"Thank you, Takan. I think we'll leave it there for tonight. I need to be at the palace tomorrow morning," Akkarin said.

"We're making good progress, master. Take heart," Takan said, standing up and giving both of them a bow. He refilled their glasses with Anuren Dark, then took the empty bottle and went downstairs to retire for the evening.

Akkarin ran his hands through his long hair, which was slipping out of its black ribbon. Sonea rubbed her tired eyes, staring at the map of Imardin on the table in front of her. The black lines slowly became meaningless squiggles.

Every night for the past week, Sonea, Akkarin and Takan had been plotting and scheming in the residence after dinner.

It was exhausting, but they had finally trialled a plan to draw around one hundred dwells' power. Cery had commandeered the largest underground rooms the Thieves used in the Outer Circle, and Sonea and Akkarin had seen fifty people each the previous day. They dressed in plain clothes and wore hooded cloaks. The dwells had been told they were apothecaries who had come up with a new salve for would healing. In exchange for a few pieces of silver, they would receive a small cut, and it would then be healed with the salve. In reality, of course, Akkarin and Sonea would drew what little magical power they stored, then heal their cuts while pretending the ointment had done the trick. They planned to do so again later that week.

Sonea felt like her power had more or less doubled with the amount she had drawn from fifty dwells. It wasn't as effective as drawing power from someone with strong magical reserves every day, like Akkarin did with Takan and Sonea, but it was better than nothing.

Then, they had moved onto strategies of attack and shielding that would be effective in one-on-one battles, with Akkarin and Takan explaining the Ichani's habits of defence and offence to Sonea until she memorised several scenarios and sequences. Now, they were poring over maps of Imardin, of Kyralia and the Guild grounds, going over how and where to separate the Ichani from one another.

"We just have to get guided access to the Thieves' Road when the invasion starts. It's the only way we can separate and finish them off one by one," Sonea repeated, her voice betraying her tiredness.

Akkarin frowned and continued staring at the map, clearly trying out another route in his mind. After a while he sighed in annoyance. "I'd rather avoid it if we can, Sonea. Imagine if we're double-crossed at the worst possible moment – like when we have an Ichani on our tail, and find that a passage is blocked when it shouldn't be."

Sonea shuddered at the thought of being trapped under the city and at the mercy of being cut and drained by an Ichani. "I know it's a possibility, but not if we contact the Thieves as soon as possible and get them to understand the danger. They don't all get on with each other, but none of them are stupid. When they see there won't be an Imardin if they don't help us, everyone will work together," she offered.

Akkarin sat back and took a sip of wine, staring at the crackling fire. "If they're good at one thing, it's ensuring their world's survival, I'll give them that," he said. After a pause his black eyes snapped to Sonea's. "How long do you think before they believe us?"

Some of Sonea's tiredness dissipated at the feeling of Akkarin trusting her opinion. She felt a rush of gratitude that, throughout the past week of strategising, he had never once ordered her to do things. He did provide most of the insight into the Ichani, having lived with them for five years. But he listened to Sonea when it came to the people and places of the city. It was so different to their first weeks of living together – her angry at being taken hostage, him cold and forbidding – that sometimes it felt to Sonea like she was now inside a different life. How could I have ever hated this intelligent, powerful, and attractive man…

Akkarin's lips twitched into a half-smile. "Your thoughts have wandered from our task."

Sonea scoffed. "Keep doing that and I'll stop thinking those thoughts! Can I have some privacy in my own mind?"

Akkarin chuckled, setting down his glass of wine. He stood up and towered above Sonea, raising a hand to stroke her cheek. "Please don't stop. They're the best part of my evening," he murmured softly, looking down into her face to savour how the heat of the fire had given her cheeks and the tip of her nose a pink glow.

"The best part?" Sonea whispered, raising an eyebrow. Akkarin moved the hand stroking her cheek down to her chin, tracing her lower lip gently with his thumb.

"I stand corrected," Akkarin whispered. "The best part usually happens after those thoughts." Sonea enclosed her lips gently around his thumb to kiss it, and he exhaled quickly.

She rose slowly, the room spinning for a moment from the exhaustion of her long day and the glasses of wine. Akkarin gripped her waist tightly and gave her a soft, lingering kiss. "As much as I want to continue what you just started, we could both do with sleep," he murmured into her ear.

Moments later, as Sonea snuggled into the sheets that smelled like him, the heat of Akkarin's body touching hers, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.

Closing her eyes in the darkness, she tried to concentrate on the reassuring rhythm of Akkarin's steady breathing beside her, but her mind struggled to quieten. How many more nights of peace like this left? One hundred? Ten? Or just one? Who knows. The uncertainly was out of their control, and she hated the feeling.

She was just about to drift off to sleep when Akkarin suddenly sat up, the movement jerking Sonea back into consciousness.

"What is it?" She whispered frantically, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. Akkarin was sitting up in bed, staring into the distance, clearly communicating mentally.

She waited, gripping the sheets to try to stay calm and not break Akkarin's concentration. After a minute, his black eyes focused on Sonea's face, his expression grim but determined.

"It was Lorlen. Fortunately, he was working late in his office, wearing his ring, when Lord Balkan walked in just now. He told the Administrator that he had received no response after three attempts at mentally communicating with Lord Sorkin at the South Pass. He then spoke to Lord Fergun at the Fort, where all was well. They've sent off a rider to check the South Pass." Akkarin stood up and pulled on the silk black trousers he usually wore under his full robes.

"Do you think it's happening?" Sonea asked, her heart still pounding frantically. They had nothing to go on, but she could see that Akkarin thought this a significant development. His instincts have usually been right, she reminded herself.

Akkarin slipped on his robes and tied the sash. His long, straight black hair was still loose, framing his serious face. "I believe so. Only one or two Ichani would have been enough to overpower Lord Sorkin's men. If they were ambushed silently and swiftly, they may not have had time to mentally communicate. In the meantime, Kariko and the majority of his Ichani may be getting ready to enter through the Fort, now the Guild's attention is on the South Pass."

"What's Balkan and Lorlen doing now?" Sonea asked. "Do you think we should reveal what we know, and what we're preparing?"

Akkarin's eyes grew distant again then returned to the present. "Balkan has left, saying he will wake Lord Harlen, the Head of Warrior Studies. I don't know what those two will decide. Lorlen's thoughts are very anxious and scattered. He is now trying to decide between calling on me for advice, or sending out a mental communication to all magicians in the vicinity of the border, asking them to go to the South Pass and report back."

Akkarin fixed Sonea with his piercing dark eyes. "I will have to tell Lorlen now via the ring to cease all mass mental communication. He'll want to know why. So I don't think we can put off revealing our knowledge of the Ichani any longer. I will go to Lorlen now and share our plans. With no mention of black magic, of course."

Sonea scrambled out of bed and reached for the plain burgundy dress she had worn to dinner. There was no time to go to her room and get into her novice's robes: she hoped the Administrator wouldn't be a stickler for the rules, now of all times. "I'm coming with you," she said.

"You should stay here with Takan until I return – "

"I'm sorry, Akkarin, but you tried to do this once before. We've killed Ichani together; we both know black magic; we both came up with this plan. I won't stand by as you take the fall alone for what we're about to reveal," Sonea interrupted, her jaw set tight in determination.

For a moment, Akkarin's dark eyebrows knotted together and he crossed his arms over his chest, looking like he was about to revert to the authoritative, cold High Lord she had hated so much when she first met him. But Sonea held his gaze calmly.

His eyes softened slowly. He stepped up to her, leaning down to initiate a kiss that ended all too soon. Then he paused, his expression growing distant momentarily. "I've told Lorlen to stay in his office until I arrive. And to stop all mental communication. He's confused and angry, but he said he'll wait."

They exchanged one final look, both grasping one another's hands. Then Akkarin picked up the black ribbon on his bedside table, tied back his hair swiftly, and they both silently headed down the stairs and into the entrance hall of the residence.

"Master. My Lady," Takan bowed. He was already by the door with two heavy, dark cloaks for them both. Akkarin must have kept him updated through their blood gem.

Sonea remembered that one of the things they had planned to do by the end of the week was to make each other blood gems. Too late now. Why didn't we act more quickly? She mentally chastised herself. But how could we have known tonight was the night, she thought with a twinge of regret.

They dressed quickly. "You know what to do," Akkarin muttered to Takan under his breath. The servant bowed to them both and headed for the underground room. "Let's go, Sonea," Akkarin said, opening the residence door with magic. He extinguished his globelight as they stepped out together into the cool night air.

Sonea had to jog a little to keep up with Akkarin's long strides as they went across the stretch of grass between the residence and the Magician's Quarters. There were several lights still on in the building, including the windows of the Administrator's office.

"Lorlen suspects Balkan will return soon. We must hurry – and maybe take Lorlen somewhere else so we can talk undisturbed. If Balkan arrives he can wait in Lorlen's office," Akkarin murmured, a black-robed figure that almost disappeared into the pitch-black night if it weren't for his pale, angular face, glowing in the moonlight.

"There's an entrance to the passages near the Administrator's office – behind the painting in the next corridor over," Sonea suggested, trying not to run out of breath.

"So there is," Akkarin flashed her a small smile without breaking his stride. "You never did heed my warning to stay out of the passages, did you?"

Sonea was grateful for the fact that neither of them had created a globelight when she felt her face heat. "Luckily, no," she whispered tartly as they approached the double doors of the Magician's Quarters. Akkarin let out a low chuckle, but by the time both of them had stepped into the warm glow of the buildings entrance hall, Sonea could see that his face had returned to that grimly determined look.

"Shield your excess reserves of power, and your mind," he muttered to her. "And remember, you've never come into the city with me, or made a kill."

Sonea frowned, but slowly nodded. She followed Akkarin as he smoothly and swiftly made for the staircase in the direction of Lorlen's office.