Silene scrunches her nose and looks away, uncertainty written across her features. “I agree the Captain seems dodgy, but I’m not so sure it’s him. Or if it is him, he’s doing a terrible job hiding his interest in what we’re doing. He’s always around—that seems too obvious.” I nod my agreement, while Fionn only huffs. The Captain has found many excuses to follow us around since we’ve been here, often showing up to sub-committee meetings uninvited with the excuse he just wants to “sit in.” Even the other advisors have seemed put off by his presence.

“What do we do now?” Fionn asks. “This ruse has only gotten more dangerous. It was one thing to risk being exposed accidentally through rebel intel, but now that we know there’s someone informing them? It makes our situation even more precarious. We could walk into a trap at any point. It would be prudent to abandon this plan.” His gruff voice is all commander, a sign of how worried he is, and I don’t blame him. We’re playing a dangerous game. My eyes dart to Silene, wanting her opinion as well.

“We’re trying to trick a lot of people,” Silene admits, amber eyes bright and wide as they bore into me. “Your father, the rebels, even the Queen to some extent—we haven’t exactly been honest about our motivations for wanting to make her an ally. Someone is bound to find us out.”

Nervousness builds in my stomach, but I have no choice but to push it away.

“We’re in too deep now to pull out of anything,” I admit, my voice somber. “If we tell the Queen we don’t want to aid her anymore, I fear what she may do in her suspicion. And it’s not like I can write to my father and tell him we’ve gotten ourselves wrapped up in a scheme we need to get out of. Moving forward is the only option we have.” Four eyes stare back at me, concern storming in their gazes. To lighten the mood, I add, “How dangerous can these rebels be, anyway? Against Fionn and me? We’ll be just fine.” The words are hollow in the cavernous space, but none of us contradict them.

“What do you think the plan will be to get the prisoners out of the castle?” Silene asks. “I don’t like that we won’t know until a few days before.”

“Another reason I don’t trust her,” Fionn grumbles quietly.