“He's probably already dead,” the woman said. “What then?”
“He's not.” Kira clenched her fists, yelling the words. These monsters didn't know Zayne. He wouldn't leave her.
“We can't conduct this war based on some girl's feelings.”
The rage she felt against Luke for trying to kill Zayne, and against the Phaedra for murdering Adelle, and against this entire empire for this cruel war, sharpened inside of her. “I have nothing left to say unless it's about a plan to break Zayne out of Ciondo.”
“You won't see your mother until we have the intelligence.”
She already hurt so badly that she didn't flinch. “Fine. Looks like we're done here.”
“Wait.” Major Tyndale lifted a hand to the generals and then looked to Kira. “They're posturing.”
“Major,” General Roul said, but he ignored her.
“We're losing the war, and the next High General just defected to our side. Trust me when I say we're not letting him go.”
Her heart softened so much she couldn't stop tears from wetting her eyes. “I hope that's true.”
His voice sounded sympathetic. “It is true. They're working through plans and contingencies.”
“You can help us with this,” the male general said. “You've witnessed the Phaedra's hatred for the Followers firsthand.”
The slaughter he referenced rippled through her in horror.
“How many churches do you think the life of the High General's son costs? How many will sway the Phaedra?”
The feeling drained from her hands. “You'll give up the Followers?” Kira almost took her own life to save them. Zayne risked himself for them, as well. After all this work to keep her mother from sharing intel, the United wanted to just hand over the churches to the Phaedra?
“It's a terrible decision,” the man said. “But we think Zayne Riven can save more than this trade will cost.”
“No.”
In such a short amount of time, Kira endured the slaughter, watched the elder die by Zayne's own hand, spent all that time in their blood, and lost the only mother she'd known in a decade. And now she left Zayne behind in Ciondo, dying. Kira had not begun to process any of this and was painfully aware that she'd never escape it. Her heart waited for safety to start unpacking that her mom betrayed all those people to save her life. If Kira did that for Zayne…
“You can't sacrifice the Followers,” Kira said. “Zayne would rather die.”
“It's not about what Zayne wants.”
“He'll kill you and never help you.” Kira backed away. “You can't do this to him. I know how it feels. Show your strength and attack the tower. The Phaedra will take Zayne there. Show all of Ciondo you can win this war.”
“It's a worthy response to the invasion of Caspador,” Major Tyndale said. “We can do more than we've done. Flying through their airspace wasn't enough.”
“If we attack the tower, there's no telling what he'll do,” Roul said.
“There's no telling how much we can damage his image,” Tyndale said. “If Zayne Riven defects, and we damage the tower, people all over the country might stand up. Only the military knows we invaded their airspace. They didn't shoot us down only because they wanted to hide us. The people need to see us fighting back for the invasion of Caspador.”
“Yes,” Kira said. “Did you see any results from the Pixi Dust? I know you must have.”
“Seventy-two,” the female general said.
“What?” Kira asked.
“Seventy-two soldiers defected from Ciondo. In the first wave of deployments after the PXI writing, that's the number of soldiers who came to our side. More likely tried.”
It was the first time she heard about how the Pixi Dust affected anyone. Her hope kindled. “Then don't miss this opportunity.”
“That was also an influencing factor in the invasion of Caspador,” the male general said. “And the Phaedra killed a dozen drone experts.”
