Chapter 4
THE COURT VOTES
My first instinct had been the right one. You couldn’t trust people who wore suits. It was as simple as that.
Melanie Meyer had fooled me. I wouldn’t be fooled again. I was tired of getting burned. I was done trusting anyone who came to me with kind words or a sob story. I had to do better. I had to be better.
I entered the ballroom. The vines trailed me, dragging along the commandos.
All the chatter came to a resounding halt.
Everyone stopped what they were doing—whatever they were doing—and stared at me.
My gaze locked with Melanie Meyer’s, and I smiled.
The Governor backed up slowly, trying to make a quiet, strategic exit.
Vines burst through the opening in the wall Erador had made earlier. They snapped around Melanie Meyer’s arms and legs, dragging her before me.
“How dare you—” A vine slid over her mouth, silencing her.
“How dare I? No, how dare you. How dare you betray the people you swore to protect. How dare you betray me and Evie and Kylie and Asher.”
It all crashed together—anger and tears and dread and loss. My fists were clenched; my face was wet and hot.
“How dare you betray all of us.”
Kylie came up behind me, setting her hand on my shoulder. “What are you talking about, Savannah?”
“She’s the Government traitor, Kylie. Jeremy Rubin worked for her. Senator Gaines worked for her. She is working with the Order of Kings. She’s the reason you spent days in Fenris’s dungeon. She’s the reason Asher is still missing.”
Kylie went red and pale and green, all at once. Yeah, that about summed up how I felt too.
I looked across the sea of shocked faces: the faces of Knights and Rebels and Apprentices. Then I turned to the talkative commando. “Tell them.”
So he did. He told them about the deal Melanie Meyer had made with Fenris: supplies and wealth in exchange for Gaia’s Apprentices.
He told them of Fenris’s Polymages and how I’d rescued them.
He told them how Melanie Meyer had sent Senator Gaines to silence me, and when that didn’t work, she’d sent the commandos here today to kidnap me so she could sell me to the Order of Kings in exchange for a ride out of here.
The commando knew things about Melanie Meyer that surprised even me.
“Wait, so she was part of the first expedition that the old Earth governments sent through the Spirit Tree?” I asked him.
“Yes, she was a member of the expedition party that caused the Cause.”
“You’re saying the Government caused the Curse?”
That question came from Skye, the Dreamweavers’ Knight Commander.
The commando looked at her and nodded. “Of course. Didn’t you know that already?”
The crowd grew restless—and louder. The news that our Government—or at least the predecessor to our Government—had caused the Curse had hit them hard.
They were shocked and angry and frustrated.
Knights were agents of action. They fixed problems. They wanted to fix this too, but there was nothing to fix.
It had happened long ago, before many of us had even been born.
The Knights were growing more agitated and more restless with every passing moment.
Skye saw that too. “Take them away. We will deal with them later.”
Six Knights grabbed hold of Melanie Meyer and the commandos.
I released the vines, and they returned to the gardens outside.
The Knights escorted the prisoners out of the room.
The six Knight Commanders drew into a tight cluster to discuss the problem.
Based on their clipped words and agitated faces, they did not all agree on the solution.
Dante came up to me. “Did those guys hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Somewhere behind me, Orion spoke. “Kato isn’t standing there with the other Knight Commanders. Where is he?”
I turned around and saw Angel there, right next to Orion.
The Rebel’s gaze panned back and forth across the ballroom. “And where’s Conner?”
I didn’t know what to tell them, but the looks on their faces told me silence wasn’t an option. I was about to speak, not really even knowing what I was going to say, when Kylie shouted out:
“There’s news from the Summit!”
She turned up the volume on the news report. Everyone gathered around the television.
A voiceover played over shots of the Magic Emporium and the Conference Center. “Breaking news. The Court has come to a consensus on the matter of Gaia joining the Many Realms.”
Princess Lyssa, the Vampire Queen’s teenage daughter, stood before the press. She wore a crimson dress. Her blonde hair was tied back. A black lace veil covered all of her hair and part of her face.
“First of all, the Vampire Kingdom wishes to express our deepest gratitude to Savannah Winters for freeing the spirits and for her efforts to save our dear Queen, my mother.”
Everyone in the ballroom looked at me. I yearned for the power to turn myself invisible. If only Conner had taught me the spell before… Before.
“Savannah rescued the Apprentices from my wicked brother and thwarted his devilish schemes,” Lyssa continued.
“Because of her, the Court will see to it that Fenris pays for his terrible crimes. She is a shining example of everything a Knight should be. If all Gaians were like Savannah Winters, we would most certainly vote in favor of Gaia joining the Many Realms Court.”
I sensed a but coming. Sure enough…
“But the Vampire Kingdom cannot in good conscience vote in favor of Gaia joining the Many Realms Court. It is our firm belief that the Gaian Government is corrupt. They have a lot to learn about handling their own world’s problems before they are ready to deal with all the realms’ issues.
They need to clean house, purging all the bad players.
They also need to give their Knights greater autonomy rather than continuously standing in their way. ”
We all waited with bated breath. The vampires were very influential in the Court, but they did not speak for everyone. The Court might still vote in Gaia’s favor.
“The Court agrees with us,” Lyssa said. “We have voted not to admit Gaia.”