Page 40 of Veiled Fate
“May Fate have mercy on us for those we are about to condemn,” Tave said quietly. “Yes. We’ll help. What’s the plan?”
Kiel leaned over the table, choosing one map in particular. “I think we’ll hit themhere,” he said, tapping a location almost twenty miles from Lycaon. “We know Arcadian won’t be traveling alone, so we’ll have to …”
I tuned out as Kiel explained the details to the others. He had worked out his idea with me while we waited for the other two to arrive. Although I wasn’t a strategic planner, I asked a lot of questions, which forced Kiel to explain his plan and adjust it as he realized his own mistakes or a superior choice presented itself. In the end, it all boiled down to “break through the guards and kill Arcadus.”
Please, Fate, let him be vulnerable the way we think.
“Then, we kill him.”
I looked up as Kiel rapped a fist on the table for emphasis. His eyes had an odd tightness as he looked at Tave, then Gare.
“All right. We’ll round up everyone we can in time,” Tave said softly. “We’ll meet at the rendezvous.”
“See you there,” Kiel said, grasping hands with the Lycaons before they departed. Then, he turned to me. “Thank you for speaking up. I’m not sure they would have bought in if you didn’t.”
“Yes, they would. In the end, you would have convinced them.”
“Maybe,” he said. “I’m not as sure.”
I chewed on my lip for a few seconds, unsure if I wanted to say anything.
Too many lives will be on the line for you to not. Don’t hold back now.
“Jada? Is everything okay?”
Kiel must have seen something on my face.
“Are we doing the right thing?” I blurted out before I could second-guess it. “Or are we doing the thingyouhave been aiming for, for so long?”
He frowned deeply. “Are you having doubts? You were on board when you convinced Tave and Gare.”
“I’m not doubting the plan,” I said, pulling at a strand of black hair. I still wasn’t used to that—or the shortness of it, though it was noticeably cooler on my neck, which was an unexpected side benefit. “I just …”
My voice failed me.
“What is it?” Kiel asked, stepping closer. “What are you so worried about?”
“You,” I said just a bit angrily, surprising myself with how deep that worry ran.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I …” I shook my head, turning away from him, struggling to sort out the emotions Iwantedto feel from those Ididfeel. “I don’t want to lose you. There, I said it.”
Kiel stepped up, putting his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to turn until he could look me in the eyes. “You won’t,” he promised softly.
“How can you promise me something like that? Any of us could die tomorrow,” I said, then snorted. “Well, except me, I guess. I suspect having my head chopped off might do it, though. But you, youcoulddie. They could take you from me.”
The whimper that accompanied my whine was thoroughly unplanned and unwelcome. I wouldnotact like a petulant child. I wouldnot. Many would die because of this. If Kiel or I should join them, it would behoove us not to act like we were any different. Because we weren’t, in the grand scheme.
Kiel pulled me tight. I let him, not resisting, though I knew I should.
“I take it,” he said softly, a wry undertone marking his words, “that you’ve forgiven me for the whole bloodline thing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t want to. It still stings, knowing that I’m an artificial creation of some sort. Manipulated into existence. But you didn’tmakeme try to destroy the stone on my Fate Night. That was my own choice.Idid that. I could have just accepted it, been paired with Clive, and lived out my life as a dutiful mate. That wasn’t you influencing me unless you’ve got mental powers I’m unaware of.”
I eyed him intensely, lifting my eyebrows.
Kiel laughed, one hand stroking my jaw, which I resolutely didnotallow to turn my knees to jelly. Nor did I melt like butter at his laugh. But I wanted to. A lot.
