“We’ll save her.”
I hope so.
I went to my room to work on my glamour. It took all evening, but eventually, I felt confident the humans wouldn’t notice the differences between us. As long as they had someone to execute, they’d be content. Besides, I only needed to hold the glamour until I lost my head.
Standing in front of the mirror, looking at Aveen’s reflection only made me sink lower, so I let the glamour drop. I didn’t sleep; none of us did. We sat in the family room and discussed the plan and potential pitfalls until we’d worked out every single detail. Ruairi had his disguise; he was such a big fecker, I’d need to glamour him to get him through the doorway without drawing attention to himself. He’d be on his own when he tried to get out.
Confessions were usually held in the room opposite the offices. That’s where he’d be waiting with Aveen’s change of clothes. Tadhg and I couldn’t kill the guards, so we’d need to incapacitate or distract them long enough for me to take Aveen’s place.
That was Tadhg’s forte: distraction.
I stole uniforms from the two guards I’d killed, giving one to Tadhg.
The stage was set. All we needed to do was make it happen.
Gray sunlight inched over the horizon as Tadhg and I made our way in our matching uniforms to the jail. Ruairi marched between us, his shoulders hunched as if the glamour he wore didn’t quite fit him. I could feel my magic spilling out of me like a sieve under a tap, but I managed to keep all three of us glamoured until Ruairi disappeared into the confessional.
Two more guards waited by the entrance to the cells, as if they were too afraid to step inside. Not that I could blame them with the guard I’d murdered last night still lying prone on the floor.
Tadhg and I pushed past the other two, drawing our swords in tandem. We used to play soldiers when we were boys. Only those swords had been made of wood, not iron.
“On your feet, witch,” I snarled, gesturing toward Aveen with my blade. “Try anything and I’ll run you through.”
Aveen could barely stand. It took every ounce of my control to keep from helping her to her feet when her knees slammed into the unforgiving stones. One of the humans pushed past us, his companion shouting that Aveen was bound to curse us all.
“Leave off. The poor woman can’t stand,” the human said.
Tadhg kept his sword next to mine, pointed at Aveen, as we escorted her to the confessional chambers. Tadhg kicked the door three times, letting Ruairi know we had arrived.
“The witch is here fer her confession,” he said in a terrible Vellanian accent. Seriously. We were lucky no one else noticed. Tadhg had no future on the stage, that was for certain.
The door opened.
“Bring her in,” the brute beneath the black robes muttered, his accent only slightly better than my brother’s.
The human who had helped her eased Aveen onto one of the low benches at the front of the room.
“Leave us, my son,” Ruairi said, gesturing for us to go.
Tadhg and I were the first out, checking the empty hallway for witnesses. There were plenty of soldiersoutside, but that wasn’t a problem for right now. Right now, we needed to get rid of these two eejits following us into the otherwise empty hallway.
“We can take it from here,” I said.
“She’s dangerous,” said the second human, the fearful one. “Killed poor Walter from inside her cell while clapped in irons.”
“Suit yerself. But I saw a box of buns in the office.” I shifted the buns Eava had made last night. “We could grab a few before the witch comes out. No one will notice.”
“I’ll stay here,” Tadhg said. “But get me one as well.”
I followed the guards into the office, and we each snagged a bun. “I’ll run this out and be right back.”
“Thanks, lad,” said the human who had helped Aveen, removing his helmet to take a bite. “I’m bloody starving.”
By the time I came out, Tadhg was gone. I found Ruairi in the confessional and quickly changed into Aveen’s dirty garments, calling the glamour I’d worked so hard on last night.
Ruairi blinked at me through wide eyes before stretching a hand toward my face. “That’s feckin’ mad. Ye look just like her.”
“Touch me and lose your hand, dog.” I shrank onto the bench, waiting for the guards to return.