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“I can feel how much he’s hurt you. I’m sorry for it, but this heist is bigger than one individual.”
My body stiffened. How many times had Mother said those very words to me? My life didn’t matter. It was the group that took precedence. “You could get them out.”
“By blowing my cover. If I do that, this heist is over with. We won’t get Prince Shaan’s zevar back to him much less the Memoria Globe.”
I bowed my head. Even not knowing Shaan, it felt unfair to him. Lennox had stolen the jewel that held Shaan’s magic and had done so through the cruelest form of manipulation. How was that my responsibility, though? I wasn’t a fairy, and this wasn’t my world. All I wanted was to get away, and Lennox had provided the opportunity. I didn’t know if I could trust him, but Luz would. “Lennox offered to help me escape.”
Luz remained quiet for a beat. “Did he?”
“He gave me money.” Luz didn’t answer, and I wiped my palms over my tulle skirt. “Is he sincere? I can’t read him like you can. After Sai and dealing with my mother, I’m convinced that I can’t read anyone. You’ve been honest with me, though.”
I met their gaze, and they frowned at me. “I’m a fan of honesty.”
“Is the Prince’s intention towards me authentic?”
“Yes.”
“So, it’s not a trap?”
“It’s not.”
That sank in. I could take the money, and the opening Lennox had offered me and slip away tomorrow evening. He’d handed me a small fortune, plenty to survive on for a year or two. I could get far from here. Maybe not back to Madalia if I couldn’t get my hands on a jewel to subdue my powers but I could travel across the continent to some place Mother had never been, disappear into a crowd, leave this mess I’d tumbled into and my birthright behind.
“Will you help?” Luz asked.
“How do you expect me to break them out of a jail?”
“You’re smart and resourceful, plus you have powerful magic.”
I stood and faced the window which offered an unobstructed view of the moon pressing against the sky. “If you believe that, you don’t know me at all.”
“I told you, I understand others. I sense their feelings and motivations.” Luz stood behind my shoulder but didn’t touch me or draw closer. “Maybe I know you better than you know yourself. Consider it. I won’t hold it against you if you wanted to refuse to help Sai, but think of the others. You like Neia and Elisa. Orman’s a good being for all his bullshit. Ishir has a family who relies on him. You could help them escape in the morning and leave in the afternoon. Even if you didn’t want to assist with the heist. Think about it.”
I closed my eyes, my heartbeat thundering against my chest as Luz’s footsteps clipped across the floor. They closed the door, and the breeze blew out the lamp. Smoke swirled into the air and whirled in front of the stark form of the moon.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
SAI
I kickedan ankle over my knee and leaned against the cool bite of the stone wall as the bench beneath me creaked. Orman grunted and shifted, causing the entire bench, and all of us sitting on it, to bounce. Ishir jumped from his seat and paced the edge of the cell, stepping around Neia where she sat on the ground in front of Elisa who combed fingers through her hair.
A guard glared at the two of them. Guards had slowly trickled down the stairs until half a dozen stood in front of our cell. It was annoying to feel like animals watched in a cage, but the way the man with his crooked nose and wispy beard scowled at Neia and Elisa made anger lick up in me.
I should have let it go. We had nothing to do but wait and stirring up the guards was foolish. However, an hour of the man all but wrinkling his nose in their direction had me pissed off.
I turned towards Orman who sat up and cocked an eyebrow in interest at my attention. I shifted my gaze towards the guards and made a quick flicking motion. I wanted them gone. If we had to sit in a cell and wait, it would be more bearable if we weren’t under their scrutiny.
Orman crossed his arms and dropped his chin against his chest. “Which one of these watchmen”—the guards stiffened at him calling them an insignificant human title—“do ya’ think you could take down?”
Neia raised her head out of Elisa’s lap and met my gaze. I gave a subtle nod, and she smirked before answering Orman. “With or without a weapon?”
“Without,” Orman said. “Let’s make it interesting.”
Ishir had caught on to the idea and stopped pacing. “Could you use their weapon if you got it from them?”
Orman rubbed his chin like he considered it before speaking to the guards. “What do you think, boys?”
“You’d never get a weapon free from us,” one answered before the man beside him nudged him in the ribs, and the first cleared his throat and looked away.
