Page 23 of Broken Princess
She raised a brow. “It was created by my Hale ancestors in the late nineteenth century. There are three levels of membership, not counting the leader. First we have the regular members—people like you. They aren’t aware of the society’s true goals. They’re just useful for the connections, influence, or future worth they might have. In return for their usefulness, they are richly rewarded. This stops most of them from questioning things.”
“Right,” I muttered.
“The second level is the high council. This is made up of members who are elected by the leader to carry out the vast majority of his or her orders and delegate tasks to the lower members,” Liz explained. “The high council members are also unaware of the society’s true goal. They know a lot about the nature of our funds, though.”
“The babies?”
“Yes. They arrange the purchases of unwanted babies, and they deliver them to us at the Order headquarters. However, they think the babies are sold for a premium to childless couples who want to bypass the adoption process. They aren’t aware of this mansion or the things that happen here. Too risky. The less people who know the truth, the better.”
“What’s the third level?”
“That’s made up of the leader’s most trusted associates. They are all picked and groomed for the position over time. Not just by me, but by past leaders,” Liz said. “They are privy to all Order secrets, including the leader’s identity, and they help with any missions that the lower two levels can’t know about.”
“Like the murders.” I gritted my teeth and looked away, thinking of my father.
“That’s right.” Liz smiled sweetly, like it was nothing.
“So why was the Order formed in the first place?” I asked, knitting my fingers together. “What’s this goal you keep mentioning?”
She smiled again. “The society was formed during the Gilded Age. Do you know what America was like back then?”
I nodded slowly. “I think so.”
“The political landscape was changing very rapidly. Despite all the inequality and corruption of the era, election turnout was very high, and there were two evenly matched parties. People were growing increasingly interested in crusading for their own rights instead of blindly submitting to the rule of the elite like they had for so long before that. Because of this, my family could predict where things were headed in society. They could see how this upheaval would lead to the Progressive Era with all its political reform and social activism. The country was clearly heading toward pure democracy.”
“So? That’s a good thing.”
Liz scoffed. “Not for them. The Hales are descended from European royalty. Did you know that?”
“I knew your side of the family was old money,” I said with a shrug. “I didn’t know they were royalty, though.”
“Well, they were, and they didn’t want to see that kind of social change. They wanted to remain on top as the ruling elite, where they belonged. However, they weren’t blind or ignorant. They knew they couldn’t halt progress. Not when so many people were waking up to the inequality of the world and screaming for change.”
“So they formed the Order to try and stop it anyway?”
“No. Like I said, they knew they couldn’t stop progress without being steamrolled into oblivion. The Order was born as a result of their desire to revert the progress.” Liz hesitated and cocked her head to the side. “Have you ever heard of the Hegelian dialectic?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s where a group creates a problem, knowing in advance how people are going to react to that problem. They begin agitating for something to be done about this issue. For change. Once the general public is angry enough about the problem, the group that secretly manufactured the issue in the first place unveils a solution. The people are so thrilled to have a plan to solve the problem that they accept it blindly and demand to have it implemented. They don’t realize they’ve been manipulated. They don’t realize the so-called solution has actually left them worse-off than before.”
“What does that have to do with the Order?” I asked, furrowing my brows. “Is that what they’ve been doing?”
Liz smiled. “Yes. Since the dawn of their existence.”
“How? What’s their big fake solution?”
She lifted a hand. “Patience, Willow. Like I said, this will take a while to explain.” She paused to clear her throat. “Anyway, as I was saying before, my family could see that society was heading toward pure democracy with a two-party system. Instead of trying to change that, which would’ve led to an inevitable pushback by the rebellious unwashed masses who were screaming for change, they decided to pretend to embrace this new democracy while subtly undermining it until the day they could rise again. The Order was established to help with this process. My family used it to obtain all of the connections they could possibly need to help things along.”
“Help things along to where?”
“To a new world order. Remember our motto? Novus ordo orbis. That’s what it means.” She smiled again. “We’ve been building our long-term plan and undermining democracy in this country for decades, and it’s all going to come to fruition soon.”
“How?”
“In various ways. Do you recall all of the scandals that have happened in the Democratic party over the last few years?”
“Yes.”
