Chapter 2

Hate. Fear. Passion.

Three emotions that go hand in hand. One cannot exist without the other. They have the ability to poison the mind and taint even the purest heart.

Cassandra Parsons, Windsor York, Harlan Hawthorne and Darren West hate me. They fear me. With passion they want to kill me.

Quite honestly I don't blame them. Verity Wilson and Sabrina Temes died together, holding hands as they burned to death in a fire that is entirely my fault. Kol met his end on the tip of a blade that was made of my choices and Kyla was just another body lost to the frantic energy and panic that had overtaken the throne room of ghosts and ghouls.

They hate me as I go over the trade agreements with the burned Ether that Verity had drawn up, the trade routes that Sabrina had arranged as she promised. They fear me because Kyla Valeron's soldiers are now my soldiers.

I know enough about basic patterns in thought to practically hear their minds screaming at me. I am able to take everything from them. Just like that and they're all gone. They have learned of the way I killed Lucas Wright and how I had his father executed.

My cold exterior isn't working. I thought that I would need them to hate me, to fear me. Now all they want is me dead.

I know that confessing sins does nothing to ease the soul or save it from damnation, but I feel the inexplicable urge to seek forgiveness for actions that I did not take alone.

I will tell them, but I will not allow myself to be sorry again. You do not win a losing war by holding back. Darkness. That's what I am.

That is what I feel as I wait for Draven Atkinsons, Aaliyah Keita and Leander Varian Night to enter the room. Aaliyah and Leander will replace two of the dead council members as they split their duties to the camps and the palace. I still need two more.

When they enter a wind sweeps at their backs and smoke trails their wake. Fear. They look as if they are something to fear.

Draven slides into the chair at the opposite head of the table, speaking as he perfects his posture, "The Valerons are going to name a new heir in the next few days. I suspect that Miriam is arranging something similar. My family is taking care of Verity and Kol was insignificant, so the rifts are to be filled soon enough."

The four remaining council members have little to no backbone, but I suspect that they've grown one since the attack, or they have just been hiding behind meek masks. Cassandra's gaze does not leave the surface of the table as she speaks calmly and clearly. "Lucas Wright burned to death days ago, his father shot down little cattle. Two High House heirs were killed last night. Everyone of us is expendable but you, Evelyn. I find myself tiring of the game you play far too quickly, so be honest for once in your wretched life. Did you know about the attack?"

"Yes." Such a simple word. It carries the weight of the world and the hardship of choice in it. It does not falter and yet it conveys a hardness to the mind.

Cassandra's eyes water as she grips the table, still looking down, "Why do you get to choose who lives and who dies?"

I take a breath, leaning back. There is no point in being anything less than exactly who I am at this point. No amount of strength on my point is helping me, so why bother hiding emotions that want to be free. Why does that make me any less of a person? "Be honest with me Cassandra. Would you be able to send soldiers to their death every day? Do you have the stomach for that? Do you have the stomach to kill every day, for every moment of your life to be centered around the pain of others?"

She purses her lips, but it holds no weight, the motion is an attempt to keep tears at bay. "Anyone but you, Evelyn. Anyone."

A bitter laugh scrapes itself out of my throat as my hand cracks that wood of the armrest, "If there was another I would happily give it all away, but there is not. So here I stay. Here I will always stay. You will just have to learn how to work with me. We are now in a very good place strategically, my people will be back to me with intel soon, but we have months before the next attack is set to happen. The armies will be ready by then."

Darren does not speak. He cannot. His tongue is gone, but I am well aware of how sharp his mind is, so he stays and I read his thoughts. I nod at him and I look away from him.

Windsor coughs out a breath and starts to fidget with his bow tie, an uneasy smile forming on his lips, "I suppose that if we are to work with you so closely, that we should know each other better."

I give him a sharp look, my eyes narrowing, "I may be for the concept of teamwork, but you don't need to know me and I know everything about all of you."

"What about tea?"

I clap my left hand over my right that's locked in a loose fist, "I drink tea, but I take mine alone on the occasions I do."

"Well, I insist that we all sit down together in an informal setting."

"Fine."

He continues, not quite processing my words, "No, I-" He pauses and takes a breath, "I did not expect you to agree so quickly, so easily."

My teeth show as my lips curve up, "I am here to win a war. If I need to make peace with four people I hate, then so be it, but that's not what we are here to talk about today."

Aaliyah crosses her arms over her chest, leaning back in her seat.

"Highstone is well in hand with my second in command working alongside Leanders second."

Harlan scans Aaliyah's face, "How were my troops received?"

Aaliyah nods in Leander's direction, "He would know better than I."

Leander makes a noise of agreement that stems from the back of his throat, "Neutral soldiers are hard to work with, but they fit in nicely next to the Valerons."

Cassandra pipes in at the mention of the name Valeron, "There have been riots. Three house heirs have died since you came here. They think you are out to take the houses down. It is preposterous."

Darren nods and Harlan counters, "The attack, you planned it. I want to know how?"

"In the original battles, the Beltane battle happens on the summer solstice, but since then Varsillians have adopted to celebrate two beltanes every year. One for summer harvest and one for the winter harvest. All I had to do was have some of my people distribute information to the right Varkeshian eyes and ears."

"Do we get to meet these informants of yours?" Cassandra chimes in, her voice reminding me of noon bells.

"My second is busy, but I'm sure my third, Caterina is somewhere to be found. A fair warning though, she only speaks italian and learning english is going slow."

"Then I think we should arrange a meeting. Questo e' buono, si?"

"Of course."

Cassandra smiles, her eyes crinkling as she leans in closer to me, "I have a feeling that these meetings won't be quite as long with Sabrina and Kyla gone. We seem to be on the same page."

"I should think so. I leave to pull in debts in two days. Tomorrow morning the council of Lunata Civitium elders will have voted on taking in Varsillia refugees. I leave Draven in charge in my absence, reports are to find themselves on Leander's desk as well."

I stand, my psalm flat on the table as I stare the four down until I get a nod from each. Leander, Aaliyah and Draven have been near silent this whole conversation, content to be in the background for questions they already know the answers to.

"Then we're done here."

1395