Page 108 of The Poison of the Earth
I stare at her for several heartbeats.
Kai gasps, then yells, “That’s what the scars on your thighs are...fuck.FuckAlder, I’m going to turn him inside out one organ at afuckingtime!”
I growl and Finnick steps towards Ollie but she’s fighting tears and she won’t want to be touched right now. Sure enough, she holds out a hand to stop him. To his credit, he freezes and doesn’t look pissy about it.
“If I poison them, less of the Fae fighting for us will suffer and die,” she says stridently.
Korben nods, “I can get her in.”
“Are you crazy?” Kai growls, “She needs someone good with a blade, since she’s more like to stab herself if she needs to pull one.”
“Hey now,” she says.
I interrupt this line of arguing. “Finnick, will the griffons attack with no riders on them? Could we send them to harry Alder’s men?”
“Somewhat,” he answers quickly. “We’ve not trained any of them for battle specifically. I’m sure it could be done but these ones have been taught from hatchlings to be... well, as friendly as griffons get. So we could probably get one good swoop out of them, but no sustained attack.”
“Someone needs to take the extra griffons to Centerhedge. They can get riders and any air shifters and head back here for an attack wave,” Kai says firmly.
Oleander interrupts my thoughts, “Yes, fine, good. Korben does that. Lonan flies around the city to the south to attemptto enter to speak with Caspian and Tazi and the city leaders. And Finnick, Kai and I go southwest to sneak into their encampments.”
“‘S a good plan,” Korben says again.
I frown. I don’t like the danger to Ollie but I need to suck it up. She’s tough as fucking nails and I need to remember that.
“Finnick, do you have skill with a blade? Or offensive magic?” I ask.
Kai purses his lips.
“Yes,” he replies, “I have sword training, though I have never been in a battle. And my magic can be offensive.”
A snort. “Might as well say you’ve seen toilet paper before but never wiped your own ass.”
I sigh and meet Kai’s eyes. “It’s the best we’ve got. It’s multi-pronged and well conceived.” I turn to Korben, “Go, when you arrive, land south, and send a message in with a flyer.” He nods and Finnick turns to order the griffons.
“I’ll take my griffon to—”
Ollie interrupts, “Her name is Tawny, Lo.”
I pause a second, looking at my mate. “...I’ll takeTawnyto the south and see if we can sneak past the defenses into the city. Assuming we can, we’ll wait for first light tomorrow to attack. That will give you time to attempt your part of the attack, and for the griffons to arrive.”
I turn to Kai and Finnick, beckoning them closer. Kai, I give merely a passing glance, but Finnick I glare at. “If anything happens to Oleander, you’d be better off killing yourself than returning to me without her, do you understand?”
They both nod.
“Good.” I nod, opening my arms to Ollie, and she hurries into them. I kiss the top of her head. “Do not take unneeded risks. No one in this realm is more important to me than you.”
She makes a tiny annoyed noise but nods into my body as I hold her close.
“Fine. Good, my little Queen. I’ll see you on the other side of this, then.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Finnick
Ihad awoken a little more than twenty-four hours ago not expecting to evenmeetthe mysterious Fae woman that would bond our family to the rebels.
And yet, Oleander Stonesthrow chose me. Chose me to be her husband. She could have had the pick of my older brothers. But she picked me. She saw me. Saw something in me, that she’d spend the rest of our long lives together.
