Page 257 of The Lands Defying
Edward nods. “A lot can.”
“So we enter through here and then what?” Leo asks, studying the map just like the rest of us are.
It’s Rhea who stays quiet on the other side of the table, her eyes roaming over the castle. She looks tired, a dirt mark on her cheek from cutting down trees and chopping wood earlier. Even the kid told her off for doing too much.
But I can see her need to help the people who are here, her need to make it right.
It is who she is, but it is also a weakness that won’t make her think clearly sometimes, and that can jeopardize her safety.
It is why I made sure to include her in this meeting. I could have done this without her knowledge, but the idea of her finding out and going off on her own to try and help would send me over the edge, and her carefully-constructed Eridian would be in ruins if I were to find she was in danger again.
Hand swallowed by water, grasping something solid and then, it disappearing. Water enters my lungs but I need to get to her. I go deeper, lungs burning, legs kicking—
I shake out of those memories and keep my eyes on Rhea, letting my brain take her in to calm the unusual racing of my heart.
The one that belongs to her.
“Little wolf?” I say gently, so as not to startle her.
She picks at her fingers, and I send my power under the table, wrapping around her ankle when she doesn’t respond. She jolts, looking at me and she stops at her picking.
“Good girl,”I praise down the link, and a pretty, red hue covers her cheeks.
“We need a distraction,” she tells the room, brows furrowed.
“Continue,” I say, arms folding.
“If we make a disturbance at the front gate, the guards will go there and others can slip by, unnoticed.
“But they are killing anyone who dares defy Charles’s orders,” Damian says. “Anyone at the gate without invitation is hanged.”
“I know.” She nods. “But we need to do something to draw their attention, that way some can go through the tunnel unnoticed, or at least, kill those who are guarding it, because there will be guards, won’t there?” she asks Edward and he nods.
“But that would mean we will have to split up,” Taylor acknowledges, clearly not liking the idea.
“No way,” Josh shouts, shaking his head.
“We can’t split up,” Colton speaks up, body tense, and I notice the way Hudson puts his hand on his back, trying to calm him.
“It’s the only way,” Rhea tells them. “We need that food.”
“We have food in the forest,” Leo says, but Rhea is shaking her head.
“There is barely anything left in our own reserves, and we cannot keep killing so much here, there will be nothing left, itgoes against everything I stand for. I will not kill more than necessary. But I will not kill off all the animals here.”
“This is necessary,” Damian fires back.
“Killing the Highers is necessary,” Rhea says, “and we need to be alive to do that!”
Leo throws his hands up. “Exactly!”
“We can do both,” Zaide says, nodding to the map.
“What do you mean,” Jerrod asks, the male sharpening his axe.
“He means,” I start, leaning over the table. “We can split up, cause a diversion, and have people port food out while the rest of us go for the Highers.”
Zaide nods.
