"I believe I sent my granddaughter on a safe route that somehow became unsafe," Drauni said. "And I believe that every person I've sent to negotiate has come back with nothing because they went carrying diplomacy instead of something that Borsuka would understand as a genuine threat."
Jake was quiet for a moment.
"I'll go," he said.
The three women looked at him with varying configurations of the same expression—surprise at the speed of his agreement mixed with uncertainty about what it meant that he'd agreed so quickly.
"You haven't asked about his power," Sura said.
"His territory. How many creatures serve him. What the approach routes look like."
"I'll learn those things on the way," Jake said.
"Are you ready to leave?"
"We've been ready since yesterday," Deva said, and her tone suggested she was revising her initial assessment of him, not entirely unfavorably.
