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Elide gripped Essar’s hands, finding them warm and dry "Does your sister knohere Cairn resides in the ca minutes, then an hour, they had talked Essar left and returned with Dresenda, her sister And in that alley, they had plotted

Elide finished telling Rowan, Lorcan, and Gavriel what she’d learned They sat in stunned silence for a long minute

"Just before dawn," Elide repeated "Dresenda said the watch on the eastern cauards to be occupied It’s our only "

Roas staring into the trees, as if he could see the layout of the ca his way in, way out

"She didn’t confirh," Gavriel cautioned "Maeve is gone--Aelin ht be with her, too"

"It’s a risk we take," Rowan said A risk, perhaps, they should have considered

Elide glanced to Lorcan, who had been silent throughout Even though it had been his lover who had helped theuided by Anneith herself Or at least had been tipped off by the scent on Elide’s clothes

"You think we can trust her?" Elide asked Lorcan, though she knew the answer

Lorcan’s dark eyes shifted to her "Yes, though I don’t see why she’d bother"

"She’s a good female, that’s why," Rowan said At Elide’s lifted brow, he explained, "Essar visited Mistward this spring She lare toward Lorcan "And asked me to tell you that she sends her best"

Elide hadn’t seen anything that caods, she was beautiful And so, somehow

Gavriel cut in, "If we ure out our plan now Get into position It’s ain toward that distant carowled, "then you’ll deserve whatever misery comes of your stupidity" Rowan flashed his teeth, but Lorcan said, "We all go in We all go out"

Elide nodded, in agreement for once Lorcan seemed to stiffen in surprise

Rowan arrived at that conclusion, too, because he crouched and plunged a knife into the er, and fished for a nearby pinecone "This is the southern entrance to the camp"

And so they planned

Rowan had parted fro theo in, all go out

Roould break into the eastern ca the southernnal near the east entrance, hidden in the forest just beyond the rolling, grassy hills on that side of the caic, diverting soldiers to their side while Rowan made his run for Aelin

Elide would wait for thes went badly

She’d protested, but even Gavriel had told her that she was mortal Untrained And what she’d done today … Rowan didn’t have the words to convey his gratitude for what Elide had done The unexpected ally she’d found

He trusted Essar She’d never liked Maeve, had outright said she did not serve her with any willingness or pride But these last few hours before dahen so…

Maeve was not here That ered in the steep hills above the southern entrance to the camp He’d easily kept hidden fro any trace of his scent

Down below, spread across the grassy eastern plain, the arlittered