The guards led us through a maze of hallways, and by the time we reached the meeting room, my arms trembled with exertion. Greyson quickly found a chair for me along the edge of the spartan room, and I sank into it gratefully while taking in the faces of the twelve Ministers of the Union.
I had met most of them at one party or another during my tenure as Lila, and I tried to remember their names. Minister Bradley was a given; he’d cropped up too many times in my life as of late for me to ever forget his wanderingeyes or handlebar mustache. I’d seen Minister Creed, Knox’s father, from a distance, but had never officially met him—which, in retrospect, seemed odd, considering I was supposed to be his son’s fiancée. I remembered what Knox had told me about his twin brother, and any connection I might have felt toward the senior Creed vanished.
Daxton burst into the room, flanked by a pair of guards. He wore a well-cut dark suit, and his hair was slicked back the way Victor Mercer had worn it in the single photograph I’d seen. I glanced at Greyson to see if he’d noticed, too. He stared at the man posing as his father with more hate in his eyes than I’d thought he was capable of.
“Sorry, am I late?” said Daxton breezily, taking a seat at the head of the table. His guards stood beside him, both with their hands on their weapons. “My deepest apologies, gentlemen. I had a few calls to make. Now, what seems to be the trouble?”
Minister Creed stood. He sat at the opposite end of the table from Daxton, and he squared his shoulders as if readying himself for battle. I doubted he’d ever seen the wrong end of a gun before, but to his credit, he spoke without any hint of apprehension in his voice. “With all due respect, you know exactly what we asked you here for. The evidence the rebels have uncovered—”
“Is completely unsubstantiated,” said Daxton with a dismissive gesture. “Anyone could falsify those documents, and it’s rather convenient that everyone they claim to be connected to the procedure is dead.”
“Very convenient,” agreed Creed, his brow furrowing. “Though far more convenient for you, I’d say.”
Daxton chuckled, and the sound of it sent an icy dread running down my spine. “If we’re going to talk convenience, let’s discuss the fact that your son is the one behind all of this Blackcoats nonsense. If our suspicions must fall on one of our own, you seem far more likely a candidate than me, Minister Creed.”
Creed reddened, and I could tell from his clenched jaw and deadened stare that this wasn’t the first time he’d faced that kind of accusation. “I have proven my loyalty time and time again. If Lennox were in front of me right now, I would not hesitate to execute him like the traitor he is.”
“Well, then. Let’s make that a priority.” Daxton turned his attention toward the others seated at the table. “Gentlemen, tell me you don’t really believe their conspiracy theories. They’re simply trying to sway the public against us.”
“Against you,” corrected Creed. Daxton narrowed his eyes, and one of the guards shifted.
“Believe me, if they take me out, they will make sure you come crumbling down with me,” he said. “If you want to continue to enjoy your current lifestyle, I would highly recommend ignoring their fiction and supporting me.”
“There’s a simple way to get this sorted once and for all, isn’t there?” said Minister Bradley, not bothering to stand as he stroked his mustache. “The girl said she felt a V on the back of your neck. One of you, yes?” He eyedme and Lila.
“The one with the crutches,” said Daxton with a sniff, answering Bradley’s silent question. “Is that what this has come to? Feeling the back of my neck like I’m a common criminal?”
“It would be the easiest way to solve this—dispute,” said Bradley with a shrug, as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other. As long as he got to keep his job, I supposed it probably didn’t.
“And what will you do if you find I am in fact this Victor Mercer character, as they claim?” he said.
“Well—” Bradley looked at Creed helplessly, and Creed cleared his throat, casting a fleeting look at the armed guards.
“We have all agreed that, should you prove not to be a member of the Hart family, you will be relieved as Prime Minister and indicted for treason. Should you decide not to show us your neck, we must assume the worst, and the results will be the same.”
All twelve Ministers stared at Daxton. They may not have been as influential as he was individually, but together, they formed the most powerful body in our country. I furrowed my brow. It couldn’t be this easy. After all the Blackcoats had risked—it couldn’t possibly be as simple as the Ministers of the Union stripping him of power. I glanced at Greyson. He was next in line for the title of Prime Minister. If he was the one they appointed in Daxton’s place, this war would be over by sunset.