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“We’ll start by cutting off supply lines.

Aetherfall requires vast amounts of goods to be brought in daily in order to function.

Once the court is cut off from the spoils of your labor, Mathenholm will fall into disarray.

We’ll reroute food and supplies back into Dunharrow and the lesser cities and towns.

Levi, I want you to head this up. You’ll need to distribute everything discreetly—we can’t have the crown’s army catching wind of it. ”

“The Divine says, ‘Eat well, fight hard, and die laughing.’ Who am I to argue?” Amos chuckled, nodding his head in agreement. “Between you and me…” he whispered, “I’m adding, ‘drink deep’ to that list as well.”

“Glad you agree, Amos. But that’s not all.

” Nico continued, “We’ll also target payments going to the sovereign cities.

Johan is paying the nobles to send soldiers.

We need to cut off his supply of hired thugs.

And to that end, we’ll start building our own militia.

I’m appointing my brothers, Luca and Lucius, as my generals. ”

“We’ll begin training here,” Luca added, rising from his chair to address the group. “Small battalions will rotate through. My brother and I will prepare them for covert missions. Like ghosts in the night, we’ll take out Johan’s most loyal supporters one by one until they regret choosing his side.”

Lucius joined his brothers, pulling a lump of glittering iron ore from his pocket and setting it on the table.

“Sawyer has helped negotiate a deal with the ironworkers in Dunharrow. They’ve agreed to start forging blades, spearpoints, and arrowheads.

Weapons training is crucial if we’re going to beat hardened soldiers. ”

“Sawyer, I want you to be the voice of this movement,” Nico said, pointing to the hulking male.

“And you, Amos—our people have lost their faith. For too long, they’ve been beaten down.

Now, they have nothing left to live for.

Without purpose, there’s no passion to fight.

I need to give them a reason to live again. Can you help me with that?”

“Ah, faith and steel. Two things that’ll never fail you,” Amos said, grinning. “I’m most humbled to provide my services—so long as I get the chance to kill those deceiving bastards.”

“That’s a promise I can keep. You’ll have more than enough chances to spill traitorous blood.”

“And what of the illness?” Fiona asked. “Nineteen died this morning. New cases are reported daily. We can’t fight the crown if we’re dropping dead from a silent killer.”

Lucius moved through the crowd and opened the door as the room fell silent. “Have you brought our friend, Fallon?” he called.

There was a scuffle in the hallway, followed by muffled protests.

“Unhand me at once! This isn’t the behavior of a lady. I have no less than six poisons that would drop you dead!” a raspy voice snapped.

Fallon shoved a disheveled Maxfield into the study.

“Save it, Medicine Max. It’ll take more than empty threats to kill me,” Fallon said, rolling her eyes.

Maxfield smoothed his already tattered robes and adjusted his slouch hat over a head of wild hair. All eyes turned to him.

“Maxfield. Welcome,” Lucius said.

“It’s not a welcome when you’re dragged out of your home against your will,” he grumbled.

Lu tsked and crowded into his space. “We had a deal. Now tell these fine people what you told me about the malediction.”

Maxfield’s eyes widened as he scanned the room, realizing everyone was eagerly focused on him.

“I… I’ve said it before. It’s not an illness,” he began, straightening his hunched posture.

“If it were, it would only affect the physical body. Our trusted remedies would ease the symptoms, and some would be some strong enough to survive. This is a curse.” He punctuated the word with a sharp jab of his gnarled finger.

The room erupted, voices clashing all at once—directing their ire at the healer.

“It’s true!” Maxfield shouted over the noise. “Sickness affects the physical. Malediction affects the spiritual!”

“Now, now!” Nico boomed, silencing the crowd. “Let him speak. We’re all looking for a way to end this plague.”

“It’s a malediction because it destroys the bond to our beasts. That bond is a spiritual connection. Nothing in nature could sever that. The only hope of ending this is to break the curse behind it.”

“And how do we do that?” I asked, leaning forward. I knew what it was like to live with something inside you, slowly stripping away pieces of who you were. If there was even a whisper of a way to stop it, I was ready to help any way I could.

“I’m a healer. Don’t you think if I knew the answer, I’d have ended this already?” Maxfield snapped. “It’d be nice not to have people at my doorstep every damn day, desperate for a cure I don’t have. I need some peace.”

“Have there ever been curses like this before?” I asked.

“Curses, yes. But like this one… never,” he said.

“There might be some accounts in ancient texts,” Sawyer offered. “Clues on how to break it. But we might be hard pressed to gain access to the archives.”

“I think I know a way,” Lu suggested. “Someone in Vaelryth might be inclined to help, with the right leverage.”

“Good, then it’s settled,” Nico said. “Maxfield, share everything you know. Lucius, you’ll?—”

A scream echoed down the hall, followed by the crash of dishes. The room itself seemed to darken. Shadows stretched along the walls as the study door burst open.

A male stumbled in, dried blood matted in his jet-black hair. But when those pale blue eyes met mine, my heart stuttered to a stop.