Page 52 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
Nora batted at his arm to get him to shut up as she explained herself.
“No, you can get them to attack me on purpose. Send me out without a guard to use me as bait, then set a trap.” She continued to brainstorm out loud in her enthusiasm. “It’ll be perfect. We can do it at night so there are no civilian casualties. Control the situation.”
Looking up, Nora could read on Adam’s face that he was not quite as taken with the idea as she was.
“If I’m making you feel like throwing yourself into the worst kind of danger is the solution, then I really have failed,” he grumbled.
“Oh, come on, you’re just being bitter because you know this is a great idea and you’re embarrassed you didn’t think of it first,” Nora said with exaggerated grandiosity, trying to distract Adam as well as herself from the fact that this was a terrifyingly dangerous plan.
“Who’s to say I didn’t think of it but was smart enough not to bring it up because I realized it was a harebrained idea?”
“Then you should have known that I would also be smart enough to insist on this plan, because I know that it is just obvious enough to circle right back around to being clever.”
“You know I can’t possibly like any idea that involves intentionally endangering somebody, right?” Adam said, his expression clearly broadcasting just how much he didn’t like the plan.
“You’re not intentionally endangering me; I’m doing it myself,” Nora insisted. “Besides, by not doing it, everybody else is constantly being endangered, so there.”
Adam heaved another sigh and gave her a pleading look. “I suppose there is nothing I can say that might talk you out of wanting to do this?”
Nora raised her chin and shook her head. Seraphina’s words echoed in her head.
People like you get us killed.
She would not let herself stand by when there was something she could be doing. She might still be shaken from her last encounter from the Shadows but facing them head-on appealed to her more than living in fear of the next attack.
“I guessed as much,” said Adam resignedly. “But if we are going to do this, we should make sure we do it right. Start by running the plan by Thad to get his input.”
“Wait—really?” asked Nora. “I’ve convinced you that easily?”
Adam offered her a wry smile as he grabbed her hand and started weaving through the crowd towards an unknown destination.
“Through the years, I’ve learned to pick which hills to die on. Something tells me that trying to be more stubborn than you isn’t a fight on which I want to waste my emotional capital.”
Nora was unsure if he meant for his comment on her tenacity to be a compliment, but she decided to feel flattered anyways.
“Now come on, let’s go run your plan by Thad. See what he has to say.”
“We’re going to the Sanctuary right now?” Nora asked. “I can’t leave, I still need to do some schmoozing. And I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think I can make it all the way there in these shoes.”
Adam continued to guide her by the hand, but instead of continuing towards the exit, he turned to head up a wide stone staircase.
“Lucky for you, Thad isn’t at the Sanctuary. He volunteered to be your guard for the night.”
“Oh.” Nora paused to pick up the hem of her dress so she wouldn’t trip on it while climbing the steps. “I thought you counted as my security detail.”
Adam shrugged as he reached the top of the stairs. “I didn’t think I would make a very good guest if I was constantly looking over my shoulder for threats. And I certainly would not make an effective guard while drinking champagne.”
They rounded a corner at the top of the staircase, and Nora immediately spotted Thad leaning jauntily against a pillar, surveying the party going on in the space below him over a railing. He was, unsurprisingly, sporting an immaculate set of white tuxedo tails as he turned to them.
“And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he asked, pushing off the pillar he had been leaning on.
Nora ignored his question in favor of asking, “How did you get in here without an invitation?”
Thad waved his hand dismissively. “I’ve been sneaking into parties before they invented champagne. I know how to charm a doorman.”
“Stop bragging, Thad,” cut in Adam. “Nora has an idea I think you should hear.”
“You mean the idea where she uses herself as bait so we can catch the agent?” Thad asked with an arched brow. “I was wondering when that was going to come up.”
