Page 228 of Of Masks and Fury

I looked out at the horizon where the thousands of flickering torches of my father’s army marked the valley below, an ocean of soldiers led by the man who’d tried to drown my spirit for sixteen years.

Thorne had died so that I could stand here, unmasked and unafraid.

As the wind whistled through the boulders, the weight of the coming battle stopped feeling like a burden I had to carry alone and started feeling like the final lesson he had prepared me for.

I pulled out the map and spread it across a flat rock. The others gathered close, and I traced our route to Caldrith Castle.

“We’ll leave the dragons here,” I said. “We can ride our companions, but they’ll have to shift back before we’re close. We can’t risk them being seen.”

“Agreed.” Naveah studied the route with a sharp eye.

“I have a new plan,” I said. It had been brewing inside me all night.

They all looked at me.

I explained quickly, my fingertip moving across the castle floor plan, pointing out guard rotations I’d memorized during my years living there, weak points in the castle’s defenses, and the timing we’d need to make everything work.

When I finished, silence stretched across the small open area.

“That’s insane,” Maddox said flatly. “You’re going to walk in there alone."

“It’s brilliant,” Coralee said with a grin. “Risky, but brilliant.”

Trew’s golden eyes burned into mine. “It’s too dangerous.”

I gave him the look that said I’d already made my decision, and he could either support me or get out of my way.

He pinched his eyes closed. When he opened them again, the resignation there nearly broke my heart. “If this doesn’t work…”

“I’ll make it work.”

“While you’re doing that, Naveah and I will destroy the west tower and collect food from the kitchen,” Coralee said. “We’ll hide it with our companions.”

“And if you’re captured?” Trew asked me.

“Then you’ll complete the mission without me.” I held his gaze. “Twenty-three lives, Trew, instead of one. That’s what matters.”

“You matter,” I growled. “I hear what you’re actually saying and I need you to hear me.Youmatter.”

Pherin grumbled, her copper eyes fixed on me.

“If she’s captured,” Maddox said, “we’ll adapt. We could create a distraction. Extract her during the chaos.”

“No heroic rescues,” I warned him.

His mouth quirked. “Look who’s talking.”

We went over the idea while the sun climbed higher. What if guards blocked our route? What if the prisoners were too weak to move quickly or some resisted being rescued? They may not all be eager to leave with us. I’d seen enough zealots during my life.

What if my father discovered us before we could execute the plan?

For every disaster we imagined, we created a response. It wouldn’t be enough. Plans never survived contact with reality. But it was something.

Finally, Trew nodded. “Alright. We move now.”

We climbed onto our companions and kept to the woods, making our way toward the outer aspect of the village below Caldrith Castle, where the Day of Mercy would be held. We paused behind a long row of bushes in front of a copse of trees, watching the outer road leading toward the village. Only a few people passed. Most would’ve left earlier to make sure they had a good spot to view the event.

“This is it,” Coralee said as she slid off her companion. Her ermine had become an enormous winter bear, all white fur, claws, and razor teeth. “Next time we see them, we’ll have prisoners with us or we’ll be dead.”