“Good,” I said, “but I’m still not looking forward to this.” I huffed out a shaky laugh. “You’d think I’d be used to fighting by now.”
“I don’t think you’ll ever get used to bloodshed, but you, Jacinta Ironheart, are strong enough to bear anything.”
“Let’s hope.” I pushed away from him lest I lose my nerve. “Showtime.”
My people were waiting in the front, all in human form, all seemingly calm and ready. Austin’s Jeep waited by the curb, the top off.
Ulric reached out and squeezed my arm supportively. “We’ve got this, Miss Jessie.”
I smiled, nodding to Mr. Tom and the others as I passed them.
“No fancy car today?” I asked, turning to Austin.
“Nope.” He stopped by the passenger door, in case I needed a hand in. “They get plain old me today. No bells and whistles.”
“I don’t think they are going to like plain old you. I have a feeling they will rethink their treatment of the bells-and-whistles you.”
“I think you’re right.”
Sebastian and the basajaun climbed in after us, the basajaun completely scrunched in the smallish back seat with his legs half hanging over the side, and Sebastian sitting as far to the right as possible, squished against the roll bar.
“I’m now starting to rethink this driving idea,” Sebastian murmured.
Austin started the Jeep, and my people shed their clothes, Niamh giving me a thumbs-up before changing into her nightmare alicorn form.
“You’ll do great, miss,” Mr. Tom yelled after me as Austin made his way down the street.
I felt Sebastian touch my arm from the back seat. “It’ll be okay. You have a lot of people around you who will make sure nothing happens to you.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m not concerned about me. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
I thought I heard him mutter, “Ironheart,” before he squeezed my arm and pulled back.
The banquet hall was on the outskirts of town. As Austin maneuvered the Jeep down the narrow road, I felt my people on their way, high in the sky. I couldn’t see any shifters, but they’d never required invisibility spells to blend into the woods. The saffron-yellow sunlight was starting to fade by the time we reached the top of the hill, the mountain at our backs and the valley spanning out in front of us. This time, large passenger vans filled the lot instead of limos. It was obvious they weren’t here to square-dance, and judging by the quantity, nearly a dozen, it was equally as clear that they had a great many people.
Nervousness tightened my gut. The sound of the Jeep’s engine vibrated through the silence as Austin slowed down. Sebastian tapped my arm and passed up a vial, the revealing serum. Since we’d already discussed the likelihood that Kinsella would take a sneakier approach this time, hiding the mages’ scents too, Austin also downed one of the vials. Bodies started popping into view.
Austin stopped at the beginning of the long driveway, the expansive lawn off to the left showcasing a picturesque white gazebo nestled into bright pink and blue flowers. The hill dropped away just beneath it, probably a steep slope to the valley below. A lone figure waited within the gazebo wearing a long black robe. He hadn’t taken an invisibility potion, but everyone else around him had—mages clustered around the gazebo, lined up on either side, and loitered around the trees on my side of the car, too, at the base of the mountain.
“What a showboat,” Sebastian said, clearly talking about Kinsella waiting for me in the gazebo.
“I don’t understand why he went to the trouble of dosing them all with invisibility potion, knowing I can just create a revealing serum.” Part of me wanted to sit on my shaking hands. I’d come to realize that the calm leading up to the battle greatly tested my courage. “Or did he think I’d keep it from the shifters?”
Sebastian chuckled low. “He has clearly spent the last two days making or procuring the very best he can get. He probably doesn’t think your revealing spell is powerful enough to show his people. He’s a fool who didn’t pay attention the other night. And no, he surely doesn’t think you gave all the shifters the revealing potion. Or that you could make so much in such a short time. Of course, he also doesn’t know you had help.” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a vial being passed. “Here, basajaun. So you can see the surprise on their faces when you charge them away from the gazebo.”
“Jess.” Austin turned to me, a bleak look in his eyes. “This mage came to our territory, insulted us, and now plans to attack us on our own ground. That has to be grounds for an excusal from the Mages’ Guild. We have to end this brutally. We have to make a statement. This isn’t the time to show mercy. Make sure mercenaries everywhere use you—us—as a cautionary tale. Do you understand?”