Brigitta takes another sip of her coffee. “Jian and I settled in Sta’Crivero a few years ago—not in the capital. A small, nameless village near the eastern coast. It seemed easier to avoid attention that way, though I suppose a Kalovaxian woman and a Gorakian man will draw attention no matter where they go. One of our kind neighbors alerted the King to our presence in exchange for extra water rations sometime last month. They’ve had us ever since.”

Something clicks into place in my mind.

“You’re part of the exchange,” I say. “You’re the reason Prince Avaric is coming here in person—to oversee your trade for…what? The Water Mine? King Etristo must think her a sentimental fool, trading so much for a few hundred troops and her mother and the lover her mother abandoned her for. He likely has no idea who he really holds.”

At that, she shrugs.

“Speaking as little Sta’Criveran as I do, I couldn’t understand everything my captors said. But it seems King Etristo and my daughter reached an agreement after he warned her and the Kaiser about your plans—and yes, that’s the gist of the trade. Sta’Crivero gets access to the Water Mine in exchange for troops to help quash the Astrean uprising once and for all. Capturing me and turning me over to my daughter is meant to be the King’s gesture of good faith ahead of the official trade, which Crescentia and Prince Avaric are meant to seal in person just outside the mine. Jian and I were sent early with a small group of guards to validate our identities with a Kalovaxian guard who had been part of the Theyn’s household in Goraki. Crescentia’s scout left just a day before you arrived.”

My heart drops. “Cress is coming here,” I say slowly, having trouble wrapping my mind around anything else she said.

“Yes. This evening,” Brigitta says, brow furrowing in confusion. “Didn’t you know?”

I shake my head. I knew about the Sta’Criverans, I knew about the trade, I even knew about Prince Avaric coming in person to seal the treaty. Maybe I should have known that Cress would come in person as well, but the Kaiser always hid behind the palace walls, always sent others to do his bidding. He would never have risked his own life coming to meet a stranger whose loyalty he couldn’t rely on.

Or maybe I did know, deep down. Maybe I just didn’t want to accept it. Maybe I knew I wasn’t ready to face her again.

“She won’t be coming alone,” I say finally, looking up at Brigitta. “She would be a fool to meet a foreign prince and his army with only her guards. She’s not a fool. She’ll be coming with an army. A large one, I’d imagine. The Sta’Criverans worked against her so recently, she won’t trust them. And besides, she’ll want to show off so they never think of crossing her again.”

We came to the Water Mine expecting to ambush a simple trade—we aren’t nearly prepared to step into a full-blown war.

* * *

—

“We could run,” Maile says, breaking the silence that’s hung over the commandant’s office for the last few minutes.

Barely a moment after Brigitta’s revelation, Maile stormed back into the commandant’s office, Heron and Jian following in her wake. Jian had told them the same thing Brigitta had told me. We called for a guard to bring Jian and Brigitta somewhere secure, and surmising that her presence was needed as an advisor more than a guard, Artemisia joined the rest of us in the office, closing the door firmly behind her.

We just got word from the scouts that ships are visible on the horizon now and they’ll be here before sundown.

“We can’t run,” I say, my voice level even though fear is coursing through my veins, hot and panicked. “We have a Sta’Criveran army approaching offshore to the south and the Kalovaxians coming from the north by land. With as many people as we have—many of them still injured or malnourished—we won’t be able to move fast enough to avoid getting caught in between.”

Maile doesn’t back down, though. Her eyes meet mine, hard and sure. “We can run,” she corrects me. “Us and the people who can keep up.”

“You can’t be serious,” Heron says, spitting the words out.

“I’m not saying it’s ideal,” she says. “But I won’t be shamed for suggesting the only reasonable way out of this. Some of us can survive this, or none of us will.”

“It isn’t as if we would get far,” Artemisia puts forth. “Once the Kalovaxians arrive and see the mess we’ve left, they’ll follow us, and since the only way to avoid detection and keep from running headlong into their army is to travel around Lake Culane, they’ll catch up with us in a matter of hours.”

Their bickering continues, but I barely hear it. This attack was my idea. I’m the one who read the situation wrong, who didn’t get enough information before making a decision. Perhaps I should have waited, but that might have left us still at the Fire Mine, waiting and vulnerable.

I turn over what Brigitta said before. Cress will be here tomorrow, and she and her army expect to find the Water Mine in its usual condition. They will meet with Prince Avaric to seal a deal, and then both parties will be on their way once more. It’s such a lot of fuss for such a short meeting. If only there were a way to drape a curtain over the mine, to hide that we’ve been here.

As soon as the thought occurs to me, an idea follows on its heels.

“How many Water Guardians do we have?” I ask, but my words are drowned out in the bickering. I clear my throat and try again, loud enough to be heard.

Maile looks at me as if she forgot I was here. She shakes her head. “Twenty,” she says.

“Actually, none,” Artemisia says. “No trained Water Guardians. Twenty people with raw power but no training.”

“Twenty, though,” I say slowly. I think of what Artemisia has done on her own, then multiply that by twenty. I understand what she’s saying. I understand the difference, I do, but I also remember what I could do even before I started my training. My power was a wild, untamed thing, yes, but it was strong. And we don’t have any other options.

“We aren’t going anywhere,” I say to Maile before looking at Artemisia. “And we aren’t fighting, either. With the number of troops Cress will have with her, and our own forces recovering from this morning, it is a fight we would lose. So instead we’re going to hide in plain sight and wait for this to pass. Then we will continue on our way without the Kalovaxians any the wiser.”

“And the Sta’Criverans?” Heron asks.

“We can take them out before they even set foot on shore. They aren’t experienced warriors, and they are less experienced sailors. With the help of a few Fire and Water Guardians, we can destroy the fleet.”

“That’s all well and good, but the Kalovaxians will still find a destroyed camp,” Maile says.

“No they won’t,” I tell her. “They’ll see the camp exactly as it was, exactly as they expect to. And Prince Avaric and the Sta’Criverans will be on the shore, waiting and ready to strike a deal.”

The others frown, confused, but Artemisia meets my gaze. “You’re talking about using untrained Guardians,” she says. “You know better than most, Theo, how raw power is different from trained power.”

“I do,” I say. “And under different circumstances, I wouldn’t suggest it. But as it is, I have to ask: Can it be done?”

She hesitates before nodding. “In theory, yes.”

“In theory will have to be good enough.”

“And what about the trade?” Heron asks. “Cress wants Jian and Brigitta, but if what Brigitta told you is correct—”

“She can’t have Jian,” I say, shaking my head. “Whatever happens tonight, that much I know. We’ll tell her he died on the journey here.”

“She won’t be happy about that,” Artemisia says.

“I’m sure she won’t be,” I say. “But I’d rather deal with her temper than put that weapon in her hands.”

“And Brigitta?”

I hesitate, biting my lip. “If we don’t have either of them, she’ll grow suspicious,” I say. “And Brigitta isn’t dangerous to trade. Cress’s interest in her is sentimental, not strategic.”

“She’ll kill her,” Heron points out.

She will, I know, but not right away. I’m sure Cress has more in store for her. Perhaps I’ll retake the capital before Cress can kill her; perhaps it won’t make a difference. But Brigitta was right: I am a queen, and I will do what needs to be done.

“We’ll trade Brigitta, but the Kalovaxians cannot be allowed to find Jian. If this plan doesn’t work…” I trail off, but Artemisia catches my meaning.

“They may take the rest of us, but they won’t take him alive,” she says.

HERON WORKS ON HEALING THE Water Guardians as quickly as possible while Maile herds the former slaves and anyone injured in battle into their barracks, where they will remain out of sight until the Kalovaxians leave.

While those preparations are being made, Artemisia, the other Fire Guardians, and I make our way to the seashore, a couple of miles from the camp.

“Could you kill her if you had to?” Art asks me as we walk.