Page 24 of Dissent

Wait a minute.“What does that mean? What do you mean,shedisappeared?”

“It means she left in the night, child. In the morning, she was nowhere to be found. No one has seen or heard from your mother for the past eighteen years. We assume she is deceased.”

I closed my eyes. Rubbed my exhausted face with my hands. This was too much. I just couldn’t deal with this right now.

“Child, I am sorry that you are hearing this for the first time in this way.”

“Just…stop talking…please.” She stayed quiet as I sensed myself overflowing with emotions. Hurt, sorrow, grief, confusion, fear—it was all there. All of it tumbling, intertwining, mixing into a major heap in the pit of my stomach. The silence was equally blissful and deafening as my thoughts raced.

My mother was dead.

12: Chase

It’shardtodescribehow alien the world feels when your sense of reality is stripped down, leaving you with little to hang on to. A part of me felt that what this woman told me was the truth, but doubting her felt safer in so many ways. “Why should I believe you? How could you possibly know all of this anyhow?”

“Child, I have more important things to do than con you. For over a decade, I’ve had rebel spies in your midst, monitoring you, reporting back if you so much as broke a nail. When you told Chelsea that your stepmother was ordering your death, we had no choice but to follow through with your rescue sooner than we initially planned. Why do you think I would bother risking this rebellion—risking my soldiers—to save you if you were simply Raúl’s bastard child?” She took in a deep breath, clasping her hands together as she rested them on the table gently. “Nora was important to me. She may no longer be with us, and we didn’t always agree, but I vowed I would ensure her daughter’s safety and bring her back home where she belonged.”

Belonged.

That word struck a chord within me, causing a lump to form in my throat. I always wanted to belong. Somewhere.Anywhere. It was a desperate ache to feel like I mattered and that people loved me—baggage I’d been hauling around my whole life. I finally whispered, “I don’t know what to believe.”

“My dear, you are tired, overwhelmed, and have suffered much cruelty in your young years. Your confusion is only natural, and I’m sure you’re brimming with questions. I promise I will do what I can to help answer each one of them, but I think it is wise to give yourself some time to process what you have already learned.”

I stayed silent, feeling the weight of everything she shared like a boulder resting on my chest.

Taking my silence as a sign of agreement, Sasha continued on. “I would like you to remain with us. You are not a prisoner here, but I can’t simply let you return to Telvia. Doing so would place my people at risk, and, from what they have informed me of, the presidential family aims to have you executed anyhow. It would seem to me that the best place, and thesafestone for you, would be with us. My suggestion is you enjoy your newfound freedom and our hospitality. I know you don’t believe me and that’s fine. I don’t expect you to, nor am I asking you to. Stay with us and discover the answers for yourself. If you still decide that you do not want to remain here, we can discuss other options for you.”

My brow arched. “You’ll let me go back to Telvia?”

Her lips curved in a gentle smile. “No, unfortunately not. Not until Telvia is afreeTelvia once again. That’s what this revolution is all about. I have no intention of leading a rebellion built on fear or deception. But I would remind you that your return to Telvia would only lead to your death. And, if you are like most, you would prefer to live.”

Damn.As much as I didn’t want to stay in the rebel camp, she was right. I heard them myself. If I went back to Telvia, I was dead. Then, there was the matter of my mom. A part of me doubted the story this woman told, but another part of me, a deeper part, sensed the truth of what she said.

“Mara, if you wish to return to Telvia, then help us. Help me finish what your mother fought so hard for, what shediedfor.” I looked up at Sasha, and her eyes bored into mine. I was terrible at reading people, but when I looked at her, I sensed no deceit, no malice…just genuine care. “Help me free Telvia, and you can return home without fear of death or of your stepmother.”

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of Belinda, and my mind drifted to a fantasy of me walking throughout the Presidential Palace without Belinda’s evil lingering around every corner. That was tempting. “What about my dad?”

Sasha cleared her throat as her back stiffened. “I will give Raúl a proper court hearing to discuss his crimes and determine repercussions for his actions. I cannot say what those repercussions will be, but what I can promise you is that cruel punishments, such as the Cleansing in the Arena, will not be practiced in the new Telvia.”

My brows furrowed as I looked away from her, measuring the weight of it all. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I knew I was good with Belinda gone.Good riddance. But Raúl? He was my dad and, in the end, I still cared about him, even if he didn’t care about me. The thought tugged on my heart, causing a dull ache.

Another thought came to mind, my muscles tensing. “What about my brother? What will happen to him?”

Sasha licked her lips and took in a deep breath through her nose, releasing it slowly. “Jacob de la Puente will also receive a fair court hearing—”

“No,” I snapped back. “Jacob is given a full pardon.”

She shook her head softly. “I can’t do that, Mara.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t. The new Telvia needs justice with laws applying to all equally, regardless of someone’s status. Pardoning your brother is a slippery slope, one that can lead us right back to where we are now. I can’t do that for you.”

I felt my fingers gripping my chair on either side of my thighs. My heart was beating fast, and the adrenaline was pumping through me. I didn’t want to lose my father, but I would give him up for Jacob. “Look, you want me to help you free Telvia, right? But you’re not really offering me much in terms of incentives. You’re pushing me to go against everything I’ve ever been taught, to betray the only family I’ve ever known, and the only thing you’re offering me in return is that I can go back to afreeTelvia.” I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t even know what the hell that means!”

Sasha remained firm, nothing wavering, nothing given away by the steady stare of her eyes. I placed my palms flat on the table in front of me, while sucking in a lungful of air to calm myself. I had to come across as diplomatic, logical, and willing to strike a deal.

“Look, I want to go home, but I get that going home right now means I’m probably going to end up in that stupid arena. I get it, I do. But helping you guys means I have absolutely no chance of pleading innocent if all this shit goes south and you lose this war.”

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