So it was for the best that he had been designated part of the infiltration group. She was worried about him, about the risks the rebellion was taking, but if he was off with the rebels, he wouldn’t be around to interfere with her own plans. It had been decided in their meetings that Aurora was “too valuable” to contribute anything to the mission except the barest essential—hence she and Jinx’s current approach toward the palace gate that could only be opened by someone of Pavanian lineage (or someone who wielded skyfire magic as they did).

But she was no longer the Aurora who had grown up in Pavan, constrained by fear into letting others make her decisions. She was done seeing her value as a prize to be kept away and guarded and played like a game piece at exactly the right time. Aurora still had a great deal to learn, but of one thing she was certain: the value of a person remained unmeasured until they did something worth measuring. Sometimes the most important thing a person could do was to simply show up. And Aurora Pavan had been missing long enough.

Tonight she would help the rebellion’s mission, but she would also take on a mission of her own choosing.

“Ready?” Jinx asked, breaking the silence. Aurora nodded. She had been ready to do this for days. Only reason and fear of repercussions had stopped her from storming into the palace days ago.

Knowing the thunder rumbling overhead would serve as the best cover for their mission, they waited until the next rolling crash began, then they set off at a hard sprint. They came around the curve of the wall, and as Taven had promised, only one man stood guard at the palace gate; all the others had gone to their respective stations for the storm. By the time the soldier turned his eyes from the sky to them, it was too late. Jinx held out her hand as if to blow a kiss, and instead a fine powder danced from her palm like mist. The soldier gulped in air to yell, breathing in the powdered and enchanted Rezna’s rest, and before his tongue had even curled thought into sound, he slumped into a deep sleep, his limbs sprawling awkwardly across the wet grass.

Aurora glanced quickly at his face, but did not recognize him, so with Jinx’s help, they carried him closer to the wall and gently laid him out in the shadows. Jinx had made a large enough dose that he should be out for several hours.