Page 74 of Love, Nemesis
“I helped them plan the invasion myself. I didn’t defect until I was ready, Ana,” Ares confirmed for her. “Powers rise and fall. The time has come for the State. The Mystics’ desire to be free of The Great Light is genuine. I have honored that. I want to be free too.”
His words washed over her, her brain tearing through the reasoning of it.
“For this reason, I was glad when Hailey sent you all after me. I’m grateful to be able to spare all of you from what must happen. The hammer of justice comes on the horizon.”
“It must be a small army to make it through undetected,” Ana said, staring at her plate.
“Three armies. They’ll unite again before attacking the capital.”
“Hailey will enact Chronos. It has so many citizens’ and inmates’ time tied to it, he’ll have enough to freeze all of the armies in time. Hailey is extreme—it won’t matter to him that he’s using everyone’s time. He will do whatever it takes to stop you with it.”
Ares nodded politely. “The last user of Chronos started hallucinating and jumped out of a tower in Shinlan several weeks ago. He’s dead, though The State has not publicized this. They have deactivated Chronos and have taken it apart for reconfiguration until they can figure out how to lessen its severe side effects. Apparently, having one host use everyone’s collected time isn’t the best formula,” Ares said with a hint of sarcasm, which was rare for him.
Many users had failed to adapt to Chronos over the last year. Mingling a host’s time with many others combined time had peculiar and unpredictable side effects. It was like stuffing a hand into a puppet that was already occupied. The results were both strange and unpleasant.
“And that’s why you defected those weeks ago,” Ana whispered vacantly. “Because you knew they wouldn’t be able to find another viable host in time if you surprised them.”
Ares nodded.
For a moment, Ana hated Hailey’s arrogance. How could he have ever underestimated the type of damage that Ares could do? The man was basically a part of their history.
Ares didn’t have loyalties. He had contracts. Hailey had severed Ares’s with the State. Ana had never trusted Hailey as a human, never sensed any moral restraint, but she’d never thought him reckless. Quite the opposite, until now.
Her brain spun with the ideas.
And The Great Light? How could the State have ever gotten hold of how to break The Great Light?
“You’re planning to meet the armies before they reach the capital,” Ana said, scanning the faces in the room before looking over at Ares. “You’re going to help lead them against the State.”
“I plan to kill the Var and Sub-Var myself,” Ares said. “And then we will break the object The Great Light is tied to. The world will become what it always has been. We will escape this illusion. What remains of the State will be reestablished under Mystic leadership.”
“And then they’ll take En Sanctus by default.” Ana nodded once, brows furrowed. “Where are the armies located now?”
“Napolli, Haddington, and somewhere between Chase and Casper by now.”
“We’re going to have to hit their supplies,” Ana replied. “Burn them, try and reach the armies before they hit the capital. If it doesn’t force them to turn back, it will slow them down, draw attention.”
“Ana,” Jasper said in alarm.
Ana looked up at Ares, who watched her calmly as if not in the least threatened by her determination.
“Do what you must,” Ares said.
Ana stood up.
“Ana, hold on,” Jasper said, rising to his feet.
“The capital is full of innocent people,” Ana said, “and the State is my home. Is my decision surprising to anyone?” She searched the table. “Ares?”
He shook his head. “Not at all.”
“Jasper?” she asked.
Jasper hesitated. “Ana. If what Ares is saying is true about The Great Light, how can we fight this?”
“The plan has always been to help the State improve, not overthrow it. We change it from the inside. We aren’t anarchists,” Ana said firmly. “If we use a good cause to justify killing innocent people, we’re no different than Hailey, the Strike, war heroes—they all fought for what they thought were good causes, but look at what that did. If we can hardly tell who the enemy is, whatever justifies killing people? Everyone thinks they’re doing what they have to. The only real solution is to stop the fighting.”
Jasper lowered his head. He nodded, though the conflict he seemed to experience was evident on his face.
