“I doubt it,” Iannis said. “This particular spell is very sensitive, and will recognize you as a mage even though you are half-shifter.”

“The bracelet charm Annia wore did not set it off, so small magical artifacts and enhancements seem to go through,” Elnos observed. “But hardly a person with any degree of inherent magic.”

“Isn’t it worth a try, at least?”

“I do not believe it would be wise to trigger the alarm again,” Elnos argued. “They’ve just begun to relax, since nearly four days have passed since that incident.”

“I agree,” Iannis said firmly. “There is no use alerting them to our presence and losing our element of surprise.”

“Okay, so then, what do we do to get in?” I demanded. “If you’re not willing to let me try, then who else? I guess we could try recruiting a local human as our inside agent, but I doubt they’d be willing.”

“Sending in an untrained human would be far too risky,” Iannis said sternly. “No, I’m afraid we’re going to need to head back to Parabas and confer with the local Chief Mage.”

“Do you think he’ll have any solutions to offer?”

“Not likely,” Iannis said regretfully. “I imagine he will come to the same conclusion I have—that our only choice is to annihilate the entire place.”

“What!” I nearly jumped to my feet before remembering that we were supposed to stay hidden. “You can’t do that! Noria and Annia are in there!”

“I must protest as well, Lord Iannis,” Elnos said, desperation tingeing his voice. “I came out here with Annia to rescue Noria. I refuse to see our efforts wasted.”

“I understand, but we cannot risk the safety of the entire nation over two lives,” Iannis said, his voice hard. He locked eyes on me, his gaze burning with intensity. “I told you that this might happen, Sunaya.”

“Yes, and you also told me that it would be a last resort!” I said hotly, tears burning at the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t lose Annia, not after all she’d done to help me, and I couldn’t bear to see Noria meet her end in such a horrific manner.

“And so it will,” Iannis said gently, laying a hand on my forearm. “I cannot take action on the compound without conferring with Lord Logar, since this is out of my jurisdiction. So no matter what we decide, I must return to Parabas and meet with him. But if there is any way I can get your friends out safely, I will see that it is done.”

“Okay.” I let out a slow breath. That was the best response I could hope for really. I mentally prepared myself to leave the compound and my friends behind, to return to Parabas with Iannis and try to find a solution. Hopefully, nothing else would go wrong while we were gone.