Secrets of the Crown Assassins

33

WOLF

I walked down the hallway after leaving Indigo with her mother. The thought left a pit in my stomach. It could backfire horribly. Still, I knew it was the right thing to do.

When I walked into Indigo's room just earlier, she looked almost like she was in a trance. She only snapped out of it when I told her I still trusted her. But, she still needed to talk to her mother, the one who destroyed her life, for closure so she could move on and keep her head in the game.

If only I could do the same.

Soon. One day.

But right now, I had to take care of an angry mob, an incompetent leader, a stern woman, and an ostrich lover who was nowhere to be found. Knowing Nydia, she was probably looking for more rats to give a home to in an attempt to process the information of Indigo's father.

But it's been hours. One of the reasons Nydia was perfect for undercover work was because of how quickly she could recover. She was malleable, quickly becoming whatever her environment needed her to be while still retaining her basic qualities, so she didn't overtly appear like a threat.

Of course, her mother's death had also been nagging her for the past few months, ever since she came back from Evandor. If the new reveal added too much pressure to an already fimble jar, it could shatter.

I'd never seen her shatter. As a friend and tactician, I don't think I ever want to.

But the first thing I had to take care of was the incompetent leader. Next would be Nisa. If I could get Nisa, a person who the rest respected and clearly hated Indigo, to support Indigo, the people would at least put up with Indigo.

The hard part was getting Nisa's trust. I couldn't simply let Indigo loose in a crucial mission against the Assassins. That could work on people like Cree and Laine, but not Nisa.

I attempted to puzzle the multiple pieces of information rattling around my mind, trying to find a solution. My uncle's words rang loud and clear in my ears.

Plenty of people know much more than they realize. Even the greatest fool you've met. But the thing that fools don't have is the ability to recall the information at the right place and time. You must be able to wield it to your needs, to piece it together, or it's merely wasted space in your mind.

Knowledge isn't intelligence. Using knowledge right is intelligence.

I seethed with rage at the thought of my uncle, but he was right. The simple advice was my savior all these years. So, what piece was I failing to puzzle together?

I passed a group of women talking amongst each other with hushed voices, red faces, and frantic hand gestures. They were most likely making plans to kill Indigo, but the fools were always making plans and never carrying them out. I hoped that remained the case.

I wasn't in the mood to clean up their dead bodies.

I knocked on Laine's office door before stepping in without an answer. Laine didn't even look up from his stack of papers.

"I don't know where Nisa is," Laine said.

"I'm here for you, not Nisa."

"I'm not sentencing Indigo Fluor to death, but I believe Nisa's still planning out the execution."

I shrugged. I pieced that together already. But I also knew it would take time to plot out the murder of a highly-trained Assassin, even if the rest of the base were open to joining the mission. Plus, Nisa wasn't foolish enough to attempt a murder this close to Eveleen Sharpe's confession, when Indigo and the rest of us would be most on guard. I had time.