With wide eyes, King Collins interjected, “Caro, you cannot seriously be considering this…”
Roselle’s voice was rough. “You may think you know our ways, but you know nothing.” I opened my cold eyes to her. Her face was flushed with anger as she glared at King Collins. “This is a hard decision to make but with all due respect to you, King Collins, and the rest of you here,” her jaw clenched, “you all need to shut the fuck up and trust Ms Jules to make the correct decision.” Blue, frosty eyes met mine. “I have no idea how the hell you’re going to survive here with them.” She stared at me hard. “You should rescind your choice and come home where you belong.”
“Roselle, enough,” the One murmured quietly. But it was a direct order. “Her choice is currently here.” Silver eyes met mine in the silence Roselle’s outburst had created. “To answer your question, I can find any spirit anywhere.”
My nostrils flared as I realized he was saying—in code—that he could pull the individual through the ether, back to us. “Christ, Leric.” I shoved out of my chair, standing, and started pacing. I rubbed at my forehead.
This decision was eating not only at my gut but at my heart as well.
Elder Fergus murmured into the quiet, “You’ll have to excuse me because I am new to this situation, but if what I’m understanding is correct then I would like to know if this individual can make a sane, cognitive decision to do this.”
The One answered smoothly, “The individual I have in mind was once a Guardian, a strong protector and fighter.” God, the poor man. “If I asked this of him during a moment of sanity, he would unquestionably want it.”
“So it would be his sane decision to take the mission, if he chose to.” Elder Fergus rested further on his chair with a casual shrug. “With what I’ve overheard, I back the idea.” More than a few heads turned his way, including my own. Green eyebrows rose. “The man’s obviously in for a lifetime of hell he can’t escape, otherwise the One and Ms Jules wouldn’t even be considering this.” His head tilted, green curls dangling over his cheek. “Think of it as a Com who has an incurable, excruciating disease and wants to do one last good deed before his life ends.”
“Finally someone here is thinking outside the box to understand us,” Reese muttered under his breath, but everyone heard him in the thoughtful quiet. He nodded to the Elder. “Thank you, Elder Fergus. That metaphor is fairly accurate.”
“You’re welcome.” Elder Fergus dipped his head in return, but his voice turned stony with his next words. “But if this is a choice we decide, then we will want to hear the man say with our own ears that he desires it.”
I explained the best I could. “We truly will be cruel if we brought him into this room.” I met amber eyes steadily. “I can’t explain but,” I waved an arm at the individuals around the room, “with these people and the lives they’ve led, he wouldn’t do well.” I rubbed at my forehead further, letting my eyes fall to the ground. “I can go to the Temple and meet him, and judge for myself if his decision is credible or not.”
“I don’t agree with this,” Queen Cooper argued. “Any sane person wouldn’t agree to a suicide mission.”
I shook my head. “You’ve never experienced the life—no, the permanent hell—he’s experiencing.”
Elder Zeller asked, “How is he supposed to complete this mission if he can’t be in a room with us?” He shook his head. “His risk of dying would increase if he flashed into a room and started screaming.”
“Can he be sedated? Like a Com? We know Com drugs work for Caro.” Queen Ruckler asked gently, glancing up from the table and looking between me and the One.
My head cocked as I evaluated her. “To complete the mission? Or to help with his prolonged existence?”
She stared, her voice stronger. “If medication helped to improve his life, I’m sure we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’m asking if he could be sedated to complete the mission and to possibly return to us alive.”
God, she really was a hardcore bitch when she wanted to be. My lips lifted cynically as I stared back. “Thank you, I just wanted clarification.” Eyes to the One. “Being sedated might work best, as long as you could still find him.”