Page 130 of Remnants: Disruption
“Another astute observation, Gareth,” she says, nodding to him. Her orange eyes don’t leave the young man as she continues. “Except only one being killed the trickster and his wolf. And only one being killed twenty-four others in the process.”
Despite the fact that he was flirting with the God Queen herself, Gareth does actually look unsteady as he turns to the images again.
The screen flicks to another slide with just as much gore as the previous ones. This time it’s the others who either met my bladed shadows or the spirits. Each sequential image has a lot more blood than I remember seeing.
Though at the end, I only saw her.
“Do not commit the sin of ego,” Cass continues, tone increasing in severity as the slides click across the screen.
I don’t even feel all that badly. Maybe I should, but Loki and Beowulf had wanted me dead from the beginning. Their followers just chose the wrong leaders to bet on.
The slides end and the screen goes dark. A visceral silence takes over as everyone returns their attention to Cass.
“It is indeed a blessing that the individual who was capable of such violence fights for our side. In the end, we owe them great thanks for culling the weak.”
Her words ring loudly across the Cradle.
“It falls upon you all, now, to choose two new council members from within the archon ranks. The other council members and I will allow you a few minutes to decide on your nominations.”
With that, she, Azazel, Morgana, and Bast vacate their chairs and disappear behind the council door behind Cass’ chair.
Voices break out around me, but my eyes don’t leave the spot that Cass had just been in. She’d not said a single word about internal elections. This alone already elevates the risk of someone just as malicious as the other two getting a position of power they don’t deserve.
And I don’t really want to have to make another example of men who think too highly of themselves. I owe it to Marla, Trish, and everyone else like them to ensure proper leadership this time.
It’s one thing to want change. It’s an entirely other thing to accomplish it without brute force. But maybe it’s time for that.
“Figured you’d be tailing Azazel, not down here with us,” a masculine voice stirs me from my thoughts, and I turn to see Gareth giving me a wide grin.
“I go where I’m told,” I say, shrugging.
Gareth, now closer, is a few inches shorter than me. Though if he notices, he doesn’t seem to care.
“You didn’t the other day,” he says, grin definitely getting wider. It shoots an uncomfortable pang into my gut. One that feels like a warning. “I like a woman who knows her worth.”
I paint on a sickly-sweet smile and take a step closer to him. Either this man is suicidal or dumber than a box of rocksbecause he doesn’t seem to grasp the malice flitting through my mind.
“I must admit I didn’t know the etiquette in dealing with the God Queen. Since then I have been properly educated.”
Soft lips and warm breath almost occlude my mind before I force my attention back on the idiot.
“That’s a shame,” he says, smile not dimming, “I thought maybe we’d found an ally. Though you did seem broken up about those dead humans.”
Not just an idiot, then. Definitely suicidal.
“Gareth,” someone calls from another pocket of archons who look like deliberating their nominations is a less-than-easy task. “Are you ready?”
“Of course,” he says, giving me another simpering smile. “Do try and decide what’s more important—the humans who subjugate us or those of us with the power to stop them.”
With that, he floats away to the group that had called him over.
A traitor. Another like the loyalists. Like the ones Cass had removed when she’d taken over. Like the ones she seems to know exist in this group, but have yet to be eradicated.
Marla and Trish flash through my mind. As do Rey and Ty and all the other people down here. The ones who these archons don’t even seem to consider in their decisions. Gareth speaks of subjugation and domination, but not of survival or peace.
He doesn’twantpeace. He wants power.
No one else approaches me as I watch as the archons who, overwhelmingly, look to be male, decide on two nominees. One is Gareth. The other is another man who looks like he’s most definitely a supernatural being of some kind. He’s lanky and thin, and his face looks like a mask, rather than something human.
