Page 247 of Onyx Cage: Volume II

“Those were only the men I could reach on the way here, in less than a week, in a small section of Bear. I could probably get…” she trailed off, doing the mental arithmetic. “Five times that many? Would that be sufficient?”

That was well over a thousand soldiers. An entire regiment at our fingertips, that my wife was simply offering—if they agreed, of course.

I gave her a small nod. There were still so many variables with her plan, but she had successfully done it before. Considering the way Andrei and the others respected her and rallied around her, there was no reason to think she couldn’t do it again.

“Get them how?” Lord Belova asked dubiously.

“Sir Evander offered reintegration into the clan in exchange for fighting. Surely, that will bring them here,” Taras began before I cut in.

“They don’t trust the clan, or…me,” I said matter-of-factly. This offer would only work if they believed in the person presenting it. If they trusted them.

I steeled myself, glancing at my wife again. “What did you have in mind? Sending one of them out?”

Surely, they would trust another Unclanned. Andrei was loyal to Rowan, so he would likely be a good candidate for the mission. But something told me that was not her plan.

“To some extent, they trust each other, or at least, will listen to each other, especially Andrei. But they won’t follow him,” she said, sitting up a little straighter in her chair before continuing. “They will follow me.”

Der’mo.

I kept my features neutral, offering her the same respect I would give any of my other lords or captains at this table.

“You want to go out to recruit them yourself?” I asked carefully, ignoring the unease twisting at my gut.

She nodded.

“Alone?” My free hand clenched into a fist, my throat going tight as I pushed the word out.

Her eyes didn’t leave mine, and she didn’t hesitate to respond, like she already had followed this idea through to the end.

“I would take a small contingent of my men. Including Andrei.”

It took everything in me not to say no. To demand she stay here with me, or that I accompany her myself. To remind her that I had only just gotten her back and the roads were dangerous, and Iiro still wanted her head and…then I thought of the betrayal in her perfect eyes, and the way she had made me promise to give her a voice.

A choice.

The rigid set of her jaw, her stiff posture and challenging expression told me she was thinking the same thing. Waiting to see if I would go back on my word so soon.

I swallowed, forcing the question past my lips, even though it went against everything I believed in to stand back and watch her march directly into danger.

“When do you leave?”

Her shoulders relaxed a little and she squeezed my hand.

“The sooner the better,” she said, shooting me a mischievous grin. “And, of course, you would be welcome to accompany me.”

Clever little lemmikki.I was torn between irritation at her game and relief that that’s all it was. Still, I shot her a small smirk.

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” I said casually.

I glanced up at my cousin then, letting him know we would need to have runners in place in addition to messenger birds. I didn’t want to take any chances when it came to our communication, not when we needed every minute to eke whatever advantage we could get.

“Of course, Your Grace,” Taras said, looking a little too entertained by the way my wife had just so obviously played me.

I dutifully ignored him, still clinging to my wife’s hand under the table as I laid out several strategies we could employ to make this work.

For the next hour, we discussed each one, testing their merits and challenging them to make sure there were no obvious holes, nothing we were missing. By the time we were finished with the meeting, everyone seemed almost hopeful.

Like for the first time, they believed we might actually be able to win this war.