Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 43 - Lance - Pass Or Fail

Never in my life have five minutes felt so long as eternity. Darius and his group were gone by the time I woke everyone else up and made them eat cook's feast of a breakfast. Waiting until nine bells to leave for Gretel's killed me too, but that wasn't as bad as waiting in the closest alleyway to the front gates until the clock tower's longer hand points down. Henry and Alister are just as anxious, both bouncing on their toes and playing with their hands. I've had more stressful missions than this, but none of them made me this nervous.

The plan is sound, we just need to make sure that no one dies or fucks it up. Fauna ordered me to do this, to make sure that everyone was as safe as possible, but in any scenario, we'd be in danger, so the mark on my skin didn't hold me back when I decided to use the riskiest yet only functional plan we had. I'm sure that if we had more time we'd be able to bargain with something or find a way to gain the upper hand, but we don't, and we've gone long enough without her.

The hand finally falls, and I turn to Henry and Al watching as their faces reek of nervousness and anxiety. "Remember, don't think more than needed, don't show your true feelings, and whatever you do, don't do something that could get Clare or anyone else killed or harmed. We're the front line. If we fall, so does everyone else."

"No pressure then." Henry stares up at the castle walls, his lip caught between his teeth. Despite his on-edge behavior, he rolls out his shoulders and nods. He's ready.

Patting Alister on the back, I pull up my balaclava and tug down my hood, and then head for the gates. There are water wolves laying on each side of them, but they don't do more than open their silver eyes and glance at us. I remember the first time I entered these gates. Fauna and I had our normal life back then where our biggest worry at the time had been Willdred Maron and his inevitable death.

Fauna had put a brute of a guard in his place, calling him names that made his face tighten in satisfying anger. She was full of life and let everyone know it, and I loved that she was. That day I swore her smile stayed for the entire walk to the throne room and only dropped it to darken her expression to meet the royals. I always loved walking beside my sister to make an impression, and at that moment, I had never loved it more.

We pass under the archway, marking the point at which Xaxias and his dogs are most likely to feel us entering. No one has been allowed in until now, and that'll make them curious yet excited, which means I can't be Lance Arthur Rheasydia, I have to be the Sinister Fox.

None of the wolves laying about the grounds stop us, but it is rather eerie when the double doors of the castle open on their own. They definitely know we're here. We walk through, and still no sign of life in sight aside from the pair of wolves that seem to be wrestling in the foyer. Their being nonchalant comforts me, but it's short-lived as we approach the throne room doors, and they too slowly open on their own. A wave of something all too familiar rushes out as they open. Death. There's the stench of it, the chill and heat of it tingling on my fingers. Death may be an old friend who guides my shoulder, but even his touch disappears as we walk in.

Everyone's here. Every follower that Xaxias currently has left lines one path to the dais where he stands, Eleanor and Charles at each end at the bottom step, Xaxias dressed in all black smiling like a mad cat watching mice run in circles, and no sign of Visha.

Shit.

I keep my gait sure and steady, my body thrumming with the urge to fight, but my mind clear in case he can somehow read minds. We don't know what he can do, so it's better safe than sorry.

We stop five feet from the dais, Al and Henry staying a step behind me as I told them to in Gretel's. Yes, both for drama and protection on all sides.

"Will you not bow?" I didn't forget his voice, but it still runs shivers down my spine to hear the scrape of it.