Land of Smoke and Ashes

A Plan in Motion

"We shouldn't have the princess here again," Edward muttered, jerking Natalie out of her thoughts. She frowned at him. He'd been complaining about it for hours and it was starting to seriously wear on her nerves. "She puts us at risk, the human is bad enough, with all the soldiers hunting for her."

Irritated, Natalie opened her mouth to say she had a name, thank you very much, but Jesse was already saying hastily, "The soldiers aren't going to bother." She broke a piece off the loaf of bread in front of her, depositing it onto her plate. "They're going to be pretty lax this entire week, so you should take advantage of that." She gave Sam a pointed look, and he folded his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I told you, we don't make a move until we know the outcome of the diplomatic treaty."

"You know what the outcome will be," Gwen said darkly. "He's going to throw a hundred solutions at her, and she's going to pretend to be polite and listen to them all."

"And then she's going to turn around and tell him the only way she'll stop is an alliance, with him. And he's not stupid enough for that. He knows she'd bump him off the second the crown touched her head. What better way to get the entire country in the palm of her hand without lifting a finger."

"There's no way he'll go for that." Edward said, and then the confidence wavered slightly and he glanced at Devon. "Would he?"

"No," Devon said grimly. "But all that means is that we're back to another stalemate. She's going to keep taking over cities and demanding money and tithes from all her new 'subjects' and he's going to keep protesting peacefully. Peaceful is over though, we need action."

Sam shook his head, his expression frustrated. "Action is good but I'm not sending our people on a suicide mission." He set his fork down, though his dinner was hardly touched. "We'll talk it over at the meeting tonight." He glanced over at Natalie. "Will you be fine for an hour on your own here? Nobody should come in, and we'll make sure the doors are locked."

A tingle of excitement ran through her, and she had to work hard to keep her face straight. This couldn't be more perfect. With the others off at whatever secret meeting they were conducting, she would be able to meet up with Kira and sneak into the open-air market. Of course, an hour wasn't very much time, and most likely they would see her coming back in, but it was better to take action now and apologize later, wasn't it? There was no way he would let her go otherwise.

"Sure," she said, making sure her voice was flat. "I'm sure it's fine."

After dinner she waited impatiently for them to leave. To her frustration they left in groups, so as not to attract suspicion, Jewels explained. Whatever it was for, it took a very long time until the last stragglers, Edward and Devon, were out the door. Even after the sound of their footsteps in the stairwell faded, Natalie stayed where she was seated on the end of the bed, nerves gnawing at the insides of her stomach. What if they had walked past the open door of the pub and seen Kira in there? That would give everything away. But Kira was a spy, she had to be good at not being seen when she didn't want to be, right?

Natalie took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Disguises or not, it wouldn't do much good if she looked as twitchy as she felt. People would guess she was up to something merely by looking at her face. She twisted the ring around her finger, frowning down at it. It was strange that this was the only thing keeping her from looking completely obvious. What if it fell off somehow while they were beside the palace? What if the soldiers spotted her and realized she was human? She would be dragged into the dungeons while they tried to figure out where the necklace was. That would be short work though, they would find it in her pocket immediately.

Uneasily, she thought about leaving the necklace here. But that thought made her almost as nervous as having it on her in the marketplace. It wasn't as though she didn't trust the others—well, maybe not Edward—but she didn't know if she could bear being parted with it. It was her and her mother's only way home, and her only connection to her mother.

Another deep, shaky breath, and Natalie got to her feet. It had to have been at least ten minutes, right? That seemed like enough time that they would be long gone from the inn, and she opened the door slowly, edging her way down the staircase a step at a time. The faint noises of laughter and the clatter of mugs on the bar drifted up the stairs to where she stood. It was busy down there, people were still eating dinner, which was good. The more packed it was the less likely they were to attract attention.

She saw Kira right away. The princess had elected to wear the same patchy cloak that Natalie had first seen her in, and she was sitting in one of the corner booths cradling a steaming mug. When Natalie slid into the booth across from her the smell of apple cider washed over her, and her mouth began watering.

"Here, drink up." Kira slid a second mug across the table, and Natalie took it gratefully. The princess kept her hood on, but she leaned forward, close enough that Natalie could see underneath it. "I got the clothing we need. I tried to get a message to Darjaling, but I haven't heard back yet. She's probably just insanely busy, as usual. Life's tough when you're the murderous queen's favorite silkmaster." Kira's mouth curved in a smile. "I hope you like purple, because we're going as silk merchants, and let's just say our outfits reflect that."

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