Page 107 of Love & Heart Braking

“A rebreathing thing,” Fenton said. “Smallest kind.”

I eyed it. “You want us to trust this for air to breathe.”

“The sales human said it would allow the average person to breathe underwater for forty-five minutes.”

“What’s an average person?” Devereaux was as confused as the rest of us.

Fenton shrugged. “That one got me too. But trust me, the other breathing things were huge. These were the smallest ones there. Expensive, so I had to steal them.”

“You stole from the pathetic humans?” Bain thundered.

“They won’t miss ’em.”

The unicorn glared daggers. “You will tell me the numerical value and the location of the sales human, so I can reimburse him. I will not wear it otherwise.”

Fenton rolled his eyes. “Whatever sharpens your horn.”

Soleil snorted.

Everyone went quiet as Bain looked at her.

Gug hurried on—fair enough, this was her husband’s rescue mission. “How will we communicate?”

Fenton dug around in the same bag. “Another human magic. Walk talks.”

Walk talks. I took a green box from him. A thin stalk protruded from one end. “What does the walk talk do?”

“We can speak through them. Those on land anyway.”

Fascinating.

Lerome snatched one up, eyes devouring the device.

“That’s sorted then.” Fenton clapped his hands.

Soleil groaned, then shoved the black bag off the table. “Where are we meeting after the rescue mission? If we’re successful, where will Maligni and Gug stay? If we’re unsuccessful, what’s the stakeout plan to ensure we know where they take Maligni next? And if shit really goes down, to what level are we willing to go? Knock out, maiming, death? If one is caught, do we save them? Or is the secrecy of the alliance our chief concern? And what’s our next step after this rescue mission? Because I’ll tell you right now that if we infiltrate one estate, every single one of the families will come for us, and they won’t rest until their message is sent. You don’t fuck with them in their playground.”

Fenton open and closed his mouth.

“I move for Soleil to become queen of the alliance,” I said. “All those in favor, say ‘woohoo’.”

“Woohoo,” everyone murmured, including Bain.

Soleil clenched her jaw, finally looking at him. She recovered her flippant and entirely fake demeanor in the next second. “As queen, my first act will be to save this shambles of a rescue mission. Take a seat, everyone. This is going to be a long night.”

24

During the one-mile walk into the Dethnels’ stinking estate, it had become clear I was less fit than was ideal for this shituation.

“I mainly do weights,” I explained to the others, puffing at the top of the next rise.

“You do?” Bain asked in surprise.

Devereaux took my hand. “Her tote.”

“That does look heavy,” Gug acknowledged.

“Thanks. It is. A lot of people struggle to lift it.”

---