Chapter 40-2

Britta tapped a fingernail against the side of her tea cup. "I'll be the first to admit that I know very little of what my people—of what many of you—have faced. I have not starved alongside them. I have not been beaten or lost limbs or had my life stolen in the name of the goddess or some false sense of justice. I don't know anyone who has worked in slave camps. I have never served in the army or been called up in a draft. I have never lost a child to war or to famine or to the Culling." She sighed and glanced up, her eyes scanning our faces as she said, "But over a year ago, I was sent to tour our cities. And I went against my father's orders, I didn't stay in the prettiest, wealthiest places—I wandered. I saw those things. Saw the brokenness of our—my— people. I listened. And I realized, very quickly, that even though their experiences were not my own, they were too common. Too many people shared those experiences. They were real." "And so, the princess took it upon yourself to be the savior? What a martyr." There was a level of annoyance to Heidi's voice, a sharpness, that had me shooting her a glare. We weren't here to be Britta's opponent. We weren't trying to fight her—we wanted Caine dead. We wanted the Culling dead. She was offering to do those things. Why attack her and question her genuineness? But Britta did not recoil from the accusation. She only leveled her gaze on Heidi. "I saw an opportunity to be useful and I took it. Nothing was going to change without my mother's death. Without my father's death. And I knew that if Cohen was made king and another goddess-touched girl was put on the throne, people would continue to die. I also knew that my mother was not going to step down. Neither of my parents were keen on the idea of losing the throne. My mother even argued against having the Culling at all. So, while you may think I set myself up to be 'the savior'—as you put it—that was never my intention. I only wanted to save Erydia and, if possible, save my siblings as well." Before Heidi could say something else, Nadia spoke up, "When you become queen of Erydia, what will happen to us? Will there be more Cullings?" "No. It—It will take some convincing and I'm sure the temple and the devout will be angered by the dismantling of the competition, but I will not allow it to continue. As far as I am concerned, the Culling is over." "But what if there are more goddess-touched girls?" Nadia asked. "After us, I mean." I noted the way Britta kept her gaze locked on the map before her, on the small figurine of a crown nestled directly over the south side of Gazda. "The birth of goddess-touched girls has always been sparked by the males of the Warwick line. I—After this war that will no longer be an issue. There will be no more Warwick heirs and no one to continue the Culling. Any heir will come from the Blackburne line." And there it was—the declaration I'd known was coming and yet was so afraid to face. They were going to kill Kai. They had to. If he didn't die—If he didn't die, then he could have a son and the Culling could start again. But...I swallowed, resisting the urge to ask more questions. I wanted to know why he couldn't live. The Culled had intended to sterilize Cohen, that way he couldn't have children. There would be no male heir, but he could still live. Why couldn't the same be done to Kai? Because Kai was the enemy. Cohen had been an ally. They would not have mercy for Kai. He was the king of a kingdom Britta was seeking to take for herself. And, even if he was her half-brother, she did not care for him at all. She would not stand between him and this rebellion. But I would. I had to fight for him—didn't I? Around me, the table was still in discussion about the rebellion and the next steps. I heard Britta say something about Haniver troops being brought into the larger cities. Safehouses were mentioned. She pointed to a few places on the map and told my friends about her most valuable spies—names I recognized. A reporter named Harper Vance. A tailor named Birk Bisley. Other people I didn't know. And the whole time Britta talked, I could feel Nadia's eyes on me. We both knew how I felt. I could tell them all day long that I wanted to fight against Kai, I wanted the same things they did—but Nadia knew the truth. She could see my heart and she knew it was with him. And it frustrated her. My friend, with the endless patience, hated that I still cared for a boy that should have been my enemy. But she didn't say anything to Britta about it. She didn't need to. The queen of Pellarmus wasn't stupid. If she had spies in the palace, then she knew my connection to the king and how easily controlled he was by me—because of me. Darragh would have also told her about Kai's note and how he'd sent me away. I wondered if, despite her claims, Britta would work to keep me here in Pellarmus. I was a risk. I might stand in her way. But she had not shied away from me or denied me this meeting. She had not hidden her plans or her maps or her rebel communications with me. She'd left them out for me to see. Trust. Britta knew that Cohen trusted me and she was trying to trust me too. Even if she thought I'd been a traitor. I suppose at the end of it all, she'd been one too. The queen was still explaining the numerous safehouses and giving vague estimations on how soon we might truly strike, when there was a hasty knock at the door to the office. Britta's paused as the door opened without her permission and Dellacov stepped inside. The queen shot to her feet, her eyes widening with fear. Cohen. I could see the question written all over her features. But Dellacov only shook his head, an answer to a question she'd been too afraid to ask. "There's been radio contact from Vayelle. We think—we think it may be coming from Third Corps." Britta's brow furrowed. "Third Corps?" Third Corps. "That's where my brothers are." I pushed up from the table. "Take me. I—Let me hear it." But Dellacov didn't look at me, he only spoke to Britta again. "Third Corps was the Culled base where we all stayed—it was the only base that wasn't aware of Kaius's identity or Caine's plans to take the throne. From what I've been told, some of the rebels that were freed from the palace by Darragh set out to rescue a group of hostages from Third Corps." Britta nodded slowly, digesting all of that. "And you think it's these rebels?" "We have reason to believe it is, yes ma'am."