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“Orman’s done well,” Luz said.
Orman’s concentration broke, and he swept the back of his arm across his forehead. “If by done well, you mean absolute rubbish, then sure, Luz. I’m practically mastering this shit.”
Luz rolled their eyes. “It’s a hard task with how thick the wards are here.”
Orman jumped up and dusted his hands. “Been at it all night and I haven’t got half the information I’d normally have in an hour of scoping a place out.” He chewed his lip as his eyes darted across the river which bled orange as the sun peeked into the sky. “And stop trying to flirt with me with your false praise, Luz.”
“If I was flirting with you, you’d know it.” Luz turned back to me. “He’s figured out the general layout of the palace.” They grabbed a roll of paper and smoothed it out, gesturing at the map they’d drawn. “Four safes above ground and one below.”
Elisa frowned. “Five safes? What in God’s sake are they doing with that many?”
Luz cocked their head but didn’t answer. It was a question none of us would have an answer to, likely. The Seelie were known for stealing precious artifacts from other fae, so maybe that’s what they were for.
“Are they all warded?” I asked.
Orman sucked air over his teeth. “You could say that. Some of them”—he brushed over a rectangle on the map—“I’m just guessing are safes because of the surrounding wards. These two spots I can’t make out at all. It’s like they’re holes that don’t exist but I’m guessing those are the bedrooms of the King and the Prince.”
A loon’s trill cry whirled around, and Ishir tightened his hand on his weapon. Luz climbed a tree, the boughs shaking and then growing still. They dropped a minute later. “Just a pack of wolves, Ishir.”
“Got it.” He eased but didn’t stop skimming over the forest.
Orman gestured to the map. “I’m guessing their bedrooms are on the third floor. They’re heavily guarded. And the prison is below ground.”
“Near the fifth safe?” I asked.
“Mhmm.” He thrust his hand out to Luz and they dropped a piece of charcoal into it which he used to draw an X over a hallway. “I’m thinking here is where they’ll display the globe. It’s activated by moonlight, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Elisa said. “It’s supposed to glow in moonlight. Some suspect it will unleash the memories within it.”
“The King knows that's bullshit.” I shifted my weight. “Or he’d never have it on display. He’d horde those secrets for himself.”
“I agree with you.” Orman thunked his hand against the X on the paper. “Still, I think he’ll have it on display here. If it lights up under the moon, this hallway should receive unobstructed moonlight on the night of the party—barring clouds, ‘course—and it's next to the ballroom.”
“Okay.” I trailed my finger along the path. “So the guests and presumably the King and Prince Lennox should remain on this level during the party. What are the different routes upstairs?”
“There’s seven, but the most inconspicuous one is the servants’ stairs in the kitchen. Here.” He pressed a thick finger against the page, wrinkling it. “On the other hand, Sai suspects the Prince is aware he’s here now.” Orman winced because despite all his bullshit he knew that was on him from the trouble he’d caused at the fight and the trace of magic Sai had left when he intervened. “Second best option may be the back grand staircase.” He glided his finger across the page to a hatching sketch of stairs on the opposite side. “Where does Sai want the guard during all of this?”
Ishir turned towards us at that comment, and I cocked an eyebrow at him. “I believe he’s trying to get magic where some of us can move in plain sight.”
Elisa frowned at me. “How? The Seelie’s magic is strongest in glamour.”
“Sai has his ways.” Elisa’s frown deepened, and I grabbed her fingers but shifted the conversation. “We ran into Niko at the mines. He said the Seelie have some enchanted metal that breaks magic. Have you heard of it?”
Luz’s eyes darkened. “No. What does he know about it?”
A squirrel scrambled up a tree and chittered as it reached its nest. I brushed my thumb along the back of Elisa’s wrist, but it didn’t change the frown she bore. “Not much. He said he wouldn’t risk going into the Seelie palace himself right now.”
“Niko’s a coward,” Luz said.
“True.”
Otherwise, he’d likely be on our team. He kept King Carrington from discovering how his metal magic worked by hiding. He had the same magic Elisa possessed. The weight of her hand in mine felt worrisome instead of steadying as it normally did. Elisa wasn’t certain about this job, and I was pushing us forward anyway.
Luz licked their lips. “I have my connections within the Seelie. I’ll stay back while the rest of you meet up with Sai to see if I can gain more information.”
“Are you ready to expose yourself?” I asked. “If you use those connections now, you’ll never go undetected again.” Luz had maintained a loose relationship with the Seelie for years, growing the King’s trust in them. To throw that all away now could be a big loss for the future.
“Do you think we’ll ever have a mission as important as this one again?”
