Chapter 61
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Evelyn sat down on the elegantly upholstered sofa. Emil sat across from her, stiff and uncomfortable. She was unsure if the discomfort stemmed from the plush surroundings or if age had finally started to catch up with him.
He was better preserved than she had imagined he would be.
Evelyn doubted he would willingly let go of the reins of his military empire for decades at a time to take a stasis sabbatical.
Had modern medicine made such staggering strides since she’d been asleep that those who could afford to could turn back the clock indefinitely?
Emil should look older than he did. There was a faint dusting of gray throughout his hair, deeper lines between his brows.
A few spots on the back of his hands. When they had last met, he had been in his late thirties, an upstart military superstar.
Now, she would have pegged him as mid-fifties. Maybe.
What had he done to himself?
“We had an agreement. You’ve violated the treaty,” she said. Best to start off blunt.
Emil straightened his shirt sleeves before deigning to raise his eyes to meet her face. “Your father renegotiated the terms. You were indisposed.”
“I’m pretty sure one of the signatories being taken hostage nullifies any sort of legitimacy to renegotiation.
But what do I know, I’m not a lawyer.” Evelyn was pulling from memories of her sisters.
She never thought she’d be grateful they’d been such self-righteous little shits when they were small, telling her not to concern herself with their lessons at court.
“No, you’re not.”
Evelyn arched an eyebrow at him. “Your Highness. ‘No, you’re not, Your Highness.’”
He stared at her. What had he expected? Had he expected her to beg, to plead? Foot stomping? Evelyn had to stop herself from snorting. She kept her face cool, arched an eyebrow, and waited for him to reply.
“No, you’re not, Your Highness.” She saw the muscles in his jaw tense as he spat out the words. “You wish to renegotiate our treaty?”
Evelyn smoothed her skirt, wishing for a moment that she had someone in her ear, a more experienced adult to guide her.
Veronique would know how to maneuver this conversation.
She was alone. She could do this.
“As far as I am concerned, I have met the conditions of the treaty I signed. You have not only not met your obligations, but have steamrolled over the goodwill of the people and planet of Tanalia.” She crossed her legs, leaned back.
She tried to channel the same confidence she’d portrayed in the video Veronique had directed, and had seen on her sisters’ faces their entire lives.
“You’ve violated our agreement. The Galactic Planetary Collective is pretty useless, but they take treaty violations seriously, especially when there’s evidence to back up allegations. ”
Emil scoffed. “You want to take this to the courts? My forces will decimate your planet before the first hearing is scheduled.”
“Oh, I have no faith in the courts. Well, not the GPC’s anyway.
The court of public opinion, however? That I do have faith in.
How are you going to keep feeding your war machine when every trading partner you’re in business with stops shipping supplies?
I believe you’ve had a taste of my production crew’s efforts.
” Her heart was hammering in her chest so hard, she was amazed she couldn’t see it beating through the wool of her jacket.
Evelyn examined her nails, hoping the disaffected air would punch up her words. “Not to mention the streams of all those people in the square. Have to have been picked up by the galactic news media by now. Opposing fascism always looks so impressive on screens.”
Emil was silent as he considered her words.
Evelyn hoped she was playing this the way Corvinia had expected her to.
Sting of betrayal aside, Evelyn knew that her aunt never did anything without a reason.
She wished she knew what the fuck the reason was, but she was committed at this point.
Her survival meant burying her feelings for the time being, and Evelyn was nothing if not an expert at that.
If Corrie’s plan fell through, Evelyn wouldn’t make it out of the palace alive.
She’d prefer death to getting back in that damn pod.
Certainly, it would be better than waking up once every decade to remember she’d gotten both her chosen and birth families killed.
There was no way he was forcing her back into it.
It had to be irony that learning how to harness her ability to siphon would be the same thing that would give her an out.
Unleashing the energy she’d been storing inside herself would surely be enough power to overload her system until her heart exploded.
She’d never have to give Emil another ounce of Amplification.
A wave of calm rushed over her with that realization.
One foot in front of the other, Evelyn.
Emil tapped his finger on the arm of the chair, bringing her attention back to the room. He closed his eyes and nodded.
“An elegant strategy. I salute you.”
Evelyn shrugged. “I’ve had time to think.”
“I have a counter proposal,” he said.
“Why would I entertain one? You’ve already proven your word is worth less than garbage.”
Rather than respond, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small control. With the click of a button, a view screen came to life. The picture was divided into several small squares.
The squares were security feeds of the bedrooms in the palace.
She could make out her parents’ room, her sisters’ rooms, each outfitted with stasis pods.
Her family, frozen in time. Thawed out whenever Emil needed a convenient puppet.
Rage threatened to spill out of her mouth, and she bit the inside of her cheek hard.
“You make another moving, rousing speech. You speak at length about the spirit of Tanalian innovation. You inspire the masses to get back to work. You tell them that their safety is your highest priority, and that after you met with me, you reconsidered your position. Revolutions cost far too many lives. And then you get back into your stasis pod.”
She couldn’t stop the snort this time.
“I believe the phrase is ‘over my dead body,’” she said. She crossed her arms. “Not happening.”
“Oh. Not your dead body. Theirs.” He gestured to the screen. “Every day you delay, I unplug a pod.”
Evelyn stared at the screen. Her parents would never make pancakes for brunch again if Emil had his way. They’d never stroll through gardens, her father would never grow a comically large rose for her mother to laugh at before burying her face in the sweet scented petals.
Her sisters would never see their spouses again.
Constantina would never flirt outrageously with an unsuspecting man before eviscerating him with her cool logic, Adelaide would never paint another painting, or adopt the squadron of children she’d fantasized about parenting since she was old enough to carry a doll.
They’d lie in those pods and pump Amplification into tanks for Emil until he died and left the project in another man’s hands.
Unacceptable.
The thought of Emil picking them off one at a time was equally unbearable. Horrible. One more disaster to lay at the feet of Evelyn Alpertti’s bad judgment.
“It’s not your fault. Vinnie lies.”
Aiden’s words echoed through her mind, the last thing he’d said to her as he watched her begin another guilt spiral.
Vinnie had lied.
So had Emil.
The minute he killed her family, he lost his leverage over her.
If she stopped focusing on her guilt, batted back the panic, she could see it was an empty threat.
Why would he ever let go of such a vital resource?
Emil was counting on her to be the irrational, emotional woman he’d met all those years ago.
To react exactly the way her father had. Reusing known tactics.
Evelyn spoke, low and slow. “I may not have agreed with my family in many situations, but I know that none of them is loving their lives as your puppet monarch of the moment. Life in a stasis pod isn’t living.”
“You’d risk their lives to wage your pointless war?”
“They’re not living now,” she said, one of her shoulders lifting slightly. “You’re never going to let them. And it’s never pointless to fight against men like you.”
“You can’t win,” he said slowly, like he was speaking to a particularly idiotic child.
“Irrelevant.”
“Irrelevant?” His jaw worked. The finger tapped harder on the chair arm.
“Yes. Would I love to banish you to the pit from which you spawned? Absolutely. Will I do my best to do so? Again, yes. But you have never understood the spirit of Tanalia if you can’t comprehend why it’s irrelevant if I am successful.
What matters is the attempt.” She tilted her head to the side.
“Is the project going as you expected? Are your soldiers any more powerful? How’s the asset performing — that’s what you consider this planet, isn’t it?
Is it as fruitful? Are the exports as profitable? ”
He looked perplexed, trying to discern a hidden meaning in her words. “I’ve increased the efficiency of this planet threefold.” He stopped tapping the chair and switched to swiping on his communicator again. Rude.
“Efficiency, sure. I’ve no doubt you can increase efficiency.
But the spark that makes Tanalia sing? You don’t have it, and you never will.
You’ll wring it dry and then be left with another planet’s worth of people to feed, educate, and induct into your war machine without the means to pay for itself.
You’ll find another planet you can subdue, rob of its resources, rinse, repeat.
So, I will make my attempt. You can kill my family, you can kill me.
I would advise against it. Martyrs tend to make for stronger revolutions. ”
Evelyn crossed her legs and folded her hands together to stop them from visibly shaking.
How does anyone stay in character so long?
She could feel the dampness under her arms and prayed the color of the wool was dark enough to hide her nervous sweat.
She poured all her focus into keeping the look on her face cool, composed.
She wouldn’t give him any more weapons to use against her. He had plenty scattered around the palace.
“If your family isn’t the right lever, I simply need to find the correct one.” Emil’s lips flipped into a smug smirk that made Evelyn’s stomach sink. “Perhaps this one will do the trick?”
The doors to the receiving room opened, and guards dressed in the Bauder uniform streamed in to ring the room.
Evelyn thought it was overkill as shows of force went.
She knew he had a large military at his disposal.
That was the whole point of Corvinia’s plan: to get as many eyes on the situation on the ground as possible to force the GPC’s hand.
Tanalia would never be able to stand against Bauder’s military, and everyone in the room knew it.
She was about to roll her eyes when a fresh wave of armed men entered, less polished than the first wave.
In fact, these soldiers looked disheveled.
One stepped forward, hat far too low on his head to comply with regulation dress, and saluted Emil.
It looked like he had a broken nose swelling under the shaded brim.
He stepped back, and Evelyn could see the rest of his company.
They were escorting Elenor, Nannette, Veselko, and Aiden.
The best weapons he could use against her.