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Fox left the door hanging open behind them, not looking back. The children would make it out or they wouldn’t. He wasn’t their hero or savior. They weren’t his problem.

CHAPTERFIVE

SOFIA

Sofia watched Ocon’s sneering face disappear into darkness as the door shut. His eyes glinted with an impotent rage that made her gleeful and she saw the moment Micael noticed it, his own eyes going hard.

“Need I remind you, you’re not in charge here?” Micael said, voice low and icy.

“I didn’t say I was.”

He didn’t acknowledge her statement, waving the others off with a sharp look. When Sofia attempted to follow Javi, Micael’s large hand landed hard on her shoulder, stopping her from moving. Her cheeks burned hot.

“I want you out of here by tonight. Go back to the city and clear your head.”

Sofia’s mouth dropped open, not bothering to hide her anger. “I have another day before I’m expected back.”

“Then you’ll have time to let off steam and relax before you go back to work.”

“I’m staying. I’m not a child to be sent to her room.”

Micael turned on her, eyes black and hard. “No, but you are under my command. I don’t trust you. I saw you with him and that was after you failed to follow directions and almost ruined the plan we’d been putting in place for over two dragon blinks. Your part in the plan is done and the resistance thanks you.”

The words were hardly grateful, each one a sharp shard of glass, slicing at her.

“You realize who that is, right?” she said, voice going thin in the way she hated. She took a breath. “He’ll have insider knowledge on the castle, the prison, and half the royal and military quarters.”

He’ll be able to get her back into the chief commander’s house. Into his study where he kept his books.

“He’s not who we expected, but he’s going to play the same role either way. We’re getting Dia and Sari back unharmed. And that means delivering that man in thereunharmed.”

“We can still interrogate him. Get information while we have him.” She wasn’t going to let up. Micael knew how she felt about this plan from the start. The crown didn’t negotiate with the resistance and the chances of this trade working were thinner than a dragon’s wing. But he was desperate and desperation lead to stupid decisions, even for him. “Just in case this plan doesn’t work.”

She hated the way he blanched at the words but they had to be said. There was a chance the king and chief commander wouldn’t negotiate the lives of their prisoners, even for the life of General Ocon’s own son.

“We’ll cross that bridgeifwe come to it. Until then, you’re needed back at the inn keeping an ear out for any news about the kidnapping and the crown’s reaction.”

He turned away, the dismissal clear, and she was left standing alone in the darkened hall trying not to think of the man that sat just out of reach.

* * *

“I knowthe stakes just as well as anyone,” Sofia said, throwing her sparse possessions in her bag without much care. She usually only carried a few trinkets from her time before the resistance and a single outfit when she came in and out of the city. It was best to pack light while committing treason.

Flor was standing across the room, already packed. Her eyes were focused on the door, as if she were waiting for Javi to come bursting through the door at just the wrong time.

“It’s his granddaughter,” she said, as if it explained everything.

“I know that,” she snapped. “Javi’s sister is in that prison, too. But he and his moms aren’t acting like idiots.”

Flor’s eyebrows pinched together in the way that reminded Sofia of her mother with a small pang of grief.

“How would you know? Have you even spoken to Javi since Dia was arrested?”

Sofia opened her mouth to respond, but Flor cut her off, reading her mind. “And talking to him about how you’re going to kill the chief commander and king in revenge isnotwhat I mean. They’re already grieving. He doesn’t show it because it’s Javi, but I’ve heard him crying into his pillow at night, and his mothers have already completed the ritual to send Dia to the Depths if she dies.”

“She’s not going to die,” Sofia said with as much conviction as she could muster. “If Ocon can get us into the prison, we can break her and Sari out.”

“You assume any information he gives us under duress can be trusted.”