Page 93 of Iridian

Get a grip, Rora,my own mind called to me when I wanted to cry out in relief.She’s alive.Cassie was alive, and I needed to be able tothinkabout how to keep it that way.

“It’s a trap,” Zachary said.

“It’s really not,” said Kaid. “They know where we are. We know wheretheyare.Baitis what this is.”

“I agree,” Taland said. “They want to lure us out, get us to go to them sooner. They don’t want us to be more prepared.”

“Then why not send forces to attack us?” Aurelia asked.

“Because they know they can’t win,” said Radock. “Not their soldiers alone, at least. Not against ours.”

Ours,he said, and it took me biting my tongue hard to keep from reminding him that these soldiers were not his by any means. They were Taland’s, and Taland’s only.

“And they won’t be coming here themselves—too risky. They feel safer in their own home,” said Kaid.

“So, the question remains, really—do we take the bait?” said Radock.

“I was of the mind to leave sooner, to stop them from killing more people, in the beginning,” Zachary said, and his eyes were rimmed red, like he was holding back his own tears as he lookedat the screen. At Cassie tied up like a fucking animal, bleeding. Unconscious.

Goddess help me, I will burn them alive…

“But now I’m not so sure,” Zach continued. “Now, I’m thinking they sent us this bait because theydon’t want usto be better prepared for a reason…right?”

My eyes closed. I couldn’t keep looking at that screen for a second longer. My mind was full of images of Cassie’s face, full of those laughs and the strange way she talked, the warmth in her gaze when she looked at me, the way she’d always been there for me, even when everybody else I knew turned their backs on me. Regret ate at my insides, too—for not forcing her to leave Headquarters, for allowing her to stay there with those people, for not being more afraid that she’d get caught. For not going there to get her out myself.

So many things…

The others were arguing—some of the mind to gonowbecause the Council was already feeling threatened if they sent us that picture, some of the mind to wait and prepare better because they obviously didn’t want us to—and if they didn’t want us to do something, then that was exactly what we needed to do.

A part of me agreed with the latter. If they were trying to force us to go to them sooner, chances were that the Council was afraid of what we could do if we saw our original plan through. It made sense when I looked at it as an agent, it really did.

And then…

“Enough, all of you,” Aurelia said, slamming her hands on the table. My eyes opened to find her looking at Taland who was by my side, and she said, “It’s futile to argue about who wants what right now. We all know that Taland is the only one who can make the call here.”

I swallowed hard, and though everyone was looking at Taland, I felt the heat of Radock’s attention onme.

“Which means…” He smiled, showed me all his teeth, the fucker. “Rosabel will decide for all of us.”

My heart skipped a long beat. Taland’s hand closed around mine while I still gripped the edge of the table with all my strength.

Goddess, I wanted to slap that grin off Radock’s face so badly, but the fucking table was between us, and it was a big table. I’d have to walk all the way to him to reach him, and my legs couldn’t carry me just yet.

“What’s it going to be, baby?” Taland asked, and Radock flinched—I saw it because my eyes were on his face still.

And hehatedit—oh, how he hated that my opinion mattered to Taland more than his. He could try to mask it with his words and his smiles all he wanted, but he fucking hated that I was more important to Taland than him.

Suck it, asshole,I thought, and had we been in another situation, I’d have flipped him the bird, too.

“What doyouthink—do we really need to wait?” I said to Taland instead because I knew exactly whatIwanted to do, but I couldn’t carry everyone’s lives on my shoulders. Not based on afeeling, at least.

And Taland said, “We don’t.” I looked up at him. “Three days is not going to make a difference. The soldiers will fight the same way.” Once more, I envied his calm. The way he spoke—so perfectly sure of himself.

“They called,” he continued, nodding his head toward the phone on the table still showing Cassie’s picture. “It’s only fair that we answer.”

The corners of his lips were slightly curled. I so rarely saw him smiling since we got here that my stomach tied up in knots at the sight of his beautiful face.

“Then we will,” I said, and there was no guilt weighing my chest down at all. If he thought we were ready, then we were. I believed it. Everyone else in the room believed it, too.

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