Page 105 of Of Sword & Silver

“You would know,” I snipe back.

He leans his elbows on his thighs, peering at me. “You need to be at your best, right? You said it yourself. For this to work, you have to look the part.”

“You’re being fucking rude,” I tell him.

“He’s right,” Lara says.

“Fuck you too,” I bare my teeth at her.

“Right, and your judgment isn’t impaired at all by your lack of sleep. Just your tired, haggard face.”

I roll my eyes, hating that she’s right.

“She’s already perfect,” the Sword says, and I blink in surprise, both at the compliment and because I didn’t realize he was in the room.

“Maybe I do need sleep,” I admit, rubbing a palm over my face.

“I have a draught for that,” Caedia says, stretching her arms overhead as she walks sleepily into the room.

“I need to be able to wake up easily,” I tell her, shaking a finger in warning.

“Have I ever steered you wrong?” Caedia asks. “Don’t insult my potions.”

“Sorry,” I say meekly. “Of course you haven’t. You just steered me to drinking things that taste like manticore piss.”

“Hmmph,” she says.

“Why did you drink manticore piss?” Dario asks. A laugh bubbles out of me at the perplexed expression on his face. “No, seriously, what are you talking about?”

Morrow opens the door to his room, standing in the threshold with his strawberry-blond hair standing straight up. He nods in silent greeting.

“Dario, I don’t have time to explain the ways of the world to you.” I wave a dismissive hand at him, and Lara snorts. “I want to go over the plan again,” I tell everyone. “And I need to be awake in time to get ready for tonight.”

Morrow leans against the door to his room.

“Morrow, do you have the horses?—”

“Everything is ready for us to ride like hell after you steal it,” he says easily. “Bags packed, horses are in good shape. I have several spells at the ready to cast over us as we go.”

I nod. “Right. And Lara?—”

“I will be in Alaric’s oak parlor, ready to scream my head off and seal all the doors.”

“The jeweler will be here with the finished pieces around dinnertime,” I say. “Caedia, you need to?—”

“Wear the pieces and set the spells with Lara,” she interrupts.

I rake through my mind, trying to figure out what it is I’m missing because something tells me there’s a piece to the puzzle I haven’t figured out yet.

Although, I’ve been feeling that way for weeks now, since I drank from the chalice.

I blow out a breath, my finger moving over the timeline in front of me. “Maximum?—”

“Chaos,” everyone finishes with me.

“So we start out?—”

“With a dance,” the Sword says, nodding. “We know.”

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