Page 224 of Of Masks and Fury

“And walk into the same trap.” I’d been thinking about that all night. “This village is small but organized. They’ll be watching for anyone else from our group. I told them there were ten of us.”

“So we wait?”

“We wait and plan.” I met her gaze. “When they open the door to move us, we fight. Even dampened, we’re not helpless.”

She leaned into me, her hand finding mine in the dim light.

I laced our fingers together, drawing strength from the connection even if our magic remained blocked. “We’ll find a way through this.”

Voices filtered through the walls again as evening approached.

“Today, they said. Transport will take her to the high court itself.”

“Just the girl? What about the man?”

“Reward’s for the princess. The man’s insurance to keep her from causing trouble.”

I felt Isi tense against me, running through the same calculations. We needed to have a plan for when that door opened.

“Whatever happens,” I said quietly, “stay behind me. Let me take the first hit.”

“We face it side by side.” Her voice carried that stubborn edge I loved. “I won’t ever hide behind you. You know that.”

“I wish you would.”

“You actually don’t.”

“You’re right,” I said with a sigh. “But you’ll let me try to protect you anyway, because you’re injured and that’s what we do for each other.”

She didn’t argue, just held me tighter in the darkness.

“Tell me something,” she whispered. “Something that has nothing to do with this cursed mission or our horrible circumstances.”

I thought for a moment. “When I pawed your body after you stabbed me, looking for more blades, I lied.”

“Which lie are you talking about now?”

I huffed. “I never lie.”

“You just said you did.”

“And you implied…” I growled but grinned. Leave it to my Minx to tease me at a time like this. “I lied when I said I didn’t trust you. Even then, I did.”

“You did not,” she scoffed.

“We met under unusual circumstances.”

“Me behind a mask, pretending to be a lady dispensing mercy.”

“You’ve always had mercy; you just weren’t strong enough yet to wield it.”

“I’m strong enough now.”

“You are. You’re stronger than me. I wanted to die when you didn’t wake up.”

She climbed onto my lap, straddling me, holding my face to make me meet her eye. “You don’t get to do that, do you hear me? If something happens to me, you go on.”

“There’s no going on for me without you, Isi. I mean it.”