“I’m the logical choice to kill the Hag,” Jada says. “I have the cuff of Cruce. She can’t harm me.”

“I will make the descent down the face of the cliff, invisible, and give Christian the spear,” I say coolly.

“The Hag hunts by echolocation; she targets her prey by sound,” Jada says. “Visibility is irrelevant.”

“Fallacy,” Ryodan says. “Although she has no eyes, she employs both visual and auditory guides. When she targeted Christian on the abbey’s grounds, he wasn’t making noise.”

“You don’t know for a certainty she can see,” Jada disagrees.

“You don’t know for a certainty she can’t,” he says.

I say, “Once I give him the spear, the next time the Hag attacks, Christian can stab her while she’s resting on him. Then we free him. I’ll wear the cuff to be certain I won’t be harmed if she attacks while I’m climbing down to give him the spear.”

“You’ll wear the cuff the day you can take it from me,” Jada says coolly.

“You’ll use the spear the day you can take it from me,” I return just as coolly.

“It’s a solid plan,” Drustan says to Jada. “More so than yours.”

“Agreed,” Ryodan says.

Jada says, “You fail to consider anatomical limitations. Ryodan said Christian is chained, both hands, arms spread wide. With which free hand do you expect him to stab the Hag?”

I open my mouth then shut it. Well, damn. “How are the chains fastened?” I ask Ryodan.

“From what I could see, driven in with metal rivets.”

I shrug. “I pry one free.”

“You aren’t strong enough,” Jada says.

I bristle. “First of all, I am, but second, I have a few bottles of Unseelie flesh on hand for just such emergencies.” Loath though I am to eat it again, I never leave home without it. All weapons, necessary.

“Walking on the wild side, Ms. Lane?” Barrons murmurs.

“And you think the Hag won’t notice someone freeing one of his hands,” Jada mocks. “Or that he’s suddenly hanging from only one.”

“We go at nightfall. He may be strong enough to hold himself by clutching rock, or I drive a spike in for him. It’s doable. How quickly is Christian healing?” I ask Ryodan. If he’s in bad shape, hanging on could be difficult. “When do you think the Hag will next attack him?”

“Hard to say. I didn’t linger.”

“I’m the one he sacrificed himself for,” Jada says. “I’m the one who will rescue him.”

“Illogical and emotional,” I say acerbically. “Debt owed does not determine best woman for the job. Besides, I’m immune to the thrall of a Fae prince.”

“As am I,” she says. She raises her arm and flashes that darned cuff at me that I really wish I had.

“You know I’m right,” I say. “The plan with the greatest odds of success is the one I just detailed. And I don’t need your bloody cuff. I can do it without it.”

I glance at Barrons, who’s looking in my general direction. His eyes say, You’re comfortable with this?

“Yes,” I say. I love that about him: he’s alpha to the bone but when the stakes get high, he doesn’t go all ape-shit crazy trying to keep me out of the game. When I choose my place to stand, he supports me standing there.

“It’s no’ about who saves Christian and kills the Hag. It’s about saving him. Period,” Drustan says quietly.

I say, “And like it or not, Jada, my invisibility is the edge we need. If I go down, there’s only a cable hanging over the cliff at night. If you go down, there’s a cable and a whole five feet ten inches of human body visible.”

Everyone but Jada murmurs agreement.

“And if the Sinsar Dubh decides to seize a perilous moment to wrest control of you?” Jada says.

“Aye, how is it you have the Book?” Drustan says. “Is it similar to Dageus and the Draghar?”

“It is,” I tell him. “And it can only take control of me if I kill. That’s why I’m handing Christian the spear.”

“Even if it’s an Unseelie you kill?” Dageus says.

“You’ve killed and lost control before,” Jada says. “I saw her. The Gray Woman. And the Garda you killed. I saw your shrine.”

“Which is why I’m handing Christian the spear,” I repeat irritably.

“I won’t be spotted scaling the cliff,” she says. “I’m wearing black and will darken my face.”