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“It’s simple really,” Jase said flatly. “We use the staff entrance.”

Lucius burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Use the service entry? Are you daft? The explosion must’ve knocked you out of your senses. I don’t remember you being this stupid when I left the realm.”

“You can’t be serious,” Luca scoffed. “You expect us to just stroll on in, like we belong there?”

“We do belong there,” Fallon said, her voice dripping with vitriol.

“I’m dead serious,” Jase stood up from his chair. “How do you think I escaped? The staff entrance is the farthest thing from Johan’s mind. He’s far too arrogant to ever step foot in the servant’s quarters. He probably doesn’t even know where the outer bailey is.”

Fallon stood up, shaking her head. “This is hopeless,” she mumbled under her breath as she walked out of the room.

“If it worked once, why wouldn’t it work again?” I asked, trying to offer some glimmer of hope.

“Fallon had the right idea.” Lucius stood up. “I’m done with this conversation. When you have something useful come find me. I’m going to have a large drink and devise a real plan. Luca, you with me?”

“That’s the best idea we’ve had all night,” Luca said, following him out.

“Jase,” Nico shook his head. “I’d hoped you had some useful advice.

It seems you may have suffered a temporary lapse in judgment.

I pray the Divine clears your head quickly.

We’re running out of time. Finn, Hunter—now Sawyer—they’re depending on us.

” He sighed, rising slower than usual.“I’m going to join the others.

If you come up with a reasonable idea, come find us. You’re a wise man Jase. Prove it.”

The room was thick with tension. Jase stood and threw a punch at the wall. “Fuck!” he cursed, shaking his bruised knuckles as he paced.

“Why didn’t you tell them you used your shadows to shield us?” I asked.

“I’m not interested in their approval. I did it for my own selfish reasons.”

“For what it’s worth, I think it’s a brilliant plan.

A little unusual,”—I shrugged my shoulders.

—“but I think that’s why it might work.” I couldn’t believe we were here again—me backing someone with a wild idea.

Gwen and I had always had each other’s backs, even when things sounded insane.

My Bruins had a lot to learn when it came to trust. “Why does your family doubt you so often?”

“Because our father raised us to be that way,” Jase hissed. “Strong rulers must question everything.”

“Even family?”

“Family doesn’t always mean safe, Mic. Power’s a seductive mistress. She can taint even the purest of hearts.”

His words struck me. After all the things Fallon had shared about their father, I was starting to understand the family dynamics.

“Your father sounds… charming.”

Jase laughed bitterly. “He wasn’t exactly ‘fatherly.’ He was raising future kings. Sometimes he had to do things that others would consider cruel. It’s just the way it was.”

“I suppose there’s… logic behind his methods.”

“He certainly thought so.” Jase scratched his head. “Go with me.”

“I’m sorry—what? Go with you? Where?”

“Come with me. To Mathenholm. Tonight.”

“Without the others?” Now he sounded a bit unhinged.

“They’ll never be on board. They proved that tonight.

We are running out of time. I can’t sit back and wait for the perfect plan to arise while my best friend—my brothers, await their execution.

I believe we can get in and get out before Johan even notices.

” He gripped his hair, becoming more animated as he paced faster, growing more agitated.

“We’ll be halfway back to camp before they even knew Hunter and Finn are gone. It’ll work!”

“I don’t know, Jase,” I hesitated. “Do you really think the two of us can pull this off? My fighting skills are weak at best. The eidris is all I’ve got.”

“That’s the beauty of my plan. We won’t need to fend off Johan’s guard because they won’t even know we’re there. My shadows will do all the dirty work for us.”

I didn’t need a reminder of what his shadows were capable of—I’d experienced it firsthand. “So this would simply be a rescue mission?”

“Exactly. We get them out, regroup, and then take back what’s rightfully ours.”

“The throne?”

Jase nodded. “Mark my words, Mic—we will take back what's ours. Johan will pay for what he’s done to Hiraeth and her people. So… are you in? Or are you going to wait around like my brothers?”

“Why didn’t you suggest this earlier?”

“Because a few weeks ago, the guard was on high alert. It wouldn’t have worked.”

I pondered the idea. Jase had already escaped once.

Growing up in Mathenholm had to give him some advantage, he knew the layout.

We were cutting it close with Hunter and Finn.

With less than a week before they would be publicly executed.

It was now or never. Before I could convince myself otherwise, I made a choice.

Maybe not the best choice, but a choice nonetheless.

“Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll go with you.”

“That’s my girl. You never shy away from danger, do you?” A playful smile slid across his lips as he celebrated his victory. “I like that about you.”

“When your life’s guaranteed to be cut short, you make peace with death.

” Dying never scared me—until now. That was the easy part.

Living, on the other hand, terrified me.

The last few hours of my life had given me a taste I didn’t like, and the tides began to shift.

I no longer wanted to take a passive role.

I wasn’t ready to leave this existence. I wanted more time.

“How are we going to pull this off without them freaking out?”

“Easy. We leave once they’re asleep. By the time they wake, we’ll be too far gone for them to interfere.”