“You have my support; you'll always have my support. I don't like this, but of course, you are right and so go alone, I guess. Go do your super-hero thing....” Jericho smiled sadly down at me, and his expression was so caring, so filled with longing that I almost gave into him even though he wasn't fighting me.

“Ok, good.” I cleared my throat, tearing my eyes away from Jericho's and stabilizing my resolve.

“Sebastian, rumor has it that underground tunnels lead to a pool house. Are they true?” Jericho turned from me, asking our prisoner for directions to kill his cousin with the first hint of respect I had heard in his voice.

“Yes, they're true, and they do lead to the pool house on the north side of the property. Kiran and I used to play in them when we were younger, so unless something drastic happened in the last five years then they should still be open. I can draw you a map of the grounds, Eden. Once you're on the greens, you'll still have to get inside the house, and to Kiran's room,” Sebastian explained quietly.

“I should be clear right now, Eden,” Jericho interrupted, “I know that we use the word, 'palace,' but really it's an extremely large house in the countryside just outside of London. It's not like what you saw in India. It just happens to be one of the larger, nicer estates in the country.”

“Ah, ok.” I had to mentally adjust my thinking. I pictured a medieval stone castle, dark and gloomy with lots of secret passageways and echoing hallways that would be easy to hide in. I pictured Romania. Now, I would be breaking into a house, with narrow hallways and smaller spaces. “So are there security cameras?”

“Of course,” Sebastian snapped and then shook his head as if to come back to himself, “I apologize, there will be security cameras, but the palace is not a fortress, it is not like Romania. Give me some paper, I'll draw you a map.”

Silence prevailed for a few minutes while the rest of us searched the apartment casually, looking for a paper and pen. Gabriel found what we needed in a desk in the sitting room and brought it over to Sebastian who immediately began drawing a rough sketch of the grounds.

“Here is where the tunnel will come out.” he drew a building labeled pool house and a treed area with an arrow pointing outwards from it toward a large box labeled main house. His sketch was basic and crude, but obvious enough so that I could understand the lay of the land.

A large main house sat in the middle of ten acres of land. Five different swimming pools dotted the property, but only the largest pool had a house connected to it. From Sebastian's drawing I could tell a thick wooded area and a tall, secured, stone wall surrounded the entire property.

“It might be easier,” Sebastian continued, “if you could get to Kiran's room from the outside, instead of breaking into the house.” He sat back on his chair, biting his thumbnail; the simple gesture reminded me of Avalon, sending an agonizing chill down my back.

“Where is his room?” I asked, wishing I hadn't missed the P.E. rock climbing trip so I could do my Eternal Walk in India, after all.

Sebastian pointed to a box on the south side of the house with a large balcony drawn around it. He explained that it might be possible to scale the outside of the house using the vined lattice that adorned the backside of the mansion. I could climb the lattice and shimmy my way over the balcony, quietly take out Talbott, or whoever was in there with him, finish the job, and leave the same way; no one would know the difference.

The plan actually sounded like it could work.

“It sounds way too easy,” I mumbled, finding my own thumbnail to chew on.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Gabriel offered, less than comforting.

“Sebastian, if this is some sort of trick, I swear to God, I will kill you myself,” Jericho growled, from behind me. He ran his fingers through his hair and then started pacing the length of the kitchen nervously.

“Well, obviously, the Guard doesn't anticipate someone without magic wanting to break into the palace and that is why it will be easy. If Eden, can turn off her magic then she can move around the grounds undetected, theoretically, anyway. That's why it sounds easy, this is not a trick,” he insisted sadly, slumping down further in his chair, his sunken eyes turning black with misery.

“My magic will not be a problem,” I promised everyone in the room, including myself. “Are you sure he will be in this room, though?” I asked, pointing to the rough map on the arm of Sebastian's chair.

“That is his room, but whether his is there for sure, I cannot say.” Sebastian looked up at me, with desperation. He was giving me directions to murder his cousin, his best friend, and his crowned prince and I almost broke for him. Kiran was my enemy, and Sebastian too, for that matter, but I couldn't separate my compassion for a human life from my desire for revenge.

“How many Guards will be there with him?” I asked, trying to put together as much intel about this mission as I could.

“The grounds will be covered with Guard, and the house as well, but as far as in his room, last time I visited there, it was just Kiran and one other Guard, usually Talbott. There will be a nurse as well, but as far as magical ability, she won't be anything you need to worry about.” Sebastian looked to the side, towards a window on the far side of the apartment. My eyes followed his and I stared out at the busy London street, wishing I was meeting all of these beautiful cities under completely different circumstances.

“Will Lucan be there?” I asked. My fears subsided at the mention of his name and the angry vengeance that swallowed my soul, swelled inside of me, reminding me of my purpose.

“No, he is in....” Sebastian cleared his throat nervously, “Romania.”

“Of course,” I whispered, almost going blind with rage at the idea he was with my brother. I knew that Lucan was torturing and assaulting Avalon daily, but those were the kind of facts that would always claw at my heart and make panic and hysteria nag at my neck.

“I don't like this,” Jericho interrupted loudly. “Something just doesn't feel right.”

“Do we have another choice?” I turned to him, asking genuinely. “Is there another option? Another way to get to him? Is there another alternative besides killing him?” I asked, looking to each man in the room individually, but I was met with silence, even from Jericho. “Seriously, if there is another way I am wide open to suggestions, but we all know that there isn't. We all know, that this is our only option and our only opportunity.”

I looked at Jericho, hoping that above everyone else, I had convinced him. He looked back at me, pain etched in his hazel eyes. I wanted to say more, to comfort him, to promise that I would be all right, but I couldn't find the right words, or the false hope that even I didn't believe in. He stared at me a moment longer and then left the room, mumbling something about needing a shower.

“Man, there is nothing to eat here!” Titus exclaimed, breaking the tension in the room.

“Are you hungry, Eden?” Gabriel asked, his voice and thick accent soothing against my frayed nerves.

“Actually, yes, I am,” I lied, deciding I needed to have as much energy for tonight as possible.

“Titus, do you know a good place to get some food to bring back?” Gabriel asked, his fingers never leaving his rosary, and Titus nodded, lighting up at the mere mention of sustenance. “All right, then, let's go get some. Will you be Ok, Eden?”

“Yes, of course, that's a great idea,” I assured them.

“We'll be back in a few minutes. If you try anything, if you even look at her wrong, I will break your scrawny, mortal arm off, got it?” Titus threatened Sebastian on his way out the door.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, but shook his head yes anyway. After the door closed behind Gabriel and Titus, I walked to a couch across from Sebastian's chair and sat down, silently suppressing my magic, making sure it would disappear without complication.

“How is it that it comes so naturally to you and I feel like the definition of death?” Sebastian asked almost playfully.

“What comes naturally? My Magic? How can you even tell?” Amory's magic did not give me the fight that I thought it would. I could easily turn it off, but turning it back on was a different story. The strong magical forces came back more aggressively than I expected. I could handle the jolt of electricity now because there were only seconds between the magic turning off and turning on, but I was nervous for later tonight when there would be an hour or more of buildup.

“Even without my own magic, yours rather suffocates everything else in the room. No wonder, poor Jericho is so in love with you,” Sebastian sighed, never taking his eyes off me.

“That's none of your business,” I said casually, trying to play off Sebastian's words, but wondering what his game plan was here. I knew that he was saying things to me, trying to get a reaction, trying to provoke an emotional response, but so far, I couldn't figure it out.

“You're probably right,” he laughed, “I just feel bad for the chap. Do you think that when you finish with him, and you've taken your smothering magic away that he will end up like poor Kiran? Will he on his death bed, wonder what he could have done differently to keep you by his side?”

“How dare you!” I stood up, wanting nothing more than to slap him. “Do not talk about me like I am some fickle woman with time to spare and love to throw away. You know better!”

“Forgive me,” he answered quietly, but sarcastically, “I do know better, don't I?”

I walked to the window breathing deeply and fighting off the rage. I focused on tonight, on my mission and the work it would take to pull it off and pushed Sebastian's words from my mind. I couldn't let him get to me now; I couldn't let him distract me from my goal. I wasn't the reason Kiran was dying. He was. At least for now.

But tonight, I would take all of the credit for his death. And then Sebastian could blame me all he wanted. The whole damned kingdom could blame me.

Chapter Seventeen

We walked silently to the mouth of the tunnel, hidden well behind a boulder and thick silver birch tree. Jericho held my hand tightly, he remained silent the entire walk from the car where Gabriel waited patiently for him to return.

“So, this is it,” I whispered, more afraid of letting go of Jericho's hand than anything I faced so far.

“Eden, you don't have to do this, we can find another way. Or you could just let whatever he is dying of kill him, the result is the same and the kingdom will not know the difference,” Jericho reasoned, speaking quietly but confidently.

“They might not know the difference, but there would be a difference. We both know that, Jericho. Besides, this is something I want to do. I have to face him, I have to.... to.... I have to remember what he did to my brother and how he betrayed me. I must find vengeance or I will never be able to face his father,” I confessed slowly, finally understanding my own need to see this mission through.

“Come here.” He pulled me into a hug, burying his face in my thick, black hair I had piled on top of my head. “If you need anything, I'm just a phone call away,” he whispered.