A Court of Secrets and Moonlight

29: Mastermind

Azriel

Yesterday

Sometimes, I wasn't sure whether to be in awe of my mate or terrified of her.

I thought Rhys was the master of secrets and scheming, but at every turn I realized he was harmless in comparison to Leur. Only now did I realize just how many of her traps I had fallen into in those years before, just how cunning she truly was. I wasn't sure how I had never made the connections. I saw how she was in childhood. Well thought out pranks and pinning blame for petty messes on Rhys and Cass had turned into distractions from what she was really doing in Hybern, careful arrangements over months of subtle nudges and hints, entire armies moving in the direction she wanted them to.

And just like the King of Hybern, we had never suspected a thing until she wanted us to.

Perhaps if I were a lesser male, it would be a hit to my pride. I had thought I was good at these games after 500 years of being spymaster, thought I had been completely proficient in working to set things in place from the shadows, but Leur and her secrets had proven me utterly and completely wrong. She was a master strategist, and just as I had been when we were children- I was just happy to be in on her plans.

We only had one day until the ravens were set to make their move, and apparently it was all she needed to prime our court for their arrival. I had tracked them to base off the western borders of the Middle, an entire armada of ships gathered in the seas. I told Rhys that I had found them, but nothing more about how or why I had been looking in the first place. He didn't ask, not when he was faced with the choice to either attack or wait and see what they were doing, not when he thought Leur and I would be further scoping it out over the next few days. And I would, I'd gather intel of what plans the King had for the fleet, why they were there, what their target was.

But after we dealt with the ravens.

It wasn't entirely a selfish plan. It wasn't only based in Leur's personal vendetta against them. They were the King's personal spies, his personal assassins, just as Leur and I were for Rhys. Taking them out was the first step in weakening Hybern, taking out their first line of defense. Without them to do his dirty work, the King would be forced to send less experienced spies out. Spies, who would be less likely to realize false information being fed to them, who would be easier to track and kill. War was as much a mind game as it was brute strength. Victory lies with whoever has the most information. Without the ravens, Leur and I had no competition on that front.

Furthermore, Leur had informed me that the King only had one spell in his arsenal that would allow him to break into the wards around Velaris undetected. One spell, that could only be used once, the magic in the words shriveling and dying after they were spoken. And if the King used it to send the ravens in, he would no longer have any way into Velaris if he decided to break his bargain with Tamlin. We could fight this entire war, even lose, and the city would remain protected.

Which is why we altered our plan from killing them long before they made their move to letting them in, letting them fall into our trap. The benefits outweighed the risks, especially when it was only two males entering into the city, two males in a city guarded by the entire Inner Circle. Cassian's skill in battle, Mor's power, Amren's unholy existence, Feyre's power of all seven High Lord's, my abilities, Rhysand's darkness- and Leur, just one of us could decimate them. Leur was right when she had said that the King's arrogance was the key to defeating him.

So, we made our preparations.

Luckily, I had been able to figure out what the raven's target was. If it had been Leur, I would have ripped them half to shreds and then drug their bodies back to my mate to finish off for her vengeance. I wouldn't endanger her, not for anything. Though, lucky for them, they had their sights set on Nesta. Perhaps it was unlucky though, I had a feeling that whatever my mate had planned for them was a thousand times worse than anything I could come up with.