Sara Larson - Defy

“To do the best acting job you’ve ever done.”

“I don’t understand.” I glanced at Rylan, but he stared down at his untouched food and wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“You’re going to be taken back to the palace first, a day or two ahead of us by some Blevonese soldiers,” Damian said.

“I’m not going with you?” My chest tightened, as if a hand were slowly squeezing the air from my lungs.

“No. You have to go first. You’ll tell them you’ve been held captive with the prince in Blevon, and that you were sent back to deliver a message to the king. The message will announce the coming of General Tinso and his army with the prince as his captive. It’ll say that the general is coming to negotiate the release of the prisoner in return for an end to the war.”

“And I’m supposed to take this to the king?”

“Yes,” Damian said, his expression guarded.

“Why would he believe you are their captive if he suspects you’re loyal to Blevon? Wouldn’t he realize it’s a trap?”

“That’s why we made the assassination attempt look so realistic, and why we have to act like the abduction was real. Hector has spies in the Blevonese army, and we can only hope they have reported back to him by now.”

I took a shaky breath. “And if it works and he believes the message, what then? Are you just going to storm into the palace and hope I’m somewhere close by?”

“No. When you deliver the message, he’ll probably say he doesn’t care about bargaining for my life,” Damian said matter-of-factly, as though the reality that his father didn’t care whether he lived or died was about as interesting as commenting on the blandness of our supper.

“So how am I going to get him to agree to meet with you? And why would he keep me anywhere near him?”

“You must suggest that this is an opportunity for him to surround and trap Blevon’s most powerful general,” General Tinso said. “Tell him that you know which men in my army are sorcerers. You have to convince him that you can point them out, so he can have them shot before they got close enough to use any sorcery to fight. You must make yourself indispensable to him so that he keeps you with him and Iker.”

“But I thought Iker could sense if another sorcerer was in the room.”

“He can, but with so many people around — and so many sorcerers in one place — he won’t be able to pinpoint who they are fast enough. You have to convince them that they need you, without revealing that you know Iker is a sorcerer.”

My head began to ache as they continued to explain their plan to me. I listened and nodded, but my heart was pounding and I was having a hard time memorizing what they said. All I could think about was the fact that I was going to leave them behind, that I was going to have to face the king and Iker alone — and somehow try to convince them to let the general come with his army and the prince.

The plan depended heavily on me. If I wasn’t successful, it would be a disaster, and King Hector really would have the chance to crush King Osgand’s most powerful general right in his own courtyard.

“I think we should call it a night and head to bed,” Eljin finally said, when the entire plan had been laid out for me.

“Yes, we all need to rest while we can,” General Tinso agreed.

I stood up in a daze. Rylan wouldn’t meet my gaze when he stood up and followed Eljin from the room. Lisbet and Jax slipped out the door quietly, but not before Jax gave Damian a tight hug. I watched as Damian bent over to embrace the boy, a look of tenderness on his face. His half brother. My chest tightened, and I had to force myself not to think about my own brother and how much I missed him. With a sigh, I started to follow Eljin and Rylan out of the room when someone touched my arm.

I turned to see Tanoori standing by me, her expression pained. “I’m sorry for what I did to you, Alexa. I just wanted to tell you that before you go. And …” She paused, as if summoning courage. “I want to thank you. For saving me even though I didn’t deserve it. I will make it up to you someday, I promise.”

I impulsively reached out to embrace her. She stiffened at first, but soon she softened and hugged me back tightly.

“Be safe, Tanoori.”

“You, too.” She looked at me for a moment longer, and then turned and followed Lisbet and Jax to the front wings of the castle.

“I wish you well,” General Tinso said from behind me, making me jump.

I turned to look up at him. “Thank you.”

He nodded and moved to leave the room. “General?” I hesitantly called after him.

He paused, glancing back.

“Papa used to call me something — a nickname in Blevonese. He never told me what it meant. I was wondering, before I leave, if you could …” I trailed off.

General Tinso nodded for me to continue.

“He called me his zhànshì nánwū .”

The general’s eyes widened. “Alexa, zhànshì roughly translates to ‘champion fighter.’”

My heart began to pound. “And nánwū ?”

“It means ‘sorcerer.’”

I couldn’t swallow past the sudden lump in my throat.

“You can do this, Alexa. I know you can.” He clapped one hand on my shoulder, staring down into my eyes for a moment. And then, with one final smile, he left.

“Let’s go,” Damian said from behind me, startling me. He touched the small of my back with his fingertips, guiding me toward the staircase that would lead us back to our room for the last time.

THE MEN WHO are taking you back to the palace don’t know the truth,” Damian said, his voice barely above a whisper as we walked. “They think they really are delivering a prisoner of war with a message to the king. And they still think you’re a boy.”

“Okay,” I responded, too overwhelmed and too tired to care about this additional information. What was pretending to be a boy — something I’d done for years — to two soldiers compared to everything else they expected of me? I didn’t want to think about that. I didn’t want to think about how frustrated I was with Damian, either. Instead, I focused on the fact that Papa had been calling me “champion fighter sorcerer” my whole life. He’d been trying to tell me the truth after all, in the only safe way he knew how. But what had he meant — that he knew all along I’d have the ability to fight sorcerers, or was there even more to his nickname for me?

Damian touched my arm, gently grasping my elbow and pulling me to a stop. “I didn’t intentionally keep my involvement with the Insurgi a secret from you, Alex.”

I sighed as I looked up at him.

“With everything else going on, I didn’t think to tell you about it. I’m sorry.”

“Maybe if we survive all this, you’ll get to a point someday where you don’t have to think about telling me these little details, like asking someone to pretend to murder you.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice.

Damian’s expression hardened. “I’m not used to telling anyone anything — let alone every secret I have. Not to mention that even though I hoped I could trust you, I had to be sure before I told you my whole plan. I said I’m sorry; what more do you want from me?”

“I don’t know,” I said crossly. “I don’t know what I want. No more surprises, I guess.” The one thing I knew I didn’t want was to spend our last night together fighting. I might never see him again. “What I want is to be able to trust you.”

It was so dark in the hallway, I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like he grimaced. “Someday, you will.”

We stared at each other for a long moment. My heart thudded dully in my chest. Then we heard the sound of other people heading our direction. My eyes widened in alarm. We couldn’t be caught standing here in the hallway, unguarded.