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Annelise nodded in agreement. “I have to agree. If there is any life after this one… you can’t carry that burden with you. I don’t think it’s a wise choice, Diana.”

It was Saanvi who cleared her throat and spoke, silencing all of us. “In fact… it has to be Diana. When Alastir finished the spell and gave it to us, he was certain to tell us that ithadto be the blood of the antidote that wielded the weapon. Diana’s blood was used to create it, therefore Diana must wield the blade.”

I took a deep breath, exhaling through my nose.

It was settled, then.

I would either cure Nik, or kill him… there was no other choice.

Whatever happened next, it would change everything. I would either have Nikolai back in my arms, my magic bound, or he would be dead, and our chances of defeating Donika diminished.

“Now the question is, how do we find them?” Zion asked, settling back down into his chair.

“I don’t think I can find the house he kept me in again,” I replied, shaking my head. “I think our best bet at finding them is to lure them out.”

“And how will we do that?” Kenna asked.

“I’ll be the bait,” I replied, my jaw tight.

He would come for me—I knew he would. He couldn’t stop himself. Not only did he lose me for himself, but he disobeyed Donika’s direct orders. He wouldn’t let me get away a second time.

“Then we move in force,” Zion said with a nod. “We will call on more resistance members. We need to have numbers to match theirs, at the least. We have no clue how many they will have with them, but we need to be a small enough group to not draw notice as we travel.”

I nodded. “And what will we do with the other Noctani? They are innocent, too. Most of them, anyway. Donika made them what they were without their consent.”

“I’m afraid they may be a casualty of war,” Annelise answered.

Leave it to her to speak the cold truth. My gaze fell to my hand where I picked at the nail on my own thumb.

“I hate to agree, but she’s right,” Saanvi said. “We can try to spare them, but there will be casualties as we try to administer the antidote to Nikolai and Isaac.”

“We have to try to keep Isaac safe and busy until Diana can cure Nikolai, then Isaac next. She is the only one that can cure them both with her being the only one to wield the weapon,” Kenna added. “Keeping them busy without killing them will be a task in and of itself. We can’t save them all, Diana.”

The way I saw it, they were stillmypeople. They were still innocent residents of Istmere, fallen victim to Donika’s ministrations and experiments. They were no more at fault than we were. It felt wrong to cure Nikolai and Isaac because of our personal relationships with them but sacrifice the others for our greater purpose.

Zion could see the emotions warring on my face and his hand found my shoulder, squeezing it. His hazel eyes were soft as they held my gaze.

“Being queen means making the hard decisions. We cannot win this war without Nikolai the way things stand right now. We will try to fight them off, but our mission is to keep Nikolai and Isaac safe until you can administer the antidote to both of them. You aren’t alone, we will be there with you.”

I nodded, my breath catching in my throat. I knew he was right, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“How many will we take with us?” I asked.

“I will send a raven to Prins. Should five on top of the seven we have here be enough?” Zion asked.

Amiyah had been quiet the entire time, letting us hash out the next steps ourselves and not interjecting. But she spoke now, her voice cutting. “If you think you are marching without me, you are mistaken.”

The ghost of a smile crossed Zion’s face, and he nodded. “Eight, then. An additional five should be plenty.”

When I smiled at Amiyah, her eyes sparked with emotion. The fact that she would march with us, even after what had happened to her son Tyr, had gratefulness swelling deep within my chest. We were stronger together, and I wasconfident the group of us would be able to hold the Noctani off long enough to see this through. We only had to pray to the Mother that there would be no Araneoch.

“It’s settled then,” Zion pushed away from the table. “I’ll send the message. We march to Akra to lure them out the morning after next.”

“Why not tomorrow?” I asked.

“You’ve only just gotten back. You need your rest, Diana. The trials to come will be a strain for us all.” He gave my shoulder one final squeeze before retreating to the cabin.

“How can we be sure Isaac will be with them?” Kenna asked. “He wasn’t with the group that captured you and held you hostage.”