Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker #3)(99)

“It might be a good idea to have two stacks of wood ready at all times,” Lily suggested.

“I’ll see to it,” Rowan said.

“That’s not going to help,” Lillian countered, as frustrated with herself as she was with the situation. “We need to strike first or the Workers will kill us all. Surprise is the one advantage we have. We need to move.”

“I promised Toshi the day to get the rebels together. I’ll claim them in the morning. It’s just a few hours away,” Lily said.

“Not that they can do anything,” Breakfast mumbled. Lily frowned at him. “I’m just saying—if the Hive doesn’t allow them to show aggression, how can they help us?”

“It’ll be different once the fight starts. The Hive will have to fight on two fronts. They’ll be thrown off balance,” she replied with more confidence than she felt. “And they’re working on an antidote and a pesticide. If they can neutralize the Workers inside the city, all we have to do is fight the Warrior Sisters.”

“That’s all?” Breakfast asked. Una smacked his arm.

“Better than the alternative,” Una said to him. She looked at Lily. And better than you having to possess us so you can protect us against their stings, she added just between them in mindspeak.

I told you, Una. I’m not going to possess you again unless I have your permission, Lily promised.

Breakfast and Una shared a look. “Are you sure he can’t just—” Breakfast pantomimed sneaking up on Grace and throttling her. “We could coordinate with Red Leaf. He could tell us when she’s out of her body and we could send Toshi in there.”

“The Hive would sniff him out,” Tristan said with certainty. “He’d have to be able to do it without any kind of emotion changing his body chemistry. Maybe he could do it while he was sleepwalking or something.”

“Or possessed,” Lillian said quietly. The word slithered through the tent. She looked up. “I know mechanics hate thinking about possession, but consider the alternative.”

Lily could nearly hear Caleb gritting his teeth and intervened before he had a chance to say anything. “I’ll ask Toshi if he wants to try it.”

“But then he’ll know,” Lillian said, shaking her head. “If he knows, the Hive will be able to smell it on him.”

Lily felt everyone staring at her, waiting for a response. “And what if they smell my fear on him?” she asked quietly. “If I’m in complete control of his body, would my fear make his chemistry respond?”

“Yes,” Rowan answered. Lillian opened her mouth to argue with him, but he turned and looked directly at her for the first time and cut her off. “It’s too risky, Lillian,” he said. The way he said her name carried years of intimacy with it. Lily flushed and tried to wipe the thought of them together out of her mind.

“Why?” Lillian replied, pressing her point. “If it fails, all she has to do is jump him out of there. Even if she were too late and he were to die he would simply be the first of many in this war.”

Caleb stood up. “I wonder if Grace knew the moment she became evil,” he said. He looked at Lillian. “Did you know?” She didn’t respond. Caleb looked at Lily. “Will you?” He smiled to himself, figuring it out. “But none of you think you’re evil, do you? Not even Grace, I bet. Not even when she made the Hive. Didn’t she tell us that they protect the city so humans didn’t have to fight and die?” He paused, staring at Lily. “I bet she’s got it all worked out in her head so that she’s the hero.”

When he left the tent, no one tried to go after him. Breakfast was the first to speak.

“Just to be clear, you’re not going to possess Toshi, are you?” Breakfast asked.

“There are other options I want to try first,” Lily replied.

“Like what?” Tristan asked, raising a doubtful eyebrow.

Lily didn’t answer. Una eventually announced that she was tired and she and Breakfast retired, followed shortly by Tristan. Lily stood to leave when they did, but Rowan didn’t move from his spot on the floor of the tent.

“Are you going to bed?” Lily asked, standing uncertainly at the exit.

Rowan didn’t look at Lily. He was staring at Lillian. “Not yet,” he replied quietly. “Lillian and I have some things to discuss.”

Lillian had her eyes trained on her lap. Lily looked back and forth between the ex-lovers anxiously. After a few short moments her lingering presence grew painfully awkward.

“Alone, Lily,” Rowan added.

Lily left them, her head strangely light and her feet heavy. She took three slow steps before she heard Rowan say, “I’m not leaving until you tell me about my father, Lillian,” and she rushed back and hid by the entrance.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Lillian said.

“Stop it. Just stop,” Rowan said tiredly.

“It’s for your own good,” Lillian pleaded.

Rowan laughed bitterly. “My own good, huh? You still think you have the right to decide what’s good for me?”

“No,” Lillian whispered.

What the hell are you doing?

Lily spun around to find Una giving her a scathing look. Lily tried to think of a lie, but there was no explanation for why she would be lurking outside Lillian’s tent.