Chapter 28 A Test of Trust
Sera's POV
"You're right," he says. "I do love her. And yes, that colors my judgment. So everyone here needs to evaluate this plan independently. You need to decide whether the strategy makes sense, not based on my feelings, but based on the actual mathematics of the situation."
"We have six weeks before the purge begins. We have fifteen territories willing to remain neutral. We have nowhere near enough military force to fight a real war. Our only advantage is political. We can make the councils' order seem unreasonable. We can create doubt. We can force people to choose between following orders and following conscience. Sera is our leverage for that."
The council debates for long. Some people argue for the summit plan. Others argue for alternatives. Landon, the warrior who left us weeks ago but has recently returned with several others, argues that they should prepare for full military conflict. If the summit goes wrong, they need to be ready to fight.
"Preparing for military conflict doesn't preclude trying the political route first," Mara says. "We can do both. We can train, we can prepare for violence, and we can also try to change minds."
By the end of the meeting, the vote is close but clear. Twenty-three in favor of attending the summit, eight against. Gaius is one of the eight who votes against, and his opposition feels personal in a way that bothers me.
After the meeting, I pull Kira aside.
"I feel something's wrong with Gaius," I tell her quietly. We're in a corridor away from the main areas. "His objections make sense on the surface, but they feel like more than that. They feel personal."
Kira's expression darkens. "I've noticed. I've been wondering the same thing. Kade trusts him, which makes it hard to push back. But you're right. Something's off."
"Can you watch him?" I ask. "Carefully? Without him knowing?"
Kira nods slowly. "I can arrange it. But Sera, if Gaius is working against us, that's a problem we need to solve quickly. He knows everything about our planning. If he's reporting to the councils..."
"Then we change the plan," I say. "We tell him different information, see if it gets back to the councils."
"That's dangerous," Kira says. "If he's a spy and we confront him, he could become violent. He could compromise our security directly."
"I know," I say. "But we need to know for certain. We can't go into the summit not knowing if we've been betrayed."
That night, I tell Kade about our suspicion. He's quiet for a long time, and I can see the disappointment in his face. Gaius has been with him for five years. They've worked together through wars and politics and all the complications that come with ruling a territory.
"We need proof before we do anything," Kade says finally. "If we accuse him without evidence, we'll create division in the leadership. And if he's innocent, we'll have damaged a relationship that we might need."
"And if he's guilty and we wait too long?" I ask.
"Then we deal with it," Kade says grimly. "But we deal with it carefully. We deal with it with full information."
By morning, Kira has arranged for discreet surveillance. Two warriors will watch Gaius's movements, his meetings, his private conversations. They'll report anything unusual directly to Kira, and Kira will report only to me and Kade.
The waiting is harder than I expected. Every day, Gaius participates in council meetings like normal. He trains warriors. He plans defenses.
He acts exactly like he did before I started suspecting him. But now I'm watching for tells, for moments where he seems uncomfortable or distracted.
By the third day, Kira reports something significant. Gaius left the compound at night, traveled to a location three miles away, and met with two warriors no one recognized. The meeting lasted two hours. He returned with a letter sealed with official markings.
"The council seal," Liam confirms when we show him the evidence. "That's definitely the councils' official mark. He's communicating with them directly."
"So he's a spy," I say. The words feel heavy.
"Or he's negotiating," Kade says. But I can hear the doubt in his voice now. The trust has been shaken.
We need to confront him, but we need to be smart about it. We need to make sure we have all the information before we move. We have two weeks until the summit, and if Gaius is reporting our plans to the councils, they're already adjusting their strategy.
The letter is sealed too carefully for anyone to open without Gaius knowing. We could try to intercept his next meeting, could try to capture the councils' messenger, but that risks compromising Kira's surveillance.
Instead, Kade decides to wait. We let Gaius continue his meetings, let him report whatever information he's gathering, and we prepare contingencies.
If Gaius is reporting that we're planning to attend the summit with Sera, the councils will be expecting us. They'll prepare a response, will make plans to capture or kill her the moment she arrives.
Which means we'll need to change our approach.
Which means the summit just became infinitely more complicated.
By the time Kade and I finally try to sleep the night before our planned confrontation with Gaius, I'm exhausted in ways that have nothing to do with physical training.
The emotional weight of knowing someone you trusted might have betrayed you, the stress of preparing for a battle that keeps changing shape, the pressure of knowing that thousands of lives depend on the decisions we make in the next two weeks.
I fall asleep against Kade's chest, listening to his heartbeat, feeling the tension in his body. He's terrified, I realize. Not of the councils, but of making the wrong choice. Of getting everyone killed because he trusted the wrong person or made the wrong call at the critical moment.
"We'll figure it out," I whisper into the darkness.
"I hope so," he says back. But neither of us believes it with any real certainty.