“I hate to say it, little Omega, but you’re going to have to prove it before we commit.”
“Have you noticed the men who aren’t with me?”
Altair raised an eyebrow. “The angel and the incubus-fae. I assumed they weren’t along on this mission because they’re extremely conspicuous in Zemterra. You are too, but that scent-dampener is doing its job. Well, except against those with ogre blood. The bastard’s senses of smell can’t be beat.”
“They’re not with me because they’re imprisoned at Kylan’s Zemterran mansion. Our plan is going to be perfect because if it isn’t, they die.”
He stared at me for a second, as if waiting for a punch line. When he realized there wasn’t one coming, he sighed heavily. “Well, fuck. Now you’ve appealed to my good nature and I have to help you. Although I’m going to say, there is no such thing as a perfect plan when it’s obviously a trap.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Nolan came to sit beside me, while Emmett hovered by the door, covered in blood, and Oswald moved to look out the window. His hand on my knee got a raised eyebrow from Altair, and I dropped magic I’d had obscuring our appearances. There had been no magic on Oswald, which was how he’d recognized us in the first place, and the illusions I’d used became useless once you knew they were fake. The magic covering the mate marks had been different, though.
Altair chuckled and nodded when he spotted my mark on Nolan’s neck, fresh and not yet fading at all.
“Our plan may not be perfect, but it’s the best chance we have. Freya will be taking the most risk, and once she’s done her part the rest of us should be able to complete our tasks easily.”
“What’s Freya doing that’s so risky? I’m shocked you lot are allowing her to do it without complaint.”
“There was complaint,” Oswald said. “She’s only doing it because it’s our best and only option.”
His question still unanswered, the fallen angel looked back at me. “Mind magic,” I explained. “I’m going to manipulate one of Kylan’s men into disabling his defences and killing him.”
Sky went stock still. His attention had been on the chalk in front of him, tossing it between his white-covered, calloused fingers, but he drew his gaze up to stare at me. His scarred jaw tightened. I cringed. “I’m aware it’s frowned upon,” I said, knowing his complaint before he could get Altair to say it. “But I don’t have a choice, and I doubt anyone working for Kylan is considered a good person.”
“Both frowned upon and dangerous, for good reason,” Altair said, much more nonchalant than his partner about the idea. “You could kill yourself trying. Sky has seen it happen.”
That explained why he’d been so affected by that being the plan.
“If I thought I would kill myself, I wouldn’t try it. That’s why we’re in Zemterra in the first place; to pick up a stone I can use to help ground myself.”
Altair waited a moment, clearly communicating with Sky. “A stone isn’t going to be enough.”
“I trust the person who gave me instructions with my life,” I said. “She claims between my bonds, the stone, and a scroll she gave me, I’ve got a chance. Admittedly, she did caution me against it but didn’t offer any alternatives.”
Should I trust Joanne? With this new tidbit of information about her, I was doubting myself. The woman existed in multiple realms when it should be impossible, but knew me just the same no matter where she was. It was disconcerting.
“What does the scroll say about it?”
The fallen angel was speaking for the witch again. I pulled the scroll from a pocket inside my cloak and handed it to Sky. His hands shook as he unrolled it, his expression concerned. Altair leaned over his shoulder, though I doubted he could read the language. “This is some fucked up magic, according to Sky,” Altair said. “Are you sure you want to use this?”
“I’m aware. If I were malicious, I could create permanent slaves with this magic, but that’s not the plan. I need a temporary deception. Only something to last a couple of days at the most. Half of the shit on there I won’t be using, and I’ll never let this information fall into the hands of anyone more vindictive than me.”
“Permanent slaves?” Altair lifted his gaze to stare at me instead. “Fucking angels. That’s insane. No wonder this is banned by the AEA.”
“I’m not operating under their rules at the moment.”
I held out my hand for the scroll and Sky hesitantly rolled it up, handing it back to me. With it securely in my grasp, I was more at ease. I didn’t think they would do anything to it, and I’d memorized the relevant spells, anyway, but…
Fuck, maybe this was part of what Joanne had meant by the scroll being malicious. Parting with it made me nervous. I hoped it was only because of its role in saving Cas and Shan from a monster, because the last thing I needed to deal with was a weird dark magic scroll addiction.
“Sky would like to offer his assistance in destroying that thing when you’re done with it,” Altair said. “He says you’ll have trouble on your own.”
I nodded. He’d been quicker to catch on to my attachment than I had been, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to set it on fire.
“So, tell us about the plan to manipulate one of Kylan’s men.”
I let Nolan take over for that part, my mate informing Altair of Julian’s reluctant and small amount of help. The fallen angel was notably sour about Julian being involved. Their history intrigued me but didn’t matter. They had some worries about using Grey for the memory manipulation, insisting he was strong enough he would be a challenge to use, but I brushed them off.
It had to be him, and anyone I tried to forcibly shove memories into would fight against me. There was no easy way out of this.
