Page 73 of Love, Nemesis
“Ares, I’m not that good,” Ana objected. “Seeing as Lethe was there when the Riders went underground, I bet there are a few questions you want to ask him.”
“Ah, I do!” Ares said enthusiastically.
“Well played,” Lethe whispered with a playful smile.
“I will only ask one,” Ares said as if politely correcting his previous expression of enthusiasm. “Is it true? The story about Anne Rue? Where the Dear Annes on your arm got their names?”
Anne Rue had been a beggar, and the first person to show any public resistance to the Strike after their dominance in the war had been established. As the story went, she’d been executed, one of many executions meant to serve as a systematic noose of any still lingering resistance among humankind. As she’d bledout in front of the crowd, she’d crawled toward the base of the Bleeding Grin, marking it in a stripe of red blood.
It had been a resurrection of an old ROSE warning that victory against the Strike would be built on generations of bodies.
“Yeah. I was there actually,” Lethe said. “It’s why I joined the Riders. It got into me then.”
The revelation started a rapid and in-depth exchange of details and questions between them. The discussion continued without ceasing until the door opened to the back garden.
“Breakfast ready?” Cal called after Jasper as he walked stiffly inside. Jasper leaned over the couch where Ana sat.
“Is breakfast ready?” Jasper’s tension was obvious by his white-knuckled grip on the back of the couch. The extended time in this bizarre setup was clearly wearing on him. Time spent outside with Cal obviously hadn’t helped.
“Ah.” Ares lifted a finger as if he’d forgotten all about it. “Yes, everyone! Sit!” he said, hurrying into the kitchen. The table was already set, and Ana helped Ares distribute the meal as everyone took a stiff seat.
No one could ignore the sensation of preparing a stage, and Ana half-expected Ares to hand out scripts as each person took a seat. Once he was assured that everyone was seated, he made his way to the head of the table, pulling back a wooden chair and easing slowly into it.
The stage was set, the roles divided. Sitting around a table of steaming food and empty plates, they all waited in motionless silence for Ares to issue the first lines of their final performance.
Chapter 19: The Plate
ARES DID NOT rush. He reached his hands toward the potatoes, scooting them close and drawing a metal fork to transfer them onto his plate. He moved the pieces of potato one at a time, and then tapped the metal fork against his plate to loosen off any starchy remnants. Every clink of the utensils was deafening, and when he was done, he passed the dish on for Lethe to then partake.
Everyone took something, wordlessly passing around the dishes and putting meager portions on their plate. Ana and Jasper exchanged glances when passing an old soldier’s helmet to each other, which held the cooked greens. Ana hoped it wasn’t a helmet of someone Ares had killed. Similarly, the spoons and other utensils were both of State and Mystic make. The knives were all combat knives of different ages and backgrounds. There was a more than fair chance the entire house had been stocked with items scavenged from soldiers Ares had felled.
Ares began to eat, and then Lethe, everyone else following in short order. It was a strange sort of ceremony, Ares acting natural and pleasant as if to him this was a normal course of action before a formal discussion. It gave the sense of a person who’d been hosted at a few tense events, and then had never been allowed to host on his own.
They ate together, Jasper with urgency, like he was rushing to the conclusion at the end of the scene. He watched each plate until Ares took his last bite. Unable to bear it any longer, he blurted out, “So, we’re settled. Ares, I think it’s only fair you share with us.”
“All right.” Ares leaned back in his chair, his tone holding an edge of annoyance that made Ana straighten in her seat. Ares patted his mouth with a cloth napkin, and then folding his hands in his lap, he said, “Now, I will share.” He scanned the room, checking to see if each person was prepared. “I have been an informant for the Mystics.” He scanned the table as if testing their reactions before going further. “More than that. I have been working with them in any and all capacities I can, all with the goal of ripping the State up by its rotten roots.”
Lethe removed a handful of cinnamon sticks from his pocket, handing another one off to Ares as he stuck one in the corner of his mouth.
“The State is using black breeding again,” Jasper started. “They’re growing humans. Right?”
Ares nodded, crossing his hands on the table. “They are trying to, at least. And that was how my rebellion started. However, I have discovered far more than I could have ever wanted about the terrors of the State.”
“What do you mean?” Ana said with a force in her voice that drew the attention of the table.
Ares paused, rubbing his hands together as if he’d approached this moment with great anticipation. “The Great Light is real.”
Ana felt a hole open up in her stomach. Not just at this introduction to what seemed to be grave news, but because of the fact that she’d only just discussed The Great Light with Lethe. In her world, coincidence had never boded well.
Ares continued, “When the Strike created The Great Light, they rooted its curse to a specific object which they hid from the world. The State has that object and I’ve been led to believe that if we break it, the illusion of The Great Light will also break. I’m convinced it’s locked up in their science division’s lab. They have not only hidden that, but they have also put forth every effort to convince everyone that The Great Light never existed.”
No one spoke. The mention of The Great Light was a territory they had all avoided at one point or another.
Ares wasn’t done.
“The State has been invaded by the Mystics. Several small forces have been filtering through the border and are traveling under the guise of being merchants. At this rate, they’ll hit the State capital in five days, and as you know, most of the Numbers, including all of the Hours, are spread out quelling conflict on the outer borders.”
“That’s impossible,” Ana said. “If the Mystics hit the State now…” She trailed off, her mind capturing the possibilities as she put the pieces of Ares’s plan together.
