Make a plan and commit to it, right?
Ah, my dear, you are learning.
Chapter 20
While I’d only meant to spend the evening with Gideon and Brigette reconnoitering the Council’s island and assessing their security measures, it now seemed we’d skipped that step and were steaming full speed ahead. The shortened timeline for executing our plan to liberate Jackie made me edgy and nervous. I joined my companions on the balcony, slumped against the railing, and rubbed my eyes. My short interaction with Taviano had worn me out. How would I manage to endure a whole night with him, especially if he might betray us any moment?
So what are you going to do about it? Grandfather asked.
Be as prepared as possible.
A backup plan?
Something like that...
“I have another request, Niffin,” I said.
He glanced up, eyebrow arched. “Your wish is my command, my lady.”
I glared at him but otherwise ignored the mocking tone in his voice. “Tonight’s, um, adventure, only requires the four of us.” I pointed at Brigette, who stood in the balcony’s dark corner, still puffing at her cigarette. “Brigette, Taviano, Gideon, and me.”
“I do not trust that Magician.” Malita’s nose wrinkled as if she’d smelled something foul.
“Neither do I, so here’s what we’re going to do about it.” Quickly I laid out a list of duties for Malita and Niffin to complete. After repeating the list back to my satisfaction, they withdrew from the balcony, leaving me alone with Brigette.
“I don’t know exactly what to expect tonight.” I stared at the starlight flickering on the bay’s flat surface. “I’ve said before, though, that I won’t force anyone into service for me. If you want to back out, say so now.”
She joined me at the balcony’s edge, bracing her forearms on the railing. “You’ll just let me walk away?”
“Give you money for a train ticket and travel expenses too.”
“And if I took you up on your offer, then what? What would you do?”
“I’d cross my fingers and pray to every one of the elemental gods and goddesses that ever existed that they work their ways with fate and bring me another solution. Without a Magician, I don’t stand a chance. Not against Jackie and certainly not against Le Poing Fermé. I know you have an affinity for sugar, Brigette, but I won’t coat my expectations in honey to make them sweeter. The things you may be called upon to do tonight...” I let my meaning drift in the silence.
“Tonight won’t even be the worst of it,” she said. “Assuming we succeed and manage to free Jackie and get him back to Inselgrau—”
“Getting him to Inselgrau will be the easy part. I have a feeling he’ll be very eager to get there.”
She raised a finger. “But keeping him from exerting control over you during that journey could be a full-time job.”
“Can you make another charm for that?”
Her lip twitched. “Perhaps.”
“You’ve already been working on something, haven’t you?”
She stubbed out her cigarette on the balcony railing and returned the unsmoked portion to her tin. “I don’t want to raise your expectations prematurely. But if I do manage keep him from influencing you and the rest of us on our way to Inselgrau, there’s still a terrifyingly powerful cabal waiting for us when we get there.”
“Brigette, the pain...” I swallowed. “I’m not asking for self-sacrifice. If it becomes too much—”
She pressed a hand to my shoulder. “Let me be the judge of what’s too much.”
I winced, regretting my next question. “But what if the moment you decide it’s too much is the moment that brings my defeat?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Evie.” She pushed away from the railing, retreating toward the interior door. “Pray to those ancient gods that seem to be so fond of you, and beg them not to let that happen.”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked as she walked away.
She shrugged. “Maybe it’s to find out which is stronger, me or the pain. Maybe I’m doing it just to prove to myself that I can.”
Her answer didn’t reassure me, but it seemed unlikely she could say anything that would. If she promised success and pledged unfailing strength, it would’ve been worse—then she would’ve revealed herself to be untrustworthy and a liar.
I followed her into the sitting room, knelt beside our box of supplies, and picked out the items I needed. “Taviano says the Council’s guards have weapons. They aren’t Magical, though.”
“So now you’d like me to make you bulletproof on top of everything else?”
I glanced at her and held my breath, waiting.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “I can work up something fairly quickly for that.”
“I’ll also need an out. I don’t trust Taviano a bit. He’s going to betray us, and I can’t afford to get trapped on that Island.”
“I thought I was your backup plan.”
I glanced at the mordid pipe resting on a side table. I would have destroyed it already if I thought she wouldn’t simply go out and buy another. “Can I depend on you?”
“You can, or you can’t. Either way, I’m all you’ve got.”
