Page 75 of Queen of Ever

‘Equality will only serve to ensure you’re all equally dead if you have no clear chain of command when your opponents arrive.How do you make decisions quickly?’

‘Tarian!’Imogen hissed.

‘No, it’s alright.It’s a valid question,’ Sylara responded.‘My position has been given to me through a selection process everyone had a say in.When time is of the essence, I can make decisions on behalf of my people.Those gathered around the table have distinguished themselves through service to our cause, so they are who I rely on most for advice and who are trusted to hold me accountable.’

I surveyed the motley collection of lesser fae and half breeds around the table, unconvinced.Apparently, Ethan was of this esteemed number, locked in some kind of silent stand off with his brother where both seemed resolute on pretending the other didn’t exist.And I was here too.It seemed a system with a huge potential for leaks if she let outsiders into the discussions about battle strategy.

‘We’ve known this was coming,’ Sylara said, speaking now to the table at large.The voices in the wider room fell silent as her audience listened in.‘We knew we could only delay the inevitable by sending our people into Oberon’s Keep.Many died to buy us this time.’

A few withering looks were directed my way, which I ignored.If they didn’t want death, they should never have joined a rebellion.

‘Our strategy prior to this moment was to run and hide in the event of a confrontation with the High Fae, but it’s a strategy that needs revising.I’ve invited Imogen here today because she deserves the right to know what a difference she could make.’

Immediately, I was on edge, tensing up, my hand going to the small of Imogen’s back.Wary of what they were going to ask of her.

‘I’m not convinced our strategy is going to change just because she’s here,’ Cassian said, leaning on the table as he spoke.

‘But it changes everything.She has the right to challenge for the throne.She’s the most dangerous weapon we’ve ever had in opposition to the high courts.’This was Princess Marietta speaking, asserting herself boldly for someone so young.I wondered how Solas would react when he realised his own sister had been conspiring against him.I hoped I was there to find out.

‘But our cause isn’t hers,’ a winged male retorted.‘Having that right doesn’t mean she’ll use it.She’s not one of us.Our fate doesn’t concern her.’

‘Of course it concerns her.She isn’t like a lot of the other High Fae.She empathises with the lessers and the changelings,’ Marietta said.

‘But that’s not all, is it?’Ethan jumped in to reply, eyes narrowed on the Seelie princess, his voice tinted with anger.‘You don’t just want her to empathise.You knew about the creation magic, that’s why you brought her here.You actually want her to do it.You want her to challenge Solas and Moriana despite the fact that she is untrained.’

A beat of silence followed this accusation.

‘Over my dead body,’ I said, tone blunt.I’d asked her before what she wanted, had been relieved to hear her say she didn’t want that because there was no way in hell I would have let her do it.

The lesser fae around the table turned to me, and Marietta at least had the decency to look a little sheepish about the fact that they’d dragged Imogen into their rebellion to be a sacrificial lamb.

‘With all due respect,’ Sylara said slowly, seeming like she was picking her words very carefully, ‘if Imogen were to step into her power and claim her right to both thrones, she could save thousands of lives.’

I smiled grimly.‘There is no fucking way you are going to be laying the responsibility foryourrebellion at her feet.’

‘And if we lose her, we lose our advantage,’ one of the others—a siren, by the looks of it, covered in luminous blue scales—piped in, setting the conversation in motion again.‘Maybe it’d be better to wait until she’s better trained in the use of her magic.Perhaps it would be better to hide her until then.’

‘Even if it means sacrificing who knows how many lives?’Cassian countered.‘Hiding her means hiding this rebellion until she’s ready.The only way to do that is to make the High Faethinkthey’ve annihilated us.’

‘We are talking about pitting her againstboththe Seelie and Unseelie monarchs.Both are formidable opponents.If she does that and fails, she’ll die and then we’ll have lost anyway.At least if we wait, she could have—’

‘Can you all just shut up for a minute?’I snapped, because I was watching Imogen, and she was looking drawn and pale, her bottom lip bloodied where she’d been chewing it, staring intently at a spot on the table.So I didn’t care about how shocked or insulted they were as they complied with the request.I took her hand and she flashed her eyes up to me.‘What are you thinking?’I asked.

Her gaze flickered around the circle, at the expectant faces all turned towards her, raising her up as a solution to a problem that had been centuries in the making.Her focus found Ethan, switched to Marietta, and I could almost hear her thoughts ticking over.‘This isn’t your fight,’ I reminded her, squeezing her hand.‘You don’t have to get involved.’

‘But how can I walk away?’she said quietly, gaze meeting mine again.‘If doing nothing means people die…’ She trailed off and my heart sank, a moment before I was gripped by a fierce, caustic anger.How could she be so careless with her life to evenconsidertheir idea?How could they ask it of her?

‘No,’ I said firmly.‘It’s not happening.’

‘Without Imogen’s challenge, we have to fight as our force against theirs,’ Sylara pushed, as though facts and logic were somehow going to convince me that building their entire defensive strategy around sacrificing Imogen’s life was a good idea.‘They surpass us in numbers and magic.There’s a reason no lesser fae rebellion has ever survived beyond the moment the courts decided to crush it.If she stakes her claim, she could stop the entire conflict before it even starts.’

‘She’d never survive it,’ Ethan said.‘Sacrificing her is pointless.’

‘Don’t underestimate her, Etheren,’ Sylara said.‘She’s stronger than you give her credit for.’

I was already drawing away from the table.‘We’re not listening to this.The answer is no.Come on, Imogen.’

She drew her hand out of mine, something simmering in the set of her shoulders.‘Give us a minute,’ she said to Sylara, before turning to follow me out of that cave full of opportunists.When we’d rounded a bend in the tunnel that had led us there, she stopped.

---