Veiled Fate (Shards of Fate Book 2) by Riley Storm

Author:Riley Storm [Storm, Riley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: High House Press
Published: 2023-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“It’s a little late to be having doubts, don’t you think?” Kiel grunted softly from where he lay next to me, our bodies hidden under a hastily assembled rectangle of fabric stiffened at the edges with branches and then buried under leaves.

The effect was to leave us looking like little more than uneven bumps in the forest floor, completely hidden from roving eyes. Having witnessed some of the others disappear into their camouflage, I was confident that being spotted ahead of time wouldn’t be our issue.

“Probably,” I admitted. “But, Kiel, are you sure?”

He sighed. “Yes, there are fewer of us than I’d hoped for. I don’t know if it was a lack of conviction from Tave or Gare, the rushed timing, or just a general lack of belief. But either way, we should have enough to get the job done. It’s just going to be … harder.”

What he meant was that more people would die. I tried not to let that affect me. There would be time for that later. Once Arcadus was dead.

It’ll be worth it … It has to be.

We could have waited, called for reinforcements from the caves or some of the other cities, perhaps. But there were two dangers in that. First was that we would miss our shot. There were two chances to hit Arcadus outside of the protection of a city. Before and after the Fate Festival.

After would allow us more time to assemble people. It also exponentially increased our risks of getting caught, however, and if the Alphas had even a single hint at the audacity of what we were planning, they would ensure we never even sniffed success.

“We’ll have to make do,” Kiel said, echoing my thoughts.

I wished I could feel as confident as he sounded. Unless he was faking it, like I was, just putting on a show for everyone around us. Was Kiel’s stomach nauseous, his hands clammy and trembling ever so slightly, like mine?

The plan was about as good as we would get, however. Our scouts had shown that Arcadus was traveling without worry. He didn’t have any outriders or even scouts prowling around in wolf form. Doing so would risk showing the others who traveled with him that things weren’t as they seemed, and Arcadus couldn’t afford that. Instead, his soldiers marched in neat and tidy rows with weapons sheathed.

Perfectly set for an ambush.

However, all it would take would be one missed wolf prowling the forest or an overly alert set of eyes, and our plan would go to hell before we could even launch it.

“They’re getting close,” Kiel whispered, barely vocalizing.

“How can you tell?”

“The ground.”

I frowned. How could the ground tell him—I caught it. The slight vibrations, courtesy of dozens of feet marching in unison, each foot hitting at the same time. It was faint, so faint that I would never have noticed it without being told to look for it. But as I focused, it grew stronger. They

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