Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

E verything in the council room seems to move at an agonizing pace. Even the giant orbs above us have a desire to torture me, their rotation casting ominous shadows across the table and the council members at random, making the one currently speaking appear menacing.

The only thing moving in real time that I can pay attention to is 99 breathing next to me, the steady rise and fall of his shoulder pressed against mine.

Yesterday, we sat farther apart, spaced the same as the council members, but when we entered today, 99 pulled his chair unapologetically closer to me, despite the raised brows of many.

I glance up at him, finding his masked gaze fixed on the council member speaking in long filler phrases of the current climate and how our petition has disrupted their real work during a conjunction year.

99's demeanor has been edging on unhinged all morning, and even now, that anger is barely kept in check. A few of the council members have even noticed and fidget with their data pads on the table as an excuse to steal a glance and check if 99 is going to launch at them.

The murmuring laughs of a few ancient-looking council members make me jump. I glare at the speaker, who continues with a satisfied smirk for adding a little lightness to his speech. He speaks of things already said and considered during our meeting yesterday, of things in previous conjunctions, and possible scenarios that somehow seem to hold more importance than actual testimony.

Cosima's emperor is slow and aloof, but even in his way, he makes sense, like there is good reason. But with the Viathan emperors, and even council members, it's like they speak devoid of emotion, almost apathetic, loving the sound of their own voices.

I watch as a council member nods her head and closes her eyes like her point made it into the speech and holds considerable weight in their final decision. The speaker's voice becomes a blur of meaningless sounds until I hear him say that they cannot spare resources on a case like this with someone of as high of a status as I.

I snort aloud, unfazed by the glances it grants me. It's the first time someone has referred to my status as high.

"Chancellor Reed, will you deliver the final declaration?" Emperor Angara announces, making the man practically preen.

"Thank you, Emperor. We have yet to determine the actions of First Son, as they remain unpredictable. The stones have been placed but the violence has increased, the attacks more coordinated?—"

I am taken over by a sigh so loud and exaggerated, the entire room looks at me.

Chancellor Reed makes sure to pause long enough to meet my eyes and let me know I have offended him. He doesn't continue where he left off but instead starts over, like he has rehearsed his speech and needs it to flow just right.

My entire body trembles as I try not to stand and stalk across the room to shake him, to wrap my hands around his little throat until he shuts up. I want to scream into the faces of each of the emperors and their bored expressions.

We have been here for hours, and I've had enough. I am done listening to rulers speak and decide things about my life.

An exhausted, flat smile crosses my face as I shake my head at the now perplexed, skinny man who is speaking in circles.

I can feel my composure slipping away.

"Ferren," 99 whispers and grasps my hand, pulling it under the table like he thinks I will strike someone with my light.

I turn to him, content that our time in this council meeting is over and whisper into our tether. "We have wasted half a day just talking when we should have been planning. They aren't going to help us, 99. They are dragging this on, out of guilt."

He sighs like he agrees and brings my hand back onto the table, smoothing the top with his thumb before releasing it as if to say he trusts me.

"I have heard enough." My whisper to him is not much of a whisper at all.

A few insulted elders gasp, but I stare straight ahead at Chancellor Reed. Nothing they can do or say to my rudeness will change what they are getting at.

"Ferren, if I may continue," Chancellor Reed begins.

"Priestess," 99 snarls and slowly turns his attention to the wide-eyed chancellor who pales and takes a step back. "Her name . . . is Priestess Ferren. Address her as such, Chancellor Reed."

I can feel my cheeks flush at the tone of 99's voice, his unyielding support fueling my desire to end this.

"Forgive me, Priestess Ferren, if I may continue."

"I don't care what you call me." I stand from my seat. "I am sick of formalities, tired to death of them. I've sat in dozens of council meetings on Cosima and this is by far the most unproductive. I suggest you start discussing the future sacred stone representatives now, just to have a decision in time for the next conjunction year."

I am completely out of line and may even be asked to leave, but I have nothing to lose at this point. I know without a doubt they are about to deny the request, all of this a formality, a way to show on the record that they are fair and just. So their version of a scribe can record for their history books that every outcome was considered and they did their best.

I glance between the emperors and the lord general with his wide but not surprised eyes. "I beg you, state the decision."

Chancellor Reed gapes at me, his jaw working like he has forgotten how to move it in tandem with his words. The sounds come out in a gargle that makes my eyes roll, so I look past him to the emperors.

"Please," I plead directly to them.

Emperor Angara sits farther back in her seat before casting a glance to the lord general, a silent instruction to give the final blow.

"Regretfully, Priestess Ferren. We cannot intervene in another world's temple at this time. The petition has been denied. You are welcome to appeal," the lord general says.

I scoff, not surprised, but the finality is an aching relief. I tilt my neck up to the orbs above me just as a conjunction rotation begins again, the planet Cosima cast in darkness in an eclipse as the other metal planets line up for just a moment before the intricate dance repeats.

"Am I free to leave?" I can feel how those words affect 99, sitting so still beside me, my hip pressed against his shoulder.

The emperors seem confused by my question, so I repeat it hard, through clenched teeth. "You have me here under sanctuary law, but am I free to leave?"

"You are a protected guest. We cannot keep you here if you do not want to be here," Emperor Angara answers.

"You are not a prisoner," Emperor Kavan huffs.

I eye them both suspiciously.

99 slowly rises next to me, standing tall, so intimidating Chancellor Reed averts his eyes.

"I will be joining Lord General's fleet in the birthlands," 99 announces.

"You must petition this transfer," an elderly council member challenges.

"No," 99 answers flatly.

Both emperors glance at Lord General, who gives them a nod, excepting 99's declaration, as informal as it was.

"Priestess Ferren, you are free to leave Viathan. However, we will not be able to protect you there. You will be going back to the temple you sought asylum from; this will negatively affect any future petitions for sanctuary. Do you understand this?" Emperor Angara leans forward onto her armrests.

"I do," I cut back. "You have left me no choice. I pray the emperors are never in such need for help." I am cut off by the press of 99's hand on my lower back.

"Careful," he warns gently through our tether.

"Best outcome to you then." She flicks her head down to dismiss me.

I look at the emperors, their blank faces. I pity them in their emotionless strategy, all humanity removed in favor of probability and greater good.

"It's not right." August leans in as he watches 99 press buttons on the metal drink machine in the corner of our capital chamber. "On top of everything else, we retrieved Viathan's stone for them after they could not make up their mind where to keep it. I think they are forgetting that they practically owe Ferren."

"I know," 99 says solemnly, not taking his eyes off his busy work.

"They didn't go into that . . . thing's cave." August continues to gesture wildly, pacing around him. "Without her we would have never even made it up that mountain. They should do anything she asks!"

99 sighs, exacerbated, and gives up making himself a drink to lean on the countertop with his arms crossed.

Calliape and I exchange a look at August's intensity.

"How can they not help? They were so willing to grant Ferren asylum. Clearly, they don't have a problem helping someone with ties to the priestess order. I don't understand," she says to the two of them.

"Granting sanctuary made the Viathan government look charitable. I knew they would have no issue passing it." 99 shakes his head, utterly disappointed. "But this would have entailed getting involved in another world's temple. With only the possibility of exposing Cosima's wrongdoings, it was not worth it to them."

"They saw no benefit in helping." Calliape's voice is measured, like she is fully understanding. "It was never about helping Ferren's sister for them."

"Our emperors are known for their cold strategy, but the leaders of all three worlds are highly flawed. That is why there are three worlds and not one," August shakes his head, almost speaking the words to calm himself down.

It's odd to hear him say such things. Coming from him, they never quite sound like facts of devotion or verses of a prayer about our history. They sound innocent, like stories he was told as a boy that quietly shaped him, not ones to use as a reason to punish. Just simple truths.

"I have sent word to the lord general requesting a meeting to delay departure."

"Delay?" I ask, panicking that more time is wasting.

"Another day. We need to make sure August's ship will not be gunned down when it approaches the Estate's docks."

"They could try," August mutters somewhere in the room.

"And we need a better plan, a different one," 99 says.

Perhaps it should be a relief that he is so open to this secondary path we find ourselves in because his government is failing to help us, but part of the plan will be separating, and just thinking of that makes my stomach feel unnaturally empty.

I tug on our tether. I tug so hard that 99 turns to me as if I am asking him for his undivided attention.

I stare up into the metal of his visor where he stands against the mantel, and he tilts his head down just a little to let me know he is listening. He caresses my mind back and holds the space for me to speak.

But then I realize what he said.

"Did you say a different plan?"