Colorful vegetables looked back at me from my plate. Using my fork, I poked at the fried pieces while studying them skeptically. The bright colors alone screamed of danger. Even though they had been chopped up and cooked in a frying pan along with herbs and some kind of thin dark sauce, they were still so alarmingly colorful that no normal animal would even dare to go near them. Let alone eat them. Add to that that they had come from Grant’s garden, and every one of my survival instincts was screaming at me not to touch them.
I glanced up at Callan, who was sitting opposite me at the massive dining room table made of pale wood. The midday sun fell in through the windows and glittered in his dark eyes as he raised his head and met my gaze. Suspicion swirled in his eyes as well.
Next to me, Malcolm tracked Grant’s kitchen staff as they set down the final plate in front of Sienna and then moved to stand silently by the wall. Malcolm’s brown eyes drifted over the gigantic forest paintings that hung on the walls before his attention slid back to his plate, but he didn’t touch the food either.
“There’s no magic in it, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Grant said from his seat at the head of the table. His blue eyes twinkled in the sunlight as he looked from face to face. “It’s just food.”
I glanced down at the white and gold plate again and used my fork to push a bright pink vegetable closer to the edge, but made no move to eat it. Next to Callan, Sienna unceremoniously speared two pale blue pieces and popped them in her mouth. Malcolm, Callan, and I all watched her as she chewed.
A soft chuckle drifted through the room. Leaning back in his ornate chair, Grant swirled the red wine in his glass while watching us with amusement on his face. “I thought we all trusted each other now.”
For a few seconds, no one said anything. Sienna kept eating as if she hadn’t been listening, but Callan, Grant, Malcolm, and I exchanged a look. Then Callan and Malcolm snorted while Grant and I let out a short chuckle.
Setting down my fork, I instead picked up my glass of wine and raised it in front of me. “To the absence of trust.”
The others huffed out a laugh and did the same.
Once I had set my glass down, I looked over at Sienna again. She was almost halfway through her meal already, and since she wasn’t acting strangely, or at least not any stranger than usual, I picked up my fork again and began eating as well.
Surprise flitted through me as I took a bite. It was actually really tasty. Spicy yet fresh, and full of flavors I had never experienced before.
“It’s just as I suspected,” a voice said from the doorway.
We all turned to find Sam strolling into the spacious dining room. Grant immediately lifted a hand and gave some sort of signal to one of the kitchen staff who was waiting by the wall. A young man in a crisp white shirt disappeared towards the kitchen.
“What is?” Malcolm asked.
Sam glanced towards me and Callan. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to bottle healing magic like you said that healer in Malgrave did, but it’s not exactly a trick you learn overnight.”
“Any estimated timeline?”
He shook his head, making his blond hair shift slightly around his face, as he dropped into the chair next to Callan. “Maybe a year. At least.”
We all nodded. It was to be expected for something as advanced as that.
Right as Sam sat down, the young man reappeared and placed a plate full of those colorful fried vegetables in front of him. He picked up his fork and just dug right in.
A small smile blew across my lips. Sometimes I envied him. He was the only one of us who knew without a doubt that no other dark mage would ever do anything to hurt him.
“Oh, by the way,” Sam said around a mouthful of food. “Paige and Henry are on their way back. I saw them through the window so they should be here any—”
“I have news,” Paige announced as she and Henry came striding across the threshold.
“Second,” Sam finished with a chuckle.
Paige, still wearing the stolen constables uniform, sauntered up to the table and threw herself down on an empty chair to my right. She had been running surveillance on Quill’s camp all morning. Before she left, Henry had offered to go with her and watch from the edge of the garden in case something went wrong and she needed help getting out. To my surprise, Paige had let him.
While Grant once more signaled to his staff to bring out more plates, Henry sat down on Paige’s other side. The ornate wooden chair creaked in alarm underneath his massive frame.
“Good news or bad news?” I asked.
Paige leaned over and snatched a bright green vegetable off my plate. After popping it in her mouth, she leaned back in her chair again and crossed her arms while chewing thoughtfully. “That depends on what we do with the information.”
The young man returned with plates for her and Henry too. Once everything was in place, Grant flicked his wrist. Every member of his kitchen staff quickly disappeared out the door.
“There’s a new shipment of food coming,” Paige said once they were gone. “To replace what we torched and drugged.”
Sienna’s eyes finally snapped up from her plate. “So I get to burn all of that to ash too, right?”
“That’s where the bad news comes in. It’s a trap to lure us out and then ambush us. They’re stealthily pulling people from other parts of the camp and sending them to protect that food as it comes in. So it’ll be heavily guarded, specifically to make sure they overwhelm you and catch you when you try to go after those wagons.”
“I still don’t get where the good news part of this is,” Sam said, his pale brows scrunched up.
Henry shrugged. “When they shift that many guards to the food delivery, it means that other parts of the camp will be less defended.”
“Oh.”
Silence fell across the dining room as we all looked at each other.
“So we could hit something else then?” Grant said eventually.
“The question is, should we risk it?” Malcolm slid his gaze to Callan. “When is Arden coming?”
Callan lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, come on,” Sienna interrupted. “Let’s attack! Just sitting here won’t help us win this war.”
Grant heaved a sigh. “She has a point. We could take out their weapons tents. That would make them less likely to push for close combat once the fighting starts. As you already know, most of us here detest close combat.”
Silence once more descended on the room while we all considered our options. Only the clinking of utensils broke it as Paige inhaled her food.
I drummed my fingers against the table. Sienna was right. Just hiding in here was pointless. For all I knew, Levi Arden could be a lying piece of shit who had no intention of holding up his end of the bargain. He still hadn’t arrived, so who knew when or if he would even show up. And if he didn’t, we would need to find a way to end this war on our own, which meant that we couldn’t let chances like this one slip past.
“I agree,” I said. “Let’s hit their weapons tent while they’re busy defending the food.”
Malcolm straightened the cuffs of his suit jacket. “Just because it’s less defended doesn’t mean that it’s undefended.”
I shot him a taunting look. “Scared?”
Not bothering to even dignify such a statement with a reply, he just let a sharp smile full of threats slowly spread across his lips.
“We’ll do a coordinated assault,” Callan picked up before I could do something to wipe that smile off Malcolm’s face. “If we all hit it simultaneously, we’ll minimize the risk to us.” His dark brown eyes slid to his friend. “Henry?”
Henry huffed out a short laugh and raised his eyebrows. “Do you even need to ask?”
“I’m coming too,” Sam announced.
“No,” we all blurted out in unison.
His gray eyes flashed as he looked from face to face. “You seem to be forgetting that I’m a dark mage too. I don’t need your permission.” Raising his chin, he stared us down. “And besides, it was different when you were all hitting different targets. Now, you’ll be in the same place at the same time, so it’s much easier if I’m there too. Like I keep telling you, I can heal you, but not if you’re already dead.”
“Yeah, then I’m coming too,” Paige said.
Panic and fear crackled through me, and I snapped my gaze to her. “What? No. You’re not a battle mage.”
She heaved an exasperated sigh and raised her eyebrows at me. “Have you already forgotten that I warned you not to make me lecture you again?”
“No, but this is different. Paige, please. You—”
“Look, I know I’m not a battle mage. But I can block well enough.” She pointed towards the blond healer across the table. “Which means that I can shield him while you do the fighting.”
For a moment, we all just looked at each other.
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Henry said at last.
Paige jabbed an elbow into his side and threw him a mock glare. “What do you mean actually?”
Red crept into his cheeks, but before he could say anything, Grant spoke up.
“I agree.” He nodded to no one in particular. “We all go.”
One by one, we nodded back. Malcolm was the last one, but eventually he jerked his chin down as well.
Anticipation crackled through my veins. As soon as Quill moved his people towards the food delivery, we would hit their weapons stash. I was at an incredible disadvantage in close-range fights, so destroying all of their swords and daggers and other weapons would help make sure that I survived the real battles to come.
Oh, I couldn’t wait to see Quill’s face when he realized that he had sent his people to protect the wrong target.
This was going to be fun.
