I'd Give Up The World For You

Juliet hadn't put much thought into other types of mages despite listing varieties of magic in her book. The only magic that made it into the story was water, fire, wind, darkness, and plants. Ice, stone, and light were left out. 

Magic did come from bloodlines within the framework of this world so it made sense that Alec had learned from one of his parents. Ciara had as well but Krae had a variety of relatives to learn from. Ira pretty much had to teach himself since his mother died so early in his life. 

Rukelion had learned from his brother since his father was too busy running the kingdom. His family members had been mentioned frequently during the prequel she wrote because they were his primary motivation to destroy Mirea. 

Family was important to people. Juliet didn't know anything about Daisy's before she came to this world but now all she had was the villain and his unborn child. And Juliet was about to take away half of it. 

Why did her brain always have to come back to this point? She didn't want to feel guilty about doing the right thing for the world at large!

She needed to focus on the conversation. She looked at Alec with vague interest. Finding out more about other types of magic could be a good distraction. "What other types of magic have you encountered in your travels?"

"Everything but stone, plants, and fire. Darkness mages aren't completely unheard of in my country since we've intermingled quite a bit in the eastern part of the continent. I've met a lot of water and wind mages as well. The only ice mage I've ever met is Demetria. 

"I've never had a chance to interact with royalty so those types of magic I'm largely unfamiliar with unless I've read about them or talked to people who have. Secondhand accounts obviously aren't the same as seeing for myself though. 

"I suppose I'll see what fire magic is like soon enough. I'm not sure what I'll be able to do against Rukelion Blaze, honestly. What am I supposed to do? Blind him? The only one of us who has a real chance against that kind of magic without being very creative is Ira but I don't think he's that strong yet," Alec said helplessly. 

Juliet had been worried about that too. "Then we'll have to get creative. He is strong but I'm more concerned about his mental state. I don't think he's completely cracked yet because of his wife. They were able to beat him in my vision largely because he wasn't as smart as he used to be."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that unless we attack his wife. Which would be terrible even if she hadn't been your friend."

She sighed. She knew that. She couldn't do anything to hurt Daisy physically even though what she would be doing would hurt her emotionally. Her only crime was falling in love with the wrong person. 

"Yeah, we can't hurt Daisy. I wonder if there's a way to make it seem like we have though without actually doing it…or kidnapping her or something. That might not be enough to push him over the edge though. He might kill first and ask questions later." 

"I can see how that would be a problem," Alec said with raised brows. 

"Forget it. I doubt we would be able to get to her anyway. He has to be practically holding her hostage right now," Juliet mused. "He's the type of person to not allow any weaknesses to be exploited." 

Granted, in the original novel there had been none. He had nothing left to lose while on the path of destruction. Now he had quite a lot since he had a wife and child on the way. 

He would do anything to protect Daisy and that made him more dangerous than ever. Did they even have a chance? Or was she leading everyone to their deaths? Had this been a suicide mission from the start? 

Juliet wondered if she should use Ira somehow as a distraction while the rest of them launched a long range attack. Covering Nico's arrows with poisons Sarabeth made had been what killed Rukelion in the book. It might be their best shot. 

However, that could backfire on them. Ira might be more loyal to Daisy than he was to the cause and give away their weaknesses. What was she supposed to do then? She wanted to believe in her protagonist but Daisy's interference had already caused one of them to refuse to join their party. 

"His weakness is his wife and I'm willing to bet hers is Ira," Alec said, practically reading her mind. "We could try to exploit that…but it could also majorly backfire."

The conversation had to stop there because another teacher came into the staffroom. They really needed to find better places to talk. Most of their planning sessions were cut short unless they did them in their own classrooms on days they didn't teach. No one looked for them then. 

They stood and walked out of the room without needing to say anything to each other. They both knew the drill by now. Heading to Alec's classroom was easier since it wasn't Thursday so they went there out of habit. 

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Juliet said once they were safe from eavesdroppers. 

Alec ran a hand through his hair. "This whole thing is tricky business. We need to come up with a proper battle plan and several contingencies. The element of surprise may be the only thing we have on our side here so we have to use it to our full advantage. 

"I was thinking of having the students with magic distract him so Nico can take advantage of using long-ranged attacks with poisoned arrows. That might be our only shot, no pun intended."

She was inclined to agree. Since Ira was a wild card it might be best to do this when Daisy wasn't around but when would that be? They had no way of knowing that unless they had insider knowledge. Only Ciara would be able to get that by traveling through the shadows.

"Yes but it will need to be somewhere no one else will get hurt. Especially Daisy. I don't want her involved in this otherwise I would say to attack in the middle of the night. We're going to have to do this during the day, preferably when Rukelion is outside away from other people," Juliet told him. 

Alec seemed troubled by this. "How are we going to pull that off? Aren't kings always surrounded by people?"

She hadn't considered that because the Rukelion Blaze she had written was such a loner. He didn't need guards to protect him since he was so strong. He had barely kept a few terrified servants around to take care of his meals and the cleaning. They spent most of their time desperately trying to stay out of his sight. 

"I don't know," she confessed. "We might have to get Ciara to do reconnaissance for us to find a way to lure him out alone. I can't think of any other way to minimize the potential damage."

Killing Rukelion hadn't been dangerous for anyone other than the heroes during the book because he had been alone in his throne room. The few servants on hand cowered in their quarters until they were told the tyrant was dead and they were free to go. 

Juliet didn't want anyone else to get hurt during their quest. Especially whatever men Rukelion duped to be on his side by filling their heads with empty promises. They didn't deserve to die. 

"That's a good idea. We should have her do that," Alec agreed. 

She was relieved they were on the same page. They usually were about things like this though. It was nice to know she had someone so firmly planted on her side in such an uncertain situation. She was grateful for his help. 

They continued planning for the next hour until she needed to get back to class and she felt a bit better after talking to him, though she was still slightly uneasy about what they had to do. A lot was being left up to chance here. She felt very vulnerable without the protection of foreknowledge. 

The Rukelion Blaze currently on the throne was not the same one who fell by the efforts of the ragtag band of five from Ripore Academy. The same methods might not necessarily work on him. 

Juliet didn't like that. She wanted to believe that she could save this world from him but wasn't sure if that was even possible at this point. 

She had to believe it was. That their efforts would pay off and everyone else would be safe. She didn't want to have the fate of this entire world on her shoulders. That was far too much for any one person to bear. 

As its creator she felt responsible. She had sent Rukelion down his path of death and destruction because of the tragic backstory she wrote for him.. The least she could do was prevent more death from happening to the best of her ability.