palace to do it, then so be it.”
After some more deliberation, we finally came to an agreement. We headed back to Newt’s tent to tell him we had accepted his request.
“Excellent. We’ll need to do it tonight when the queen is in a meeting and won’t be in her study.”
Speaking of which, I wondered how it was still twilight. It seemed as if the darkness had taken hours to settle in and still wasn’t quite there.
For the next hour or two, we formulated a plan for getting in and out unnoticed. Or that was the intention. None of us had ever seen the royal palace and were basing our assumptions wholly on Newt’s descriptions.
“Well, now that it’s all settled, let’s go,” Newt said.
