He squeezed me tight. “Ah. Well, I had a hard time deciding between the High Priestess and Prince Ryne. But when I found out what you were up to, it was easy to decide.”

“Thank you.”

He pulled away, smiling at me. “Anytime. So what’s the plan?”

“Um.”

His smile faded. “You do have a plan, right?”

“I’m working on it. First we need to find some horses.”

“What about getting into the monastery?”

“I have an idea, but...” I met Kerrick’s gaze.

A hard expression gripped Kerrick’s face. “I’m not going to like it. But let’s face it, I’m not going to like anything that puts you in danger, but that can’t stop you. We all knew this would be a dangerous mission.”

I stepped over to Kerrick, lacing my fingers in his. “Are we ready for horses now?”

“Yes.”

* * *

“Do I really have to wear this thing?” Quain asked in outrage. He held an acolyte’s robe at arm’s length. “I thought I’d be on the escort team.”

“You don’t have a uniform, and none of ours will fit you,” Odd said with an amazing amount of patience, considering it was the fifth time he’d repeated it.

“That’s what you get for being so fat, Quain,” Loren said. He pulled an identical red robe over his head.

Quain fisted his hand and bulged an impressive bicep. “Oh, yeah, do you want to see what this fat can do?”

“That’s enough, boys,” I said, donning my—what do I call it?—not-a-virgin robe? It matched the monkeys’ except for the color. Mine resembled dark brown mud and I wore it over my black travel clothes. Thick and heavy, it’d be hot as hell in the summer. “Ooh, pockets! Lots of pockets to hide stuff in.”

“As long as they don’t search you,” Odd said, killing the mood.

That was one of our big what-ifs. We had a number of those this-will-work-if parts of our plan. No plan was perfect...right?

We’d gotten horses to travel to within a couple miles of Chinska Mare. It had taken us six days, half the time as if we had walked.

In order to get past the city guards, we needed a cover story. My idea would not only get us into the city, but into the monastery, as well. Quain and Loren would impersonate priests returning from Sectven Realm with an impure, unmarried girl—me as Irina—in tow. They’d deliver me to the monastery and hopefully be allowed to stay and pray.