I'd Give Up The World For You

Ira couldn't even be bothered about sharing a tent with the snoring Nico that night. He was too happy about his conversation with Ciara earlier. He truly would love to introduce her to Miss Veronica. He was certain they would like each other. 

Unfortunately, that happiness had all leaked away by morning. He was nervous about what they were going to do. Professors Gallagher and Lucien had gone over the plan with them in extensive detail in the last few hours of their journey and they all had it down by heart by the time they arrived in the capital. 

They checked into their rooms in the boardinghouse before Juliet ordered everyone to stay put except Ciara, who would sneak into the palace gates with someone else who had permission to get in using her shadow cloaking technique. 

She had been given explicit instructions to follow the man with red hair around. Professor Gallagher said she couldn't possibly miss him. 

So off she went, not returning until after dinner. She scarfed down the food she was given, hungry after a day of surveillance, before giving her report about the king's schedule. He wasn't often alone, to the professors' dismay. 

"He spends most of his day in meetings, sometimes stopping to check in on his wife. They had lunch together and afternoon tea. Around the time I left she wasn't feeling very well and went to lie down. He went with her and looked over paperwork as she slept with her head in his lap. 

"The only times I saw him by himself were when he was walking from one place to another and even that wasn't very often. He walked with the same three men in uniforms frequently." 

Professor Gallagher narrowed her eyes. "By chance did one of them have light brown hair and freckles?" 

"Yes, he did. Do you know him?"

"…he's the king's right-hand man and happens to be married to a friend of mine. What did the uniform sleeves look like? What was the insignia on them? Do you remember?"

"I believe it was a gold star," Ciara said. "Why do you ask?"

The professor sighed. "He promoted his underlings, as I suspected. The people you saw him with were his generals. They'll likely be difficult to deal with so we need to make sure we strike when they aren't around." 

The same three men in uniforms. Ira was willing to bet one of them was Mr. Leo. He really didn't want to meet the man he had heard so much about over the years like this but he might not have a choice. He hoped they wouldn't run into him so he wouldn't get off on the wrong foot with Miss Veronica's husband. 

His mind wandered as they made a game plan for the next day before parting ways to go to their own rooms. Ciara would be conducting surveillance again but this time Nico would be joining her sneaking through the trees trying to find the best sniping points around the edge of the grounds. The rest would remain here waiting to hear back about what was going on. 

Ira didn't like sitting around waiting but could acknowledge there wasn't much he could do yet. He needed to figure out what was going on for himself so he crept out of his room once Nico and Professor Lucien were asleep and went to meet up with Ciara and Sarabeth, who were sharing. 

They opened the door eagerly and each reached for one of his wrists to pull him inside before anyone else could see. "I told you he'd come!" Sarabeth said with one of her usual wild grins. "He wants to know what you think after tailing the king all day. Is he a bad guy or not?"

"I want to say not," Ciara replied slowly. 

Ira trusted her judgment but wanted specifics. "Why do you think so? What did you see?"

"All of the meetings he was in concerned actual problems throughout this kingdom he was trying to solve in order to benefit the people. He seemed perfectly calm, composed, and clever throughout them. 

"It was obvious his generals respected him a lot. One of them even joked around with him and he seemed used to it. They were clearly friends. That didn't seem like the behavior of someone dangerous to me but what I saw of the way he interacted with his wife was what truly convinced me.

"He was exceedingly gentle with her and when he looked at her it was like he was looking at the most priceless treasure in the world. He was very affectionate with her as well. I do not believe he is what Professor Gallagher said he is.

"He has been the king for months and there has been no news of further wars or anyone being killed aside from some corrupt nobles. He may have taken over this kingdom for the sake of revenge but it seems to me that he actually cares about running it properly.

"I do not perceive him as a threat but I suppose I can solidify my opinion after another day of watching him. The real question is what we're supposed to do about it now since we're specifically here to defeat him and I don't believe he needs to be defeated," Ciara finished grimly. 

Sarabeth's mind was clearly racing. She appeared to be thinking over something very fast before speaking up. 

"Do you think we could warn him somehow? The war in Zel was a farce; maybe he would be willing to do the same thing here and botch the fight knowing what was coming. I don't want to get involved but we're going to have to. 

"If he loves his wife as much as you say, he's going to attack first and ask questions later. I wouldn't even blame him for it. If my entire country was destroyed I would cling to what little I had left too. 

"But he might not listen to us. Do you think we might be able to talk to his wife? She could potentially convince him. She can't be too snooty if she was originally a commoner. What's her name, anyway?"

"Daisy. Do you truly think that will work? I don't want to disturb her too much. She seemed rather unwell earlier," Ciara said with a frown.

"What else can we do? Do you honestly think it would be wise to approach the king first?" Sarabeth demanded. "Because I think revealing yourself out of nowhere would be enough to get yourself killed out of self-defense. Royals take security very seriously from what I've heard."

As much as Ira hated to side with Sarabeth, she was right. "I don't think it's a good idea to provoke the king either." 

Ciara sighed. "What would I even say to her? There is no guarantee she would believe me. How would I even catch her alone? Whenever I did see her throughout the day she always had someone with her." 

The three of them exchanged glances, unsure what to do. This presented a real issue. They needed to talk to the queen somehow but that might be even more difficult to do than Professor Gallagher's goal of catching the king alone in an open space to pick him off more easily. 

"Is she heavily guarded?" Ira asked. 

"Yes. The king dismissed the guards whenever he was there but every time he went to see her they were there and when he left they went back to it. And it isn't only guards either. There were other servants on standby. I'm never going to catch her alone," Ciara lamented. 

This did pose a problem. If they couldn't try to reason with the royals beforehand they were going to have to do it in the middle of opening fire. 

Their original half-baked plan of knocking Nico out of his perch before he got himself killed might not be too far off after all. Unfortunately, that didn't account for Demetria. As a mage she would be much harder to subdue. 

Ira's brows furrowed. "We're going to have to prevent Nico from shooting but what about Demetria?" 

"I could shroud her in darkness so she can't see where she's attacking but that would potentially put her in danger since she also wouldn't be able to see if anyone was attacking her. Plus Professor Lucien is likely able to put out my darkness with his light," Ciara told him. 

"We may need to resort to more drastic measures. Ira, have you been practicing that water lock spell? You could potentially trap her in it while I deal with Nico. But then again, she might be able to freeze it and break out." 

This was very true. Water wasn't much of a deterrent against ice. Similarly, ice would be fairly useless against fire. 

Ira was nearly convinced the king didn't mean any harm to the average person. Miss Veronica should be safe. He wished he could check on her but wouldn't be able to until this was all over. 

He didn't want to fight the king at all.. He wanted to check on her, get everyone out of there alive after attempting to commit treason, and go back to the academy. There had to be a way to make that happen!