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I want to turn to him and comfort him, but I can’t even comfort myself.
“Iwillgo alone. Wewillstop her. I know we’ll find a way,” Xavier assures us, but there is uncertainty in his voice. “With any luck, Cassius’s dying act will save us all.”
If determination was enough, we would have it in spades, but Posey seems one step ahead of us no matter what we do.
* * *
“I want to go to Solarem,”I announce over breakfast the next day.
Essos’s head whips to me, and even Cat and Zara seem uncertain. After what Posey pulled the day before with Cassius, everyone retreated to their corners to regroup. Xavier is at our apartment in Solarem. He was spending all of his days here plotting and planning while retreating to the city to spend his nights alone. After watching the news of Cassius’s death, he left to go back to the apartment, and we haven’t heard from him since. I’m glad to see him stepping up and taking responsibility, but I hate to think of him taking the weight of this onto his shoulders alone.
“Why?” Essos asks, settling back in his seat. Before him are the same three newspapers I’m reading, two from Solarem and one from the mortal realms. I see a flash of a photo of Cassius as Essos turns a page. We’re still waiting to hear back from my dad in the mortal world to see if he was able to get in touch with the President. I need to feel like I’m doing something at this point.
“Because I want to confront Posey for being the liar that she is. We must still have supporters there. It’s impossible that she’s got everyone wrapped so tightly around her finger.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No. Not after yesterday. You saw the news. She practically put a bounty on anyone on our team. Even Finn doesn’t want to go into Solarem. The only reason he’s not staying here is that Dion doesn’t want to leave Lux, and Lux refuses to be driven from her home by Posey, even if it’s not in the literal sense.”
It makes sense that Dion wouldn’t want to leave his mom, but at this point, he needs to convince her to go. It’s no secret that Dion is Team Xavier. I’m honestly surprised that Dion hasn’t convinced Lux to leave Solarem, seeing as she’s the mother of Xavier’s son.
Cat and Zara get up and slink into the backyard. My gaze tracks their every step, and I wait until the door is closed before responding.
“The news yesterday is exactlywhywe have to do something. ShemurderedCassius in front of everyone. She beheaded him like she’s the fucking Queen of Hearts. If we don’t show our faces, no one will ever stand up to her. The people need hope.”
“I saidno, Daphne. Someone can go and give them hope, but it won’t be you. What if we’re surrounded by people who support her? What if we run into people who want to hurt you? You and I both know there are things worse than death. I won’t endanger you.”
I have to clench my hands until my nails are digging into my palms hard enough to break the skin. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree on this, Essos. I will not tolerate being treated like we’re not equal partners. You went through something incredibly traumatic, but my sympathy can go only so far if you continue to refuse to treat me with the same understanding that Ialsowent through something traumatic.”
I shove up to my feet, not caring when the chair tips over behind me. Something in Essos’s eyes shutters at the reminder that he wasn’t the only one irrevocably damaged by Galen’s and Posey’s actions. Knowing we both need to cool down, I leave the room and go looking for my friends.
Cat and Zara are sitting in the backyard by the pool. Finn is across the pool, trying to coach Cat in something. His arm is still bandaged and wrapped tight with gauze.
“Be the baseball. See the baseball. Envision how a baseball feels. Close your eyes if you have to. It will start to come naturally and easily with practice,” Finn instructs. He’s as casual as can be in swim trunks and sunglasses, but he’s completely focused on Cat.
“Is a baseball really the easiest thing you could have her create?” I ask, stepping into the sun. I’m wearing a loose, flowy, floral gown with chiffon sleeves and panels all around the skirt.
“It seemed easy enough.” Finn rises to greet me with a kiss on the cheek. “I heard that Mom and Dad are fighting again?” There’s an underlying tremor to his voice, and he still looks pale, like yesterday shook the very core of him. I can’t say I blame him. Even after our confrontation with Posey a few days ago, it seems like she’s coming more unglued.
“Stay out of it, Finn,” I warn. I hate the idea of people knowing all about my marital discord.
“I’m just—”
“Not staying out of it, apparently,” I interrupt.
“Daphne, I had to watch him suffer for an ungodly amount of time without you. Ofcourse,I’m going to defend my best friend to his wife.”
“Not his wife. Just his pregnant mistress.”
Finn gives me a look that says he’s very much over my attitude. “You need to stop that right now. Don’t demean yourself because you’re mad at him, or whatever it is you’re trying to do. He loves you, and he’s being an idiot about it. Pretty sure he was an idiot about it when he first realized that he loved you too. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t there a moment where he tried to show off just how cool he was by shutting down a restaurant just for you, and you dressed him down because of the loss of wages for the workers who weren’t getting tips that night?”
I remember the night; I couldn’t forget it, even with the memory block. Essos said it was the catalyst to realizing just how in love he was with me, and it was the last time he tried to be a show-off. He admitted years later that he’d taken advice from Xavier because he wanted to impress me, but I never fell in love with Essos the Prince. I fell in love with the Essos who saved me from being trampled to death. I fell in love with the man who was sweet and tender with me. I fell in love with the man who would move mountains for me.
“Are you ready to go?” Essos calls, stepping outside. He’s changed from the casual clothes he was wearing at the table into the menacing King of the Dead. His suit is sharp, with a silk black panel along his lapel. On his head rests a crown that he never wears, a circlet that matches my onyx tiara. The dark metal of his has obsidian and diamonds encrusted in it, a perfect twin to mine, which is in his hands.
Finn looks smug as I stand.
