,” I whispered back. “How fucking long have they been doing that?”
Justin ignored us, turning and bowing to Terry. “As the Grand Prince of Verania, I extend to you my gratitude at your assistance in this most important of matters. And as I’m sure you can see, circumstances have certainly… changed… from what I told you they were.” He glanced in my direction.
I stared back at him, waiting for him to continue.
He didn’t.
I looked behind me. There was no one there. “Oh, do you mean me? I’m the circumstance that—okay. Because you didn’t expect me to be here. Got it. See? Even after all this time, we’re still on the same wavelength. Best friends 5eva. Do you remember the secret handshake I taught you? We should do it right now to reaffirm our—okay, not the time. You can put your sword away.”
He did but kept his hand on the hilt. “And while circumstances have changed, the end result has not. We have brought you here because we need your assistance. In the end, if we are to emerge victorious over the Darks, we’ll need everyone we can. But before we begin to discuss the next phase, I’d like to invite Sam to speak on his plan to defeat Myrin with the dragons of Verania. It’s possible what I have in mind might not even be necessary, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Sam, if you please.”
“Oh boy,” I said. “Yeah. Um. About that.”
“Uh-oh,” Tiggy said.
“I can’t wait to hear this,” Gary whispered to him. “It’s probably going to be hysterical. Oh, how I’ve missed his shenanigans.”
I scratched the back of my head. “So, funny story. I might have… spent all my time in the Dark Woods learning how to wizard and not exactly coming up with a plan to defeat Myrin?”
Justin’s face turned red. “You what.”
“Oh, no,” I said quickly. “No, no, no. There is a strong outline of a plan that I really am quite proud of. It’s just, you know, filling it all in from beginning to end.”
“Why don’t you enlighten us as to the outline,” Justin said through gritted teeth.
“Outline might be a bit of an overexaggeration,” Kevin said. “Not that I would know about overexaggerating anything.”
“Okay,” I said. “Look. So. Here’s the plan. Step one: return like a badass. Done and done. Step two: let everyone fawn over me at my return and get funky with my babe. Done and done.”
“We didn’t get funky,” Ryan muttered.
“Step three: defeat Myrin using dragons and smiting all our enemies and regaining all that we have lost… somehow. That’s the one that’s a work in progress, in case you couldn’t tell. And finally, step four: live happily ever after. And also find Justin a boyfriend.” I squinted at him. “Unless you already found a boyfriend? Because if you did, that kind of ruins my whole plan, and so we should just go with whatever you wanted to do. I’m totally okay with that. I’m so happy for you.”
Justin banged his head on the table.
“So no boyfriend, then. Huh. Well, I can get right on that part if we want to reconvene in, say, a week or so—”
“You spent,” Justin said, glaring at me, “all that time in the woods, and you don’t have a plan?”
“Hey! I told you. I was learning how to wizard.”
“Why can’t you just storm the castle using those things?” Lady Tina asked. “Isn’t that what you got them for? I mean, what else is a dragon for?”
Kevin snarled at her, teeth sharp and glinting as I said, “Those things have names. And we can’t just storm Castle Lockes. Not without knowing what we’re facing. I don’t want to risk them only to find out we’re outmatched. I don’t know what’s happened to Myrin since he….” I sighed. “Since he consumed Morgan’s magic. I don’t know how strong he is. I can’t risk them like that. It’s not fair to them. Because while they may be dragons, they’re still my friends. Most of them. Okay, all except one, but only because he’s an asshole and thinks he’s better than everyone, which, to be fair, he is older than literal dirt, so….” No one looked very reassured. I had to try to make it better. “Look, I always come up with a plan, right. And they’re always—”
Gary coughed.
“Okay, fine. And they’re usually—”
Tiggy sneezed.
“Oh my gods. And they’re sometimes… anyone else? No one? Great. They’re sometimes good and we end up coming out on top. I don’t see why now should be any different.”
“That may be true,” Justin said, “but the stakes are so much higher than we’ve ever faced before. This isn’t about one of us getting captured and the others riding in to the rescue. This is about the freedom of the people of Verania. The City of Lockes has been turned into the country’s largest prison. Our people are trapped.”
“I know, but—”
“No,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “You don’t know. You haven’t been here. You haven’t seen the things we have. The treatment of the citizens I am supposed to have protected. You think it’s a little rough here? He has enslaved our people. This is bigger than anything you’ve seen.”