Chapter 26 #2
My mind wandered to wavy dark hair and intense hazel eyes. He’d definitely made me feel something. Anger, mostly.
Let’s not go down that road.
“Prue, Verena has asked us to assemble in the strategy room. She told me to bring you.” Before I’d even turned around, Jax’s retreating frame hurried toward the edge of the base. I sighed. What would she demand of me this time?
“I better go,” I said. “Tell Archie and Lili that I’ll meet them back home.” Then, I rushed off to catch up with him.
I entered just a few steps behind Jax. Hannan, Verena, Felix, and the rest of the council members were already assembled, talking loudly over one another in a heated discussion.
I felt misplaced. This meeting was for council members, and right now, I was at the lowest of the hierarchies within the Rebellion. On trial, in a sense.
Why was I invited to this clearly important meeting? Jax, I could understand. He’d been in the Rebellion a long time, and he was a Hunter—he’d have valuable insight regarding the war-preparations.
Felix looked at me for a moment, then turned his attention to his leader. Our leader.
“We’re going to infiltrate the city,” Verena said, slamming her hand on the table in finality. “It’s not up for discussion, Hannan. The rest of the council agrees with me.”
Hannan shook his head but retreated in defeat. He slumped into a chair and rubbed a hand over his tired face.
“Prudence, Jax, glad you could join us,” Verena said, turning her attention to us. “We need your help. As far as I know, you two are the ones who know the streets of Erobred best. Jax, I know you haven’t been there for almost a year, but you have gone back and forth for a long time. Whereas you…”
She trailed off as she turned to me, probably mostly out of disinterest. “I want to know where security is lacking, the crowded streets, all that. Considering your earlier… Occupation, you should know this.”
I nodded, but my stomach sank. Infiltrate the city. She was planning to launch an attack. “Yes, I suppose.”
“We also need your cooperation with another matter, Prudence.” Her voice was brisk and demanding. I knew this wasn’t the time or place to disclose my disagreement. “We want the people in Erobred to witness you firsthand.”
She looked at me like I was supposed to know what that meant.
“As in, show them your ability to wield from both the sun and the moon. We think that might turn some people to our side. Witnessing how powerful one can become when we collaborate.”
I snorted. That was one way to put it. For some reason, I doubted my show of abilities would convince anybody who viewed the mooncasters as less than them otherwise.
What might, though, was to break the curse. Against my better judgment, I spoke up.
“I think breaking the curse will make mooncasters stronger,” I said, then plunged into the explanation before she could interrupt me.
“I read about water manipulation in an old book King Erebos wrote. I’ll show you.”
At her surprised, cold stare, I regretted not showing it to her the second they’d accepted me back into the Rebellion. The first thing I’d done after being back in my hut was check under my mattress to confirm that the book had still been there.
“He wrote about creating whips and shapes of water, even changing the temperature of it, not just manipulating the tides. I believe the curse has made us weaker,” I continued, hoping she’d find my bit of information interesting enough to forget about my little slip-up.
The fire in Verena’s eyes was nothing short of terrifying. “That simply isn’t true. I suspect Elio Boaz provided you with this book. Why would you believe it?”
“It helped me find the Rebellion,” I said. “I believe this book was written by Erebos, and I have faith in him.”
“I don’t care,” Verena said sharply. “The King has been dead for over a century. We’re doing it my way.”
I swallowed hard, suppressing the words clawing to free themselves from my throat. I caught Hannan shooting me a warning look, his head barely turning to the side in a small but powerful no.
“You and the other mooncasters will learn to manipulate the tides in unison, well enough to create waves larger than the wall surrounding Erobred. That will be our first attack. You will also practice your sun magic every day since you seem to struggle with that more than your moon magic.
“We will station rebels in the city, ready with weapons, bombs, and their powers. As one, we’ll launch the attack. The goal is to kill as many of our enemies as possible. We leave in one month.”
Her words rang loudly in the room even after she was done speaking. The council members nodded as if they’d already heard this plan.
Felix tensed but looked determined. Jax looked displeased but remained silent.
Verena looked around at each of her council members in turn, her fierce gaze ablaze. She was the incarnation of the moon in full. Her midnight skin seemed to glow with fiery stars, and her purple eyes shone like moonlight as she spoke. “It’s time this Kingdom was ruled by a Queen.”