31
“Get out of bed,” I order, glaring at the ball curled beneath a heavy blanket. When Kyra doesn’t move, I wave my hand and turn the bed onto its side. She slides to the floor and gapes at me in disbelief.
It’s only the two of us in her room. All three of my guards wait in the library, watching the secure State feeds of the council meeting. Within the next hour, they’re voting on my admittance to the inner circle and I’ve instructed my guards to alert me as soon as the vote comes up.
Still on the floor, Kyra grabs the blanket and pulls it back over her head. “Leave me alone.”
“No.” With magic, I fling the blanket across the room. “I’ve been kind and have let you sit in this room for days, but it’s time you get up and start behaving like a proper States woman. You need to do your duty.”
Kyra’s fingers curl around the edge of the bed. Her wild curls spring out from all sides of her head and her bloodshot eyes water.
How is it possible she still has tears left?
“This is all your fault!” Her fingers twitch and a bolt of magic vibrates toward me. With a swish of my hand, I send it careening into the door which splinters into thousands of pieces.
“Miss Lark, is everything all right?” Dawson’s voice booms out of my wristlet.
“We’re both fine.”
“I’m not,” Kyra shouts.
I blow on my hand. “Nice, Kyra. I’m trying to help you, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Help me? Is that what you were doing when you were sneaking around behind my back? When you pulled Maz into this insanity? For all I know you forced him to harbor Beck in my house.” Her voice cracks. “Why am I the only one suffering for what you did?”
I grit my teeth and force my quivering hands into my pockets. “Blame Maz. Blame Beck. But you will not blame me.”
She wipes the back of her hand across her nose and sniffs. “You sound just like Malin.”
I smile. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
I snort. “Oh?”
“She was a monster. People feared her. You feared her once.”
I stretch my neck from side-to-side as blood pounds in my ears. “Your story has certainly changed. What happened to the Kyra who gladly took a house from my Mother? Or the Kyra who didn’t have to sit for her assessments to get the fancy green wristlet you now wear.”
“I had no choice. Didn’t you realize that? If I didn’t do what she wanted, I wouldn’t have been allowed to be with Maz.”
“So everything you’ve ever done was to be with Maz?” I say, narrowing my eyes.
“I love him.” Fear lurks behind her brown eyes. “Please, Lark. Please don’t hurt him.”
Fire and ice lick at my heart. “I would never hurt him, Kyra. Not when he’s so important to you.” A small smile forms on her lips. “But the problem is, I think you would choose him over me.”
The color drains from her face. “Lark. I wouldn’t. I swear.”
“I’m the one who you can count on, not the boy who abandoned you the first chance he got.” I kneel down next to Kyra. “If anyone can understand, it’s me. I’ve been betrayed twice but I’m still going. I get up every day and do what needs to be done.” From the air, I pull a tissue and hand it to her. “And you can too. You just have to try.”
“How am I supposed to do that? Just forget everything?”
I roll my eyes. “You can start by accepting Beck wants me dead, and since you’re my guard, he’d kill you too.”
“You really believe that?” she asks.
I raise my eyebrows. “Believe what?”
“That Beck wants to kill you?”
My heart seizes and a soft grayness, almost like a fog, wafts through my brain. I blink, trying to focus on what she’s saying. “Beck tried to kill me once before. On the lawn at Summer Hill. He’ll do it again.”
“No, Lark. He didn’t. I swear he didn’t.” She shakes her head vigorously. “He wanted to run away with you. Don’t you remember?”
My face crumples in confusion. I distinctly remember Mother and Annalise telling me he tried to kill me, and I remember Annalise pulling me to safety. But something about what Kyra says triggers a weird fluttering sensation in my heart.
I shake the feeling away. “You’re trying to protect Maz, but it’s not going to work.”
Defeat blots out the last remnant of hope on Kyra’s face. She pulls herself to full height, so that she looks down at me. “What do you want me to do?”
As I pace, I twist the strand of sapphires around my fingers. “Help me find them and, as a reward for a job well done, I’ll grant Maz leniency.”
She lowers her chin to her chest and tears splatter at her feet. “You’ll let him live?”
“Yes.” I don’t bother to tell her that he’ll probably wish for death after I’m done with him.
She places two fingers against her heart. “Swear.”
I copy her gesture. “On my honor, I’ll let Maz live.”
Her body sags against the overturned bed. “I’ll clean up this mess,” I say. “You get ready.”
When she’s in the bathroom, I press my wristlet. “Is there any word?”
“Not yet,” Annalise responds. “It’s the next agenda item.”
I nod to myself. “Good. We’ll be down in a few minutes.”
All the hard work of the past few days is coming to a head. Annalise and Dawson have been cramming me full of information, and I met with Sun-Wei this morning. He seemed impressed with my knowledge of the State’s problems, and my suggestions on how to handle them. I pray Annalise and Oliver are right, and all the earlier reservations the council had about me have been laid to rest.
“Are you almost ready?” I ask Kyra through the bathroom door.
A small crack forms, and she sticks her head out. Crazy curls frame her face.
“Almost. I just have to put my clothes on.”
I tap my head. “Hair.”
She huffs. “Right. And my hair.”
A few minutes later, she emerges from the bathroom only looking slightly more presentable than before she went in, but I don’t have time to make her re-do everything.
“Why are you in such a rush?” she asks, as we hurry to the stairs. Her attitude has vastly improved since she went into the bathroom.
“They’re voting on my position in State.” Butterflies dance in my stomach.
When we pause outside the library door so I can collect myself, Kyra touches my arm. Unlike in the past, when I was unsure if she was influencing me by touch, this time, I feel a slight tremor of magic. Interesting. “Best wishes,” she says.
“Thank you.” I throw my shoulders back and hold my head high, the way Mother did when entering a room.
Annalise wears an eyepiece and a nasty frown.
“What’s going on?” I ask calmly, even though my heart has taken up residence in my ears.
Annalise removes the eyepiece and tosses it aside. “The State voted you down.”
She says it so casually. With no fanfare or warm-up. She gave me no time to prepare. Rage builds in my chest and my mouth goes slack. “How can they not accept me? I thought it was a sure thing.” I’m yelling, but Annalise keeps her face serene.
“You’re too young. Maybe in a few years, but right now, they have concerns.”
“About my age?”
“And your lack of training. You have no experience working in State. When Malin took leadership, she was ten years older than you and had already secured her place among top officials through merit. You’ve only been working for the State for a few weeks.”
I expected some reluctance, but with the number of Dark witches in State, it should have been an easy vote. I spiral the strand of sapphires around my finger. “We don’t have ten years for me to work my way up the ladder. I need a ranking position if we’re going to have any say in what happens with the Splinter group or the Light witches. Now, not in ten years when it’s too late and I’m dead.”
I summon the eyepiece to me and press it over my eye. The council meeting appears and I listen intently for a few seconds. They’ve moved on to allowing diplomats from the Center the rights to use the private gym facilities of the West.
As if it matters.
“Have they forgotten I am, in effect, the leader of the Dark witches?”
Annalise puts both her hands behind her head and bends her neck forward. “The vote’s final.”
“How will this work then? I’ll lead the Dark witches, Patrick Channing has no control over the Light witches, Eamon controls the Splinter group, so who runs the State?”
“They’ve put forward a few names. Sun-Wei seems to be the front runner.”
“Sun-Wei?” I huff. “Didn’t he hide when the Splinter group attacked at Kyra’s binding?” I crack my knuckles in hope of discharging a little magic. “They can’t pick him.”
“He’s a Dark witch and it’s better than if the Light witches or Splinter group seized control of the State. We’d be on the defensive, and that’s never a good position to be in,” Oliver says. He said the same thing to me the other day—how I had to be offensive rather than defensive with Beck.
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. “There has to be another way. We need them to give me control. It’s the only way to keep everything from falling apart. Why can’t they see that?”
Silence settles over the room. Is this really it? Am I supposed to go sit in a corner and play quietly until the “adults” decide I’m useful? I bite my lip and allow the stinging pain to grow.
“You can do what Caitlin did,” Oliver says. Excitement bubbles just beneath the surface of his words. “What she really did, not what the books say.”
“And what’s that?”
“Attack them.”
I press my finger against my top lip and lift my eyebrows. “Tell me more.”
Oliver turns on the wallscreen. A teenaged Caitlin stares back at us.
“How old is she here?” I ask.
“Eighteen. She’s announcing a treaty she formed with the Eastern Society.”
It’s mesmerizing the way she moves her hands and the tempo of her voice. “Did she secure the treaty or did Charles?”
“Does it matter? History says she did.”
“So she was in State at my age. How? Was it because there weren’t enough leaders?” That would make sense because she came to power at the end of the Long Winter.
Dawson taps the wallscreen. “Ah. For that, I think you want to see this.”
A newscaster dressed in old-fashioned clothes appears. He talks slowly, drawing out each word, and it takes me a moment to be able to understand what he’s saying. The pictures on the screen, however, are easier to interpret: tornadoes, fires, mysterious explosions.
“Did Caitlin do that?” I ask. Pride peppers my words.
Dawson nods. “I believe so.”
Annalise points at the screen. “How many did she eliminate?”
Oliver flips his hands over and shrugs. “My best guess is she started small. Maybe ten minor officials. No one seemed to suspect her at first. She was a just a girl with a strong aptitude for magic. But by the time she took control of the State, at age twenty-two, there wasn’t anyone left from five years earlier.”
I exhale loudly. “I don’t have five years. Not with the Splinter group pressing for control.” I scrunch up my forehead. “I have to go after all of them. Now.”
“Then you need a plan,” Oliver says.
I rub my neck. “We need to strike when the most officials are together. It would be the easiest way to do it. Like what the Splinter group did when they attacked Kyra’s binding.” Out of the corner of my eye, I glance at my friend. She stops picking at her nails and lifts her head just enough so that I can see the flicker of excitement in her eyes. I grin. This is the mischievous Kyra I know.
Dawson checks his wristlet. “They’re in session for another hour.”
I bounce a little on my toes. “Then we need to move fast. Before they have an idea of what’s coming for them.”
“What are you going to do when you get there?” Annalise asks. “Yell at them? Demand they give you what you want? You need a plan.”
She’s pushing me. She wants to know how far I’ll go to get what I want.
I spin slowly, pulling the energy of the room to me, and unleash it on the piano. It turns into a ball of fire. “I’m going to teach them to never say ‘no’ to me again.”
Our plan is simple: Kyra and I will enter through the front door of the meeting hall while my other guards transport into the back of the room. The five of us will then hold the Council hostage until they give me what I want.
Outside the door, I pause and wipe my sweaty palms on my skirt. For this to work, I have to show I’m strong, not just with magic, but also in politics. I have to convince every Dark witch in the room I can make difficult decisions. That while I may be young, I’m my mother’s daughter, and I’m fully capable of being in charge.
Kyra jumps up and down in place. It’s almost hard to believe she was sobbing not even two hours ago. I knew if I could just get her up, she’d be better.
“Ready?” she mouths.
I nod my head once.
With a flick of Kyra’s wrist, the door flings open. Heads jerk in our direction, drinks are set down, and silence settles around us.
“Don’t let us stop you,” Kyra teases, clearly enjoying the fear I strike into the people in the room. It’s nice to hear her happy.
Sun-Wei, Mother’s advisor, shoves his chair back and jumps to his feet. “Lark. What are you doing here?”
“Taking what belongs to me,” I say, keeping my voice light and bouncy.
Annalise, Oliver, and Dawson appear at the rear of the room and between the five of us, we surround the table of advisors and diplomats. Several of them jump to their feet, but Annalise uses her immobilization skills and wraps them up stiffly. All they can do is sit or stand.
Confused and panic-stricken, the various members of State yell at me. They demand I release them and explain myself.
Oliver told me the first thing Caitlin did was show her enemies no mercy. Anyone who questioned her was silenced.
I chuckle. This should be fun.
A waiter stands near me holding a tray in his frozen hands. Fear flashes in his eyes and I walk my fingertips over his arm before snatching a canapé from the tray.
“What are we discussing today?” I ask the crowded room. A wall of silence greets me.
“Let me remind you.” I take a nibble of the canapé. “You were voting to allow me to take my mother’s—no, my family’s—spot in State.”
More silence.
“Annalise, you didn’t tongue tie our friends, did you?”
My sister-in-law’s crimson red lips part into a sweet smile. “I did not.”
With a little skip, I position myself at the end of the long table, behind a witch I can’t immediately place. Kyra moves to my left and her hand gently rests on the witch’s. That’s good. Perhaps she can influence this one into helping us.
“Kyra, are you cold?” I eye her sleeveless dress, and keep my voice conversational.
She shivers and runs her free hand over her bare arm. “I am.”
With a casual toss of my hand, a fire leaps to life in the middle of the table. Smoke, thick and gray, billows above the heads of the members of State. Those nearest immediately choke on the fumes and smoke, and a woman sitting directly in front of the flame yelps, “Sun-Wei! Stop her. She’s out of control.”
I toss my head back and laugh. “Yes, Sun-Wei. Stop me. I’d love to see you try.”
Sun-Wei’s glare is a sharp as a dagger, but we both know he can’t hurt me. Not when he’s tied up in Annalise’s spell. And certainly not when ordinary Dark witches think I’m their savior. He’s screwed and he knows it.
“What is it you want, Lark?”
I study my hands as I splay my fingers and wiggle them. The magic inside me gnaws at my fingertips and I momentarily debate whether or not I should set something else on fire. But what’s the point? Everyone knows that I can do that.
“I want my place in State.”
Sun-Wei’s jaw clenches. “You’re too young. You haven’t earned it.”
I raise my eyebrows. “How old was Caitlin Greene when she became head of State?”
No one answers me. I toss the witch sitting next to me to the ground and she yelps in pain. With one leap, I land on the top of the table. The fire roars in the middle of the table, but it doesn’t stop me. I sashay down the long mahogany surface toward the far end and toward the fire, knocking over glasses and scattering papers as I go.
“She was twenty-two.” I reach the edge of the flame and take a deep breath. The easiest thing would be to extinguish it, but I need to show them nothing can hurt me. Not their magic, nor their lies. “Twenty-two,” I repeat, stepping into the flame. My eyes don’t waiver from Sun-Wei.
Behind me, Kyra gasps. “Lark. Don’t.”
But I’m already in the flames. Heat licks my skin, singes my dress and yet, it doesn’t burn me.
“However, she was only seventeen when she brought the world to its knees. Not even a mature witch.” I step out onto the other side of the fire and wave my hand over my dress. It immediately mends, and I grin. “At eighteen, she formed treaties with the Eastern Society to deal with the problematic witches in the North.”
I stop before Sun-Wei. “She was nineteen when she killed her first man.” I drop down so that my face is level with the Minister’s. “I killed my first when I was seventeen,” I stage whisper. “You know that, don’t you, Sun-Wei? You know I’m stronger than Caitlin ever was and that’s why you don’t want me in State. You want all the power for yourself.”
Terror ripples across his face. It’s there in his paler than usual skin, the beads of sweat on his brow, the way his eyes anxiously search behind me, as if hoping someone would come to his rescue.
Too bad for him, there’s no one who can.
“Listen to me,” I say slowly as I stand. The heels of my shoes scratch the table as I pivot, and my eyes move down the table, stopping briefly on each face. Imprinting them to my memory for future use. “I may not have an official office within the State, but I am the descendant of Caitlin Greene. You will include me in all meetings. There will be no decision made without my approval. Is that understood?”
My words are greeted with a low chorus of “Yes, Miss Lark.”
“Good, because I really hate having to do things like this.” Sun-Wei’s body convulses in his seat and his face twists in agony before sliding to the ground. I suck on the inside of my lip and let my mind work through the different ways I can hurt this man who defies me.
“Please, Lark. Please.” He gasps as I slowly squeeze the air from his lungs with just my thoughts. His face flushes red, then purple, and then a weird gray color.
When I release him, Sun-Wei rolls to his side, unconscious.
Like air escaping from a balloon, the spell holding the room’s occupants releases. Not a soul tries to flee. They all sit in their seats and wait.
“Now, who would like to explain this to me?” I point at the map on the wall.
A grizzled old witch raises his hand. “I will.”
“Good.” I nod. “Tell me everything you know. It’s time I learned what’s really going on.”