Page 38 of Veiled Fate
“Out with it,” I said as he stopped speaking.
“Out with what?”
“There’s a giant ‘but’ or ‘and’ attached to all that, isn’t there? You have a plan. I can see it.”
Kiel’s nodded. “Arcadus is coming here. He has to. There’s no other choice available to him if he wants to maintain this charade.”
“And?”
“And he’s going to be out of his palace. In the open.”
“Kiel …” I protested, a sinking suspicion filling my freshly rehealed stomach.
“He’s going to bevulnerable, Jada. Perhaps the most exposed he’s ever been. This is it. This is the best chance we’re likely ever to get to kill him. We have to take it, and you know it!”
“You’re crazy,” I said, looking at him with my jaw hanging open. “Kiel, I mean, that’s insane. You know that, right?”
“Is it?” he challenged. “Arcadus no longer has a Fate Stone. He’s not immortal. He can be killed.”
“Old age can do that just as well as we can,” I pointed out.
“The Alphas will capture you and find a way to pull Fate out of you and back into a new stone before then,” he said. “And you know it. We have to kill him. Prove to everyone that he’s not immortal. That change is coming.”
“He’s going to have all sorts of armed guards with him. For all we know, his Nehringi will be back. In all likelihood, he’ll travel with a literal wall of Volk around him and fields of Wulfhere marching to either side. This is suicide for the two of us to try, Kiel. If he’s vulnerable, and that’s still a bigif, since we don’t know it for sure, he’ll be so well guarded we won’t stand a chance.”
“Maybe, but we don’t know that,” Kiel said.
“Okay. Fine. But Lycaonus won’t just stand around, either. He’ll have the entire city on alert. Guards everywhere, on every street, in front of every house. He’ll have every single Volk ready to hunt us down. Hell, what abouthisNehringi? If he gets word that we’re in the city, then two of those things will be after us.”
“Probably.”
“And you still want to go ahead with this.”
Kiel didn’t flinch. “Yes.”
“I can’t. It’s suicide. We can’t get through that many guards.”
“But what if we do?” he pushed. “Jada,thinkabout it.What if we do?If we can finally show all those people out there who know the Alphas have been corrupted by their immortality that things arechanging? All those fence sitters, too worried that nothing can be done, will see that that’s not true. Our rebellion will reach new heights with that. Other Alphas will fall. It’ll only be a matter of time.”
I searched his eyes for any hint of fanatical glean. The fervent nature of his tone worried me, but I could see no signs that he was looking for some sort of last glorious charge. Calm logic stared back at me.
“We can’t do it alone,” I said bluntly. “That’s just a fact, and no matter how much I want Arcadus dealt with permanently will change that.”
“We won’t be alone,” Kiel said.
“Arcadus will be here in a few hours, I would guess? How will we find enough people to help us between now and then?”
Kiel smiled, lifting his arms to wave around us. “We’re in Lycaon, Jada. The biggest city of the Empire. And home to our largest cell. We have the people. And the opportunity. Now, we just need a plan.”
“Fuck.” I shook my head. “This is crazy, you know it, right?”
“Yes. But it’s our best chance.”
I hated to admit it, but he was right. We weren’t likely to get a better shot at Arcadus.
“Damn, damn, damn,” I said, shifting nervously. “All right. I’m in. Let’s kill that sonofabitch.”
“We will,” Kiel said nastily.
