Page 15 of Heartless Enemy
I didn’t want to have to fight my way into the parliament building because it would ruin the element of surprise and give those bloody parliament members time to escape. So killing any of the guards was out of the question. It would only draw attention and make the rest of them raise the alarm. What we needed was some kind of blind spot where we could sneak through.
“Are you sure we can do this alone?” Eve suddenly asked.
Tearing my gaze from the white stone building, I turned to meet her gaze head on. There was a considering look on her beautiful features as she studied my face. Fuck, I wanted to draw my fingers over her forehead and smooth out that crease in her brows. But I managed to restrain myself and instead let a smirk descend on my mouth.
“After all this time, you still doubt my power, spitfire?”
She snorted and gave my shoulder a shove, trying to make me topple onto my back but failing miserably. I just grinned back at her.
“You’re still an arrogant domineering asshole, you know,” she huffed with mock affront.
“Oh I know. The trick is being powerful enough to get away with it.”
She rolled her eyes at me, but a smile tugged at her lips too. Then a serious expression settled on her features again. “What I meant was, wouldn’t it be better to bring more of your people for this? It’s in the heart of the north side. Inside the parliament building. You finally have the entire south side at your feet. Wouldn’t it be smarter to actually use that and bring a bunch of highly skilled battle mages for this?”
“I did consider it,” I admitted. “But we can’t afford a fight. If we’re spotted, best-case scenario, we will lose the opportunity to force them to sign away the south to me. Worst-case, we’ll lose the entire battle and end up arrested because we’re so fucking outnumbered on this side of the river. So there are only two options. Either I bring all of my battle mages or none of them. And since I don’t want a full-scale war, this is the only solution.”
Eve was silent for a few seconds, as if processing the logic behind my arguments. Apparently satisfied that I had actually thought things through, she gave me a nod. I didn’t know whether to laugh or punish her later tonight for that insolent lack of faith in my intelligence.
“Then I have an idea.” She grimaced and then shot me an apologetic look. “But you’re not going to like it.”
I just raised my eyebrows in silent question.
“If we want to hide in plain sight and just walk right through the parliament building, then we do the one thing they would never expect.” Her eyes glittered with mischief. “We put you in a uniform.”
“A uniform? As in…?”
“A constable’s uniform, yes.”
Confusion flickered through me. While I hated that white leather uniform on Eve, I didn’t really have any qualms about putting one on in order to fool the white boots. So why did Eve think that I was going to dislike this plan?
“Alright,” I replied with a nod. “I like it. And you’re sure you can get your hands on one?”
“Yes.”
“Good. That will be useful for moving around unhindered once we’re inside the building.” I frowned at her. “But even if I’m wearing a uniform, they still won’t just let me walk through the front doors. They’ll recognize my face when they stop us.”
“Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word, while another apologetic look flashed across her features. “That’s the part you’re really going to hate.”
Before I could ask what she meant, she pushed up from the roof and jerked her chin at me to follow. I did. While I summoned metal planks one after the other, we made our way across the houses and around the edge of the parliament grounds until we reached a spot at the back of the building.
It had been raining all day today, so the roofs were more slippery than I would’ve liked. But we managed to cross the buildings without incident.
Water splashed up around our boots as we at last returned to the street and snuck the final distance to whatever it was that Eve wanted to show me. I frowned up at the unremarkable building we stopped in front of, and then turned to Eve and arched an eyebrow.
“Unlock it,” she said, and nodded towards the door.
I touched my hands together before pressing my palm against the lock. The metal lock bolt liquefied and ran downwards. I hardened it there so that I could return it to its previous position later.
“That really is a handy trick,” Eve commented while flashing me a smile.
Thattrickhad taken me almost four years of constant practice to perfect. It was more difficult than it looked. Mostly because I couldn’t actually see the metal that I was trying to manipulate. But learning it had become a top priority for me very early on since the thought of being locked in with no way out made nauseating dread and searing panic pulse through my whole body.
Eve pushed down the handle and then slipped into the small building. I followed.
Actually,buildingmight have been too generous a word. It was just one room.
Confusion marred my brows as I closed the door behind us and then turned in a slow circle.