“Helen’s right to think Delta Tarva won’t take action again before the Games. And then it’ll be the rainy season, which might hamper her, too,” I add. Storms could buy us time. “But even a few months from now, Piers’s army will still be green. With the Ipotane, we don’t have to worry about that. With them guarding the border, they’ll stop any attack before it even starts.”
Piers focuses on me with barely suppressed ire. “If you come back. Going to the Ice Plains is rash, even for you. Dragging Griffin and Carver there is even rasher.”
Even for me? Dragging Griffin? “Should I sit in the library, read all day, and then dazzle people with my ability to retain information I’ll never act upon?”
Piers’s eyes glint furiously. “Maybe you should stop being an arrogant show-off and think about the danger you’re putting people in.”
“Did I bring your family to this castle? Did I suggest taking over the whole Gods damned world?”
“Cat! Language!” Nerissa says sharply.
I don’t look at her. My expression would make her flinch.
Piers holds my stare. His voice drops in anger. “You’re making things seem possible that aren’t, that would never have seemed feasible before you came along.”
“Came along? I was abducted!”
“Semantics.” Piers flicks his ink-stained fingers in the air.
My jaw drops. Words are important! He’d know that if every single falsehood fried him from the inside out. “Griffin took over an entire realm before ever laying eyes on me. He had a vision. He made it happen.” I level a frosty look on Piers. “Is hope forbidden now? I didn’t get that scroll.”
Piers leans toward me, crowding me with his wide shoulders that throw me into shadow. Is he trying to intimidate me? Ha!
“It’s not hope, it’s hopeless. Almost no one survives the Ice Plains. Surviving them, then a war with Tarva, then a war with Fisa…” He shakes his head. “There’s no way.”
“There’s always a way,” I say fiercely. “You just might not like it.”
“War, Cat,” Piers snarls back. “Do you know what it’s really like? It’s not only the other side that bleeds.”
Eleni flits across my consciousness like an iridescent dragonfly under a dazzling summer sun. Laughing. Dying. “You have no idea what I’ve seen. Or who I’ve lost.”
“Enough!” Griffin’s fist hits the table with a startling thud. “We still build the army. We need it. But the Ipotane would be an enormous asset, especially if we move fast and get them back here before the Agon Games begin. They could spare Sintan blood.”
“Or spill yours,” Piers mutters.
Griffin silences further protest from his brother with a quelling, full-on Alpha look. The innate dominance in his granite eyes puts an instantaneous end to the argument.
“Who will you take?” Nerissa asks anxiously.
“Me,” I say, my tone wholly uncompromising.
“And me.” Carver’s tone matches mine.
“Beta Team,” Griffin says flatly.
No argument. Amazing. Although I am kind of indispensable to the mission.
Jocasta’s throat moves on a nervous swallow. Her blue eyes dart to me and then drop to her lap. Is she worried about Flynn?
Kaia bounces in her seat. “I wish I could go.”
“No!” the entire table shouts at once.
Her shoulders slump. “You have no idea how boring my tutor is. He’s crusty. He has actual crust on him.” She frowns. “Like a shell. I’m not sure he’s human.”
That’s it. These girls need rescuing. And Gods help me, I need to get away from Piers, or I might maim him by almost, sort-of accident. “Four days, you said?”
Griffin nods.
“Can I take Jocasta and Kaia out for a while?”
Griffin goes utterly motionless. Never a good sign. “Where? And how long is ‘a while’?”
“Not far, and just three days. Into the woods north of Sinta City. One day out, one day to explore an underground cavern I know, and then one day to come back. We’ll leave for the Frozen Lake the day you’re ready.”
“No.” Griffin slices his head to the side. “Too dangerous.”
Griffin doesn’t like me out and about without him because of a not entirely irrational fear of someone trying to steal or kill me. Add his sisters to the mix, and it’s even worse. “We’ll take Carver with us.” I glance hopefully at Carver.
Griffin shakes his head again. “I need Carver here.”
“Then give us Kato and Flynn.”
His already stubborn jaw hardens. He’s about to cross his arms. After that, his eyebrows will slam down, and I don’t want to give him time to think of another reason to say no.
“We’ll be fine, Griffin. I’m chock-full of Dragon’s Breath, and we’ll be back before you can blink.”
“I just blinked,” he says, crossing his arms.
I take a deep breath. This is going to take some finesse, something of which I have very little.
CHAPTER 7
I DON’T GET MY WAY IN THE END. GRIFFIN WOULDN’T budge, and the extent of his stubbornness was about to drive me insane when I realized I don’t want to be apart from him anyway. I stopped arguing, but not without a bargain. Three days in the castle woods, safe behind our own thick walls. No questions. No checking up on us. No men. No crusty tutor. We go back to the castle every day before dark, which works just fine for me. I get a bath, a hot meal, and then Griffin.