“He certainly thought so.” Jase scratched his head. “Go with me.”

“I’m sorry—what? Go with you? Where?”

“Come with me. To Mathenholm. Tonight.”

“Without the others?” Now he sounded a bit unhinged.

“They’ll never be on board. They proved that tonight. We are running out of time. I can’t sit back and wait for the perfect plan to arise while my best friend—my brothers, await their execution. I believe we can get in and get out before Johan even notices.” He gripped his hair, becoming more animated as he paced faster, growing more agitated. “We’ll be halfway back to camp before they even knew Hunter and Finn are gone. It’ll work!”

“I don’t know, Jase,” I hesitated. “Do you really think the two of us can pull this off? My fighting skills are weak at best. The eidris is all I’ve got.”

“That’s the beauty of my plan. We won’t need to fend off Johan’s guard because they won’t even know we’re there. My shadows will do all the dirty work for us.”

I didn’t need a reminder of what his shadows were capable of—I’d experienced it firsthand. “So this would simply be a rescue mission?”

“Exactly. We get them out, regroup, and then take back what’s rightfully ours.”

“The throne?”

Jase nodded. “Mark my words, Mic—wewilltake back what's ours. Johan will pay for what he’s done to Hiraeth and her people. So… are you in? Or are you going to wait around like my brothers?”

“Why didn’t you suggest this earlier?”

“Because a few weeks ago, the guard was on high alert. It wouldn’t have worked.”

I pondered the idea. Jase had already escaped once. Growing up in Mathenholm had to give him some advantage, he knew the layout. We were cutting it close with Hunter and Finn. With less than a week before they would be publicly executed. It was now or never. Before I could convince myself otherwise, I made a choice. Maybe not the best choice, but a choice nonetheless.

“Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll go with you.”

“That’s my girl. You never shy away from danger, do you?” A playful smile slid across his lips as he celebrated his victory. “I like that about you.”

“When your life’s guaranteed to be cut short, you make peace with death.” Dying never scared me—until now. That was the easy part. Living, on the other hand, terrified me. The last few hours of my life had given me a taste I didn’t like, and the tidesbegan to shift. I no longer wanted to take a passive role. I wasn’t ready to leave this existence. I wanted more time. “How are we going to pull this off without them freaking out?”

“Easy. We leave once they’re asleep. By the time they wake, we’ll be too far gone for them to interfere.”

“We really need to stop meeting like this,” I teased as we quietly made our way out of camp.

“Why? Our best moments happen while everyone else is asleep.” Jase playfully winked at me.

He wasn’t wrong. That night in front of the window—even though it crushed my heart—was one of the few moments we’d really connected. He had given in to his baser instincts. Something I secretly wished he’d do more often. I think it was the only time I ever saw him in his true nature.

Thornwyn Forest under the blanket of darkness, offered a hauntingly beautiful backdrop. The night sky was alight with twinkling stars, and the nocturnal creatures were out makingtheir evening rounds. A shiver ran through me, and I wasn’t sure if it was the cool night air or something more foreboding.

“If memory serves, we have a long walk ahead of us.” I tried my best to distract my wandering mind with small talk.

“Mathenholm is a bit of a trek. We should go as far as we can before making camp. The others will be on our tail the moment they realize we’re gone. And I’d be willing to bet they’ll be pissed.”

“Are we making a mistake?” I asked sheepishly. “Not telling them.” In the hours before we left, I’d made the difficult decision not to leave a note behind. It was heartless, but not giving them a direction to search would buy us more time. I purposefully hadn’t allowed myself to consider how they would feel about our hasty decision. I knew they would be angry. But honestly, Jase had made a strong argument. The next full moon was only seven days away. Surely, with time, they would understand.

“The only mistake being made was my siblings waiting for the ‘perfect’ opportunity. Johan has set the clock in motion. While they sat back and pondered the situation over a cup of ale, our brothers are being tortured while awaiting death.”

That was all I needed to hear to relieve my concerns.“They’ll forgive us once we have Hunter and Finn back, right?”

Jase huffed. “I don’t think you’re capable of doing something they wouldn’t forgive. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but they are beyond obsessed with you.”

I chuckled. “You really think they’ll get over it?”

“Mic, I’ve never seen my brothers behave the way they do with you. I can all but guarantee you—in their eyes, you can do no wrong.”