“What the fuck are we going to do?” Fionn whispers twenty minutes later. Krantz and Saff went over the basic details of the plan, then left us so they could arrange a few things. We were told to wait here until they came back to get us. On the way out, Krantz pointed to the table of fae we saw on the way in.

“Those are my men over there,” he said. “They’ll keep an eye on you till we come back. Can’t be too careful in these parts.” I’d interpreted it for the message it was—we weren’t permitted to leave.

“If we refuse to help them, our cover will be blown,” Silene says, stoically. “If I try to aerstep to warn Laurel, they’ll know. This is another test. They know exactly what they’re doing, asking us to help them again. What do you want to do, Thorne?” Her amber eyes look to me, and I know I have a hard decision to make.

“If we don’t help them now, we’ll never be able to get close and uncover their plans again. More people might die in future attacks. I don’t like it, but I think we have to stay.” I don’t want to make this choice, but this path is the only one that gives us any real chance of stopping the rebels in the future. “Clearly they only care about me,” I continue, and Fionn rolls his eyes. “What I mean is that they likely won’t care what the two of you do during the heist, as long as I’m getting them into that tower. You can go with the group that’s attacking the merchant quarter and do what you can to minimize the damage.”

“No, we should stay with you,” Fionn protests, but Silene cuts him off.

“I don’t like it, but I agree with Thorne.” Fionn lets out a low growl. “We can’t let innocent people be injured, or worse, if we can help it. I’m still charged up from the dose of thayar Laurel gave me, and I can take a bit more. With our magic, we can get people out of the way of the worst of the violence.”

Fionn tenses his muscles but nods his head in agreement.

“I may be able to hide some of the stores of thayar from the rebels to limit what they sneak out. And I can let my magic slip at the right time to alert the guards to their presence.”

“If Laurel shows up and catches you, is she going to believe we had no choice but to help them?” Fionn asks, fear flashing across his eyes.