AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Plan A is stealth," said Keane, "through the aqueducts."
"And Plan B?" I asked.
"Guns." Keane shrugged. "I reckon the weapons we've got on board will round out any weaknesses in the plan, don't you?"
I looked at Cait, my mouth agape, wondering why she wasn’t arguing. Did she think any of this was okay?
Cait looked at Keane for a long moment, her expression unreadable. “You won’t convince Mara,” she said. “She’s an idealist.”
I shook my head. “I’m not! What I want isn’t unrealistic. If Graham were on the throne?—”
Keane looked at me with something like pity.
“If,” said Cait. “But he’s not. And he doesn’t want to be. You have to let him go, Mara.”
Unexpectedly, Keane laughed. “The funny thing is if you’d just stayed on the throne, most of our problems would be solved right now.”
“That’s not true. I still would’ve been outed,” I said. “One man recognized me—Graham’s cousin. I failed even before I left.”
“But you could’ve silenced him if you’d really wanted,” said Cait.
I groaned. “You mean I could’ve killed him?”
“Or bribed him,” she said. “Or married him and made him king! You told me how he was trying to get Graham to elect him as First Immortal. He would’ve stayed quiet if you gave him power, I’m sure of it.”
“Ugh.” I shuddered. “That sounds terrible.”
“Yes, yes,” said Cait with a sigh, “but you can’t have it all. That’s what I keep trying to tell you. If you want peace, you have to fight against those who don’t. If you won’t kill, you have to find another way to stop them. Some of your choices will always be terrible. But you have to sacrificesomething. All you mightbe able to control is which terrible choices you can live with and which ones you can’t.”
“Hate to say it,” said Keane, pointing firmly at Cait, “but she’s right.”
“So, if I were queen right now, you wouldn’t attack the Academy?” I asked.
“Well . . .” Keane pursed his lips under his beard. “If you were queen, you could confirm whether or not the arsenal exists so I wouldn’t have to get in there myself to find out if my wife died for nothing. You could banish every member of the Academy to Ash Island, including my father. So, hm, yeah. Guess that would solve most of my problems.”
“I couldn’t have banished the entire Academy.” I laughed. ”That’snothow it works.”
Keane raised an eyebrow “You underestimate the power of a queen, especially one with an arsenal in her power. You could’ve found a way. Like Cait said, it would require sacrifice. A little underhandedness—or a lot. But if you’d been okay with some corruption and casualties, you could’ve gone a long way as queen.”
I felt sick inside, and not from the rocking of the boat as it rose over the waves. I was partially disgusted by the way Keane and Cait were speaking, but it was more than that. They were making me feel guilty for leaving the throne. I began to fear that I’d never truly have the guts to compromise or make sacrifices, even if it might be for the best thing. Their solutions didn’t feel right, but I didn’t trust myself to know what was right anymore.
“Look,” I said, “I won’t support you killing the entire Academy. Maybe it’s time for us to part ways once we get to Cambria.”
“That would be a shame,” said Keane. “We’re after the same thing. To get inside the city. To find our fathers?—”
“Except you want to kill yours,” I added.
“Not necessarily,” said Keane. “I only said I wanted to make him pay. I want to give him what he gave me.” He raised an eyebrow. “You want to make your father face his lies, too, don’t you?”
My breath caught. I hadn’t even allowed myself to think beyond the motive of getting to him so he wouldn’t die a prisoner, but now I found myself wondering if I didn’t have entirely altruistic motives to get to him. There was so much I hadn’t said to him. I hadn’t yet been able to confront him for his manipulation, for what he’d made me do. For pretending to love me more than anything while putting me in danger and using me to accomplish his selfish goals. I still burned with anger when I permitted myself to think about it. I sniffed back my welling tears before they could show.
Keane didn’t say anything, but he and Cait exchanged a look.
“If we do work together to get into the city,” I finally said, “there will have to be some compromise.”
Keane smiled. “What have you got in mind?”
“First of all, it’s time to tell Dominic your side of the story. If you do it convincingly, he might tell us something useful.”
