Octo squeezed my fingers. “He was a good man, a brilliant man. He tried to tell me and I . . . I didn’t believe him. We fought about it, and he left. I never saw him again.”

I remembered him wandering the same halls as me, the hall with the supposed secret entrance to the cells. “You were looking for a way into the cells too, weren’t you?”

A bitter laugh escaped him. “Yes, but I didn’t have the gumption to be thrown in with him as you two did. Too much fear for too long in these old bones. But no more. I will help face down Requiem and whatever comes will be my reward or punishment.”

His earlier words reverberated in my head. Pick your battles. Requiem had shown us how very powerful he was and that he wasn’t afraid to use that power. How many more lives would be wiped out if we tried to face him without a solid plan?

The chance was too high that he would kill us all. And seeing how we were completely outnumbered, I wasn’t willing to take that chance. My job was still first and foremost to get Belladonna to safety. The only way to do that was to keep my own skin, and Ash’s, intact.

Folding the papers, I smoothed them out and handed them to Ash. “We just need to get Finley and Belladonna. That’s the plan. We get them out and we get out of the Deep. We’ll wait ‘til after the wedding ceremony.” Which would make it near dawn.

Ayu gasped. “You would let him wed your sister?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer her. Ash did it for me. “It makes sense. He won’t be expecting us after the ceremony. He’ll be waiting on us prior to it, or during.”

I looked at him. “You think he knows we survived?”

“When his shape shifters don’t come back, he’ll go looking. Or send more of his lackeys to make sure we’re dead.”

Octo and Ayu looked at each other and then me. “You won’t try to kill him?”

I shook my head. “I’m an Ender. I have no right to his life, and while I think he should die, I don’t want to risk anyone else’s life to make it happen. Certainly not my sister’s, and not Finley’s, either.”

We spoke a little longer, to clear up the details. Ayu would go to Requiem and make sure the two girls were “healthy” enough for being wedded and bedded. She would tell them we were coming for them, to stay strong. Octo would try to get word to my father. According to the old Undine, Requiem planned to go old school, marrying his two brides, and then sending them to his bedroom to wait on his pleasure. He would take part in the revelries and Octo would do his best to get him stinking drunk and keep him away as long as possible.

Ash and I would break into Requiem’s private quarters, wait for Belladonna and Finley, at which point we would extract them. Ayu would make sure there was a skiff waiting for us.

Such straightforward plans.

Yet my stomach rolled with anxiety as we waited. Standing in the darkness, the clear weather turned as if in tandem with my fears. The night sky clouded over and the wind picked up. Sharp, cold air snapped along Ash and me as we waited in the alley.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I whispered as the first rumble of thunder boomed into the night. Ash’s fingers brushed against mine.

“Don’t say that, I’m starting to look forward to my pedicure.”

Laughing softly, I shook my head. “Damn, I was hoping you’d forgotten.”

His eyes shone in the darkness, as if lit from within. “Never.”

CHAPTER 18

From our hiding spot, we heard the drums that signified the start of the wedding ceremony. My palms were sweaty and my heart rate soared as I strained to hear the words that would bind Belladonna and Finley to Requiem. I kept reminding myself when he was dead, the vows would be nullified.

Octo had managed to get us a few weapons—two daggers for me, and a mid-length sword for Ash—and made sure the boat Ayu secured for us was tied up on the western side of the Deep, closest to land. Closest to where we could use the armband again and Travel back to the Rim and safety. I touched the armband for the first time in a long while. That it was still there after all that happened shocked me.

Ayu had slipped away, her shoulders tight and hunched. We knew as she did that there was a very good chance Requiem would wonder why she was checking on the two girls. Even though she was a healer, it wasn’t common practice to certify the health of a prospective bride—or in this case, brides.

Requiem’s voice boomed over everyone else’s, but still, the words were muffled and I couldn’t make out a thing he was saying. The only good thing about hearing his voice was we knew he was busy. Even if he was marrying his own sister and mine. From our high perspective outside Requiem’s personal quarters, I stared across the courtyard at the twinkling lights and people wandering in the throne room that was somehow opened to the sky.

“Do you think Blue was able to stop him?” I glanced at Ash while I hopped in place, my nerves jangling to get moving. We had a long climb ahead of us and I didn’t want to burn out early, but I was jittery. The wall in front of us was easily the height of a redwood from back home, but that wasn’t what was bothering me. No, it was the fact that if we were caught, there would be no cells waiting for us. Requiem would kill us and be done with it.

Ash reached out and got a grip on the wall, pulled himself up, and dug his toes into crevices I couldn’t see. His muscles flexed in his thighs as he clung to the wall. “If Blue had managed to cause even a hitch in his plans, there wouldn’t have been any drums. I’d be surprised if she is still alive.”