Page 50 of Veiled Fate
“Could he have taken a page from Arcadus?” I put in. “Rounding up his civilians and forcing them to tell him where we are. Otherwise, he’ll kill them for conspiring with us?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think so. He wouldn’t gather people around him to announce that. Too much risk of backlash.” Kiel chewed on his lip. “This will be some sort of triumphant announcement. A victory of some sort that he can claim, to show he’s ‘fighting back against the terrible rebels’ or something. A bold strategy since it forces him to actually acknowledge us to the public.”
“Kind of hard not to now, given Arcadus’ death,” I pointed out. “That’s hard to deny.”
“Good point.”
“Grand Square, you said?”
The young rebel nodded. “In an hour. Less, now.”
“Thank you. We’ll be there.”
I stepped away from the door as the informant departed, leaving us to sit and stew over what Lycaonus might have up his sleeve.
“What the hell could he be doing?” I muttered, already reaching for my robe to put on over my clothes. Its hood was a welcome cover to help hide me from recognition. “This is so soon.”
“I’m not sure.” Kiel belted his own robe tight around his waist.
“Could he be announcing a new Alpha? Can he do that alone, or would the others need to be involved?”
“Unsure. There’s no protocol for such a thing. But if that were the case, I would assume he’d go to Arcadia for that.” Kiel pulled the door open for me, and we slipped out into the streets, doing our best to lose ourselves among the crowds.
The last thing we wanted was to attract more attention. The Nehringi was still somewhere out there, after all. Searching for us.
It seemed word was spreading as rapidly as it had when the first rumors of Arcadus’ death had reached the city. Whispered questions could be heard from every direction as we slowly made our way through the city, taking a long, roundabout route to Grand Square.
“Lots of questions being asked,” I observed as we entered the aptly named open area from one of the main avenues, just two people among the throngs flocking to see what their leader had to say.
“Yes,” Kiel agreed. “And I’m glad.”
“You don’t sound it.”
“That’s because I’m worried about what Lycaonus’ response will be.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Over the course of the following hour, Grand Square became packed. The plaza was huge, hundreds of feet on either side of impeccably cut and laid stones. Filled with statues of heroes of the Canis Empire, fountains dedicated to Fate, and topped off with a giant monument to the eight Alphas, it was a grandiose display of power, wealth, and self-service.
As a child, I had longed to see it, to bask in the history of it all.
Now, as an adult, all I wanted was for it to burn.
“What do you think this is all about?” someone asked me as the crowd packed itself in, everyone slowly moving toward the front of the square and the monument.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s just more lies.”
The speaker, an elderly woman, recoiled. “What? How can you say that? Lycaonus would never lie to us.”
“Don’t,” Kiel murmured from next to me. “It’s not worth it.”
“Because that’s all he ever does,” I snapped, ignoring Kiel’s advice. “It’s all they all do.”
“The Alphas—”
“Are despicable tyrants who lied and deceived everyone for centuries?” I cut her off. “Yes, precisely. Nor are they truly immortal, as we have found out with Arcadus’ being killed. So, they’ve lied to us, and there’s proof. It’s not my fault you’re far too stubborn to change your point of view and would rather live in ignorance.”
“Inever,” the woman said indignantly, pushing her way through the crowd to get away from me.
