Page 33 of Lady of Ashes

“Whether or not she can handle herself is not the issue here,” Nuri cut in. “We can only assume that Alaric has some sort of wards around the Fellowship. We cannot be foolish enough to think they are around the Tyndell and Lairwood estates and not around the Fellowship. Nor can we be foolish enough to think they are not all working together.”

“No one said that,” Cassius cut in quickly, glancing at Drake.

“It seems it was implied,” Drake shot back.

“We are on your side, and Scarlett’s side,” Tava interrupted, her chin lifting slightly. “Our family matters will not interfere with our involvement here.”

“How can they not, when your father is part of the issue?” Eliza countered.

“Is he? Do we not now believe that the Assassin Lord has her?” Drake retorted.

“Why are we arguing about this?” Sorin cut in. “At this point, we are going to assume Alaric knows of Lord Tyndell and Mikale. I agree that it would be foolish to think he doesn’t know, since he clearly knew about Scarlett’s heritage. As for the allegiance of Drake and Tava, until they prove otherwise, we trust them. They have done nothing but aid us from the very beginning, and nothing else will be said on the matter,” Sorin added, as Eliza opened her mouth to argue. She pursed her lips, but lowered her eyes in acceptance.

“If we’re not sending Arianna in by herself, how are we getting her in?

Who is going with her?” Cyrus asked.

“Assuming any wards around the Fellowship are like the ones Cassius put around the Tyndell manor, another immortal would need to go with her,” Nuri answered.

“But the wards would still detect them,” Cyrus countered.

Nuri rolled her eyes. “That’s the point. They will assume whomever is accompanying her set off the wards, leaving her to move about freely.”

“But what happens to the one that goes with her?” Rayner asked quietly.

“They would be caught, likely alerting the Assassin Lord to the fact that we are coming for her,” Nuri answered.

“How is any of this helpful?” Sorin snapped.

“You didn’t let me ?nish,” Nuri replied casually, beginning to throw her knives at the beam across the room again. “If we go in ourselves, that would be the outcome. But if we could somehow orchestrate a member of the Fellowship to be summoned by the Assassin Lord, she could go in with him undetected.”

“That’s … brilliant,” Cassius breathed, staring at Nuri. “Obviously,” Nuri scoffed, throwing another knife.

“Gods, it’s like talking to Scarlett,” Cyrus muttered under his breath.

Sorin’s chest tightened at the words. Because it was. She had always said she and Nuri were two sides of the same coin. Her mannerisms. Her arrogance. All of it was so damn similar to Scarlett.

“So we get Cassius summoned, and then what?” Sorin pushed. “Before we get that far, we need to make sure Arianna has the layout of the Fellowship memorized,” Cassius said. “We don’t want to risk having to send her in twice. This needs to be a one-time thing until we go back for Scarlett, if she is, in fact, there.”

“And we will need to know which members are stationed where that day. We have a few people on the inside. It needs to be a day when they are patrolling the perimeter of the Syndicate,” Nuri added casually, another knife leaving her gloved hand.

But it didn’t embed itself into the beam across the room with the others she had thrown. No, this knife went ?ying at Luan’s face. No one saw it coming, and the blade grazed a shallow cut along his cheekbone before sticking into the wall beside his head. She had another knife already posed as Luan let out a growl, a whip of thorny vines appearing in his hand.

“Bind me again in your pretty plants, earth prick, and my next blade will be aimed lower and won’t just give you a little scratch,” Nuri sneered with a pointed look between his legs, her face a cold mask of wickedness.

A drop of blood was sliding down the Earth Prince’s cheek, everyone holding their breath as he stared down Death’s Shadow. Sorin wasn’t sure if he should interfere or not, and he honestly didn’t really care at this point. He didn’t want to be focusing on a petty squabble between Luan and Nuri. He wanted to be focusing on getting to Scarlett.

“Sorry to interrupt.”

Everyone turned to ?nd Lynnea standing in the stairway. Her cheeks ?ushed slightly at the sudden attention, and some of the tension in the air dissipated. She tucked some stray hair behind her ear. “I made a meal for you all. If you’re hungry.”

The last thing on his mind was food, but before Sorin could politely decline, Eliza was already striding for the stairwell.

“Thanks, Anala,” the general groused. “I’m starving.”

Sorin sighed. A hungry Eliza was a cranky Eliza, and he didn’t need to deal with an unruly general right now. He turned and began to follow everyone across the room, and Rayner fell into step beside him.

“This is good, Sorin,” he said quietly. “We are getting a plan together.”

---