Page 168 of Seer Prophet

Watching her scold Revik again about his coloring choices, pausing to clutch at his shirt as she leaned on his shoulder to point accusingly at his drawing, I wiped my face again, grinning at the two of them like an idiot.

I didn’t really listen to their words, but I felt their light interact, and I watched Revik’s eyes as he argued back with her, his clear irises serious as he looked up at her face, his expression infiltrator-still as he listened to her.

Even now, when she tried to push him around, all I saw in his face as he looked at her was love. Really, given everything I could feel on his light right then, I wondered how she could fight with him at all.

Watching the two of them, I laughed aloud a second time, wiping my eyes in some embarrassment when they both stopped their back and forth long enough to give me puzzled looks. Even then, I didn’t really stop smiling.

In here, everything else had a tendency to just go away.

In here, the rest of it just didn’t matter.

I knew that wouldn’t last––that itcouldn’tlast––but for now, it was enough.

For now, it was everything.

Chapter31

Sri Lanka

Ihad pretty mixed feelings about hitting Dubai, despite how adamant I’d been about it.

We hadn’t hit a Shadow city until now, with good reason.

Dubai was basically their capitol.

Well, as far as we could tell, at least.

I couldn’t tell what Revik thought, not anymore. Now that we were well into the planning stage, he no longer brought up objections to the op itself.

He’d been surprisingly quiet about the whole thing since we solidified our compromise, maybe because he’d already gotten the bigger things he wanted. Meaning, I gave him sole discretion when it came to determining safety precautions for me and Lily––both on the ship and for the op itself.

Revik didn’t get everything he wanted, though.

The Council ruled against him, regarding his request to execute Cass.

I admit, their decision surprised me.

It surprised me especially after the case Revik laid out before the Council, two days after our big blowout. Listening to him make his case, I’d been simultaneously impressed and resigned when I realized I didn’t have anywhere near as good of an argument to keep Cass alive.

Really, all I had was a gut feeling we shouldn’t kill her.

Revik argued like a lawyer.

He also brought actual evidence, sharing sight imprints and memories of Menlim’s specific threats against me and Lily to back himself up. He made a pretty convincing case, even to me. He argued passionately that letting Cass live posed a direct threat to me, and indirectly, to Lily and himself.

Declan, Raddi, and Jorag, all ex-Rebels, backed him up, as did Wreg.

Jon remained uncharacteristically quiet.

So did Balidor.

Chandre gave a brief statement supporting my stance, although her points appealed more to Cass’s religious significance, so I’m not sure it helped.

My arguments were definitely the most nebulous, even to my own ears.

After the verdict came back to keep Cass alive, I thought at first that Chandre had been the one on the money, that the Council’s decision was some religious thing, either because of who I was, or their unwillingness to kill Cass as a member of the Four.

According to Balidor, though, that wasn’t true.

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