Page 23 of Court of Lies and Deceit

The three of us exchange a glance.

Reinforcements.

This was so not part of the plan.

CHAPTER TEN

“Asmall fire,” Draven growls. “I said asmallfire.”

With that half-offended scowl still on his face, Alistair throws his arms out in exasperation. “How was I supposed to know that that exact building was full of highly flammable alcohol?”

“You could’ve looked through the window!”

“Guys,” I interrupt before Alistair can retort. I give them both a pointed look. “Maybe we should save this argument for another time?”

All around us, the night is filled with chaos. Half of the guards have sprinted out through the gate to no doubt bring those reinforcements they talked about, and servants in nightwear pour out of the mansion’s front door with buckets and pitchers of water from the kitchen. Low hissing noises sound when they toss the small loads of water onto the raging fire, but it has practically no effect. Orange and red flames stretch towards the starlit heavens above as the fire keeps climbing.

A moment later, the guards return with a host of people dressed in uniforms. They spread out across the grass while several of them shoot water from thin air and straight towards the fire.

“Spread out!” one of the original guards snaps. “And find the one who did this!”

Alistair heaves a deep sigh and rolls his eyes. Then he turns back to us. “I’ll keep them busy. So go and kill that guy.” He slides his gaze to Draven, and a note of amused challenge laces his voice as he adds, “I’m sure you can manage to kill one man without me, Mr. Remind-me-how-many-assassinations-you’ve-pulled-off.”

Draven snorts. Then he shoots Alistair a pointed look back. “Don’t burn the whole city down.”

“You know I can’t promise that.” He’s trying very hard to scowl, but there is a distinctly amused glint in his eyes. “Alright, get going. I’ll meet up with the others at the extraction point.”

Before we can reply, he darts back out of Draven’s protective dark clouds and disappears around the other corner of the building. We exchange a glance and then hurry back to the now unlocked back door. It opens without a sound. Slipping inside, we find ourselves in a short corridor lit by a few faelights that have been turned so low that they barely illuminate the space.

The moment we’ve closed the door behind us, the chaos from outside is cut off. It’s so abrupt that the sudden silence makes my ears ring. Shaking my head, I try to clear it and instead concentrate on my task.

According to the maps and the information we got from the Unseelie King, our target’s bedroom is on the top floor. There is supposed to be a hidden stairwell that was built as an emergency escape route and therefore runs straight from the bedroom to this back door. The only problem is of course that it’s supposed to be quite well-guarded.

Draven keeps a small dark cloud around us, hiding us in the already gloomy corridor, while I summon my magic.

We had planned to do this differently, but because of Alistair’s unnecessarily conspicuous pyromancy, thecircumstances have now changed. In our original plan, the guards inside the house shouldn’t be aware of the fire outside. But it would’ve been impossible for them to miss the huge explosion that just happened, which means that they are now alert in a way they weren’t before. And all of their emotions are now different.

I throw my magic across the mansion.

Just as I suspected, none of the guards are feeling bored or sleepy anymore. Instead, all of them are slightly worried.

I bite my bottom lip and drum my fingers against my thigh while trying to figure out how to solve this. Our plan was for me to make them feel so bored and sleepy that they didn’t notice us when we snuck past. But that won’t work now.

Next to me, Draven is silently watching the hallway while still keeping his magic up. It’s not lost on me that he isn’t questioning me. He hasn’t asked what I’m doing or how I plan to solve this new problem. He is simply trusting that I will figure it out.

That realization distracts me for a moment. Because no one has ever trusted me like this before. No one has ever considered me dependable. No one has ever had this kind of faith in me and my skills.

Blinking, I give my head a quick shake to pull myself back to the present as an idea finally hits me like a lightning bolt.

Distracted. That’s it. That’s the solution to our problem.

The guards in the house are no doubt worried that the fire is going to spread to this building as well. And if they’re too worried about something else, it will distract them from what they’re supposed to be doing.

Pushing with my magic, I increase all those sparks of worry until they’re burning brightly. For a few seconds, nothing happens. Then they start to move.

I have to suppress a satisfiedwhoop.

Faint footsteps and the soft sounds of creaking leather armor drift through the otherwise silent house as all eight guards move from their positions and towards the windows at the front of the mansion so that they can no doubt cast a glance at the fire outside to reassure themselves that it won’t spread to this building.

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