Page 54 of The Never List
Kal blows out a breath. “I knew the stories were bad,” he says, “but I hadn’t realized how bad.” He lifts those blue eyes to mine. “And what do you think, Rylee? You’ve been with me for three weeks now. You saw me rush off on Legend business before, saw me return. You’ve seen me with my people. What do you think about those tales?”
I worry my lip between my teeth. He’s not immediately denying the stories.
“I think they’re believable,” I say, noticing his slight flinch. “Believable if you have no contact with the Legends,” I continue. “What is everyone supposed to believe if there isn’t evidence to counter the rumors? They ensure that those who don’t really know you are afraid of you.” I shake my head. “But, after getting to know you…” My voice trails off as I silently question everything. “The way you are with your people, the kindness with which you approach everyone…I don’t think those stories are true about you, but perhaps they are about the other Legends? I don’t know them like I’ve gotten to know you. But if they aren’t true about any of you, I have to wonder why such rumors are around in the first place.”
“That’s a fair assessment,” Kal says as he nods. “I can’t say that some of the elements you’ve brought up aren’t true, especially about our powers. It’s no secret that the four of us are incredibly powerful, and the kings more so, but they aren’t as involved in territorial disputes because they’re ancient and uninterested in anything that happens outside of the royal city.” He sighs. “As long as everyone is still loyal to them, still paying their taxes, still paying tribute to them and supplying their armies with people, they don’t care. ButIcare. I care about what happens in my city. Pierce, Axl, and Jax care about what happens in theirs.”
“And outside your cities?” I ask before I can stop myself. “Who cares about them?”
Kal’s brow furrows. “The lower cities?”
I purse my lips. “Yes,” I say. “Those like mine.”
“We do our best to handle conflict in those cities when we can,” he explains. “But our fathers have put rules in place about the amount of aid we’re allowed to give.”
Emotion clogs my throat. “And you’re content with the way things are?”
“No,” he says. “And I have a sense you’re not, either.”
I shift my weight. We’ve never danced this close to the truth before…not this truth. “I think there’s a ton of work to be done in the lower cities. And after the wealth I’ve witnessed here, I know it’s possible.”
“That’s something you’d want to do?” he asks. “If…”
His voice trails off, and my heart flips in my chest from the weight of thatif.
IfI choose them in the end.
IfI survive the Athanry.
If. If. If.
“Yes,” I finally answer. “I think there’s a way to help the lower cities without resorting to all the tactics the rumors speak of.”
Kal nods. “I won’t lie to you and pretend I’ve never used my powers to intimidate someone.”
My chest tightens at his admission, and suddenly I’m analyzing the last three weeks, wondering if the only reason he’s treated me so well is because he needs me so badly. Needs me to choose him, choose all of them so the powershe speaks of magnify to a point they could overthrow the kings if they wished.
“My city isn’t perfect,” he continues. “I don’t believe any city is. There are good people here with good intentions, and there are people here with bad intentions, too. When those intentions get bad enough to merit the Legends’ attention…” He shrugs. “We meet them with the full force of our powers.”
“And who decides what merits your attention? The kings?”
“Sometimes they advise us on investigating one crime or another,” he answers. “But usually, these matters are brought to us specifically by the citizens being affected.”
“Are you saying anyone in your city can have an audience with you? No matter their station?”
“I know that the laws in Lumathyst set forth by my father and the other kings say no,” he answers. “But my people know that there’s no fear when requesting my presence to discuss a grievance or a dream. Regardless of their station.”
I study the lines of his face, searching for those signs of deception I’ve gotten so good at reading thanks to a life of dealing with the kings’ enforcers—dealing with Turner and all the lies he spun before he showed his true self.
I see nothing like that on Kal’s face, nothing that would indicate he’s lying to me, telling me exactly what I want to hear in order to keep me invested in him. All I see is a heaviness in the set of his eyes, a tenseness along his broad shoulders, the muscle in his jaw ticking as he silently pleads with me to understand.
“So, you and the other Legends determine which people merit your intimidation or not?” I ask. “Was the first storytrue?”
“No,” he says, then tilts his head. “Not entirely.”
“Not entirely.” I repeat the words, my stomach sinking.
“The story got the intimidation practices right,” he admits. “Jax did dangle a man off a building while making him piss his pants. Axl made a bet on whether or not he would soil himself next. Pierce held his mind to have absolute proof of his crimes, and then I stripped him of all his titles and wealth.” He shakes his head. “But the reasoning behind it,thatwas a story spun by the Occuli and our fathers to be beneficial to their laws. What’s the point of printing a story if it doesn’t have some tie back to the kings and the laws of the realm they rule over?”
