“When it’s your sister, it should always make you this uncomfortable,” I drawled dryly, another shudder shaking my core.
“Is everything alright?” Gabriel asked. He had approached wearing a stern scowl on his face and flanked by Angelica and Silas.
“No, it’s not,” I sighed, gesturing toward the throne room. There were other rooms we could have congregated in, but most of them still reminded me of Lucan and I tried to avoid them. The throne room definitely still held his signature style, but when I stood inside his once place of honor wearing the crown he used to oppress my people, I stood with pride and confidence because it was my throne room now and I offered freedom to the people.
“Avalon enough! You can’t seriously be this damaged!” Eden interrupted, and I felt more than saw how embarrassed she was.
“I am damaged!” I defended myself, but then released her from some of her humiliation. “But this is about something more important than my future therapy sessions.”
With that everyone filed into the throne room looking solemn and serious. This was going to be a hard conversation. We had succeeded in bringing both peace and freedom to our people and all of us had fought vigilantly to ensure that our people would enjoy the fruits of our labor for thousands of years to come. Hell, Eden and I had even given up our own personal freedom so that the rest of the Kingdom could feel stable with a King and Queen.
But now all of that was in jeopardy and I couldn’t even give them concrete details. The crown, that I had slipped on as soon as I was back from the gypsy village, weighed heavily on my head tonight. And for the first time in three years it wasn’t because of my own selfishness or boredom. Tonight was the first night I felt a real, tangible responsibility as King to protect my people.
“Earlier this evening I paid a visit to Ileana,” I began when everyone was seated around the room. I stepped back to take my seat on the middle throne before thinking better of it. Halfway into sitting, I frantically stood back up from the contaminated seat.
So. Gross.
“The gypsy queen?” Silas asked, his Caribbean accent thick and his gray eyes fierce. “What did she see?”
“For a while she has been having visions of another rebellion,” I paused and waited for that to sink in. When no one asked any immediate questions I continued, “She could not give me any specific details or even a country or place where these visions originated from, but she could say that whoever is plotting to take over this Kingdom has been at it for a while, and they will not stop until they have the throne,” I paraphrased.
Other than Angelica’s sharp intake of breath, the room stayed utterly silent for a full minute, each Immortal lost in their own deep well of thoughts. Usually prone to fidgeting I was surprisingly still as I waited for the flood of questions. My arms crossed themselves out of a battle born instinct and I chomped down on my thumbnail so that I could think better, or so I told myself. I hadn’t stood in this position in a long time, and even though it seemed I should be rusty when it came to strategically thinking about defense and attacking, I felt sharper and more prepared than ever before.
“What’s the meeting all about?” Sebastian asked, entering the room without knocking. He was trailed by Lilly and Seraphina.
“Ileana has predicted another rebellious faction,” Gabriel explained, while tugging at his priest’s collar. I nearly smiled as I watched him struggle against the traditional religious outfit. He hadn’t been back to his parish since he left Peru with Eden years ago and he served no religious purpose in my council. Yet, he continued to identify himself with the Catholic Church, even though his orders had been given centuries ago. And even though he was a born warrior, his very nature was fighting against the binding uniform. “She hasn’t seen anything with clarity, but she is certain there is a group of Immortals plotting against Avalon.”
“And Eden and Kiran,” I reminded them, not wanting to be viewed as the lone royal. “There are no vivid details, just that there is someone out there that would like the throne.”
“A disturbance in the force?” Sebastian asked on a laugh. My lips twitched at his reference, but I was more than confident at least half this room had no idea what he was talking about. “So there are a few greedy bastards out there that see Avalon’s coup as an invitation to play musical thrones. So what? It’s not like we don’t have the support of the majority of the Kingdom, plus the army is on our side. How could they possibly overtake us? We are the original Resistance, they can’t do what we did.”
“Why can’t they?” I demanded, needing an answer.
“Because we have goodness and truth and freedom and all that on our side. Now that the people have that, especially freedom, they are not going to want to give it all up,” Sebastian reasoned.
Silence fell over us again as we contemplated Sebastian’s argument. It should be simple to agree with him, it was the truth. We did have freedom and more on our side. That should be enough for any people to embrace and occupy. But I knew that it wasn’t. Our own ancestors had given up freedom in exchange for oppression centuries ago and I couldn’t be certain that wouldn’t happen again.
Ileana’s words came back to haunt me as I contemplated an evil worse than Lucan. A feeling like ice cold water doused my stomach, sending me reeling with a fear I refused to accept. I opened my mouth to share her thoughts with the room, but then closed it quickly again. We had to fight whatever this was with a fierce intensity and unwavering dedication. Filling us with an unproved fear would do nothing but cast doubt on our cause and make us our question every move.
“Thank you for the words of encouragement, cousin,” Kiran answered Sebastian regally. “You’re right about everything of course. But I am not sure we can treat this threat lightly. This Kingdom has given up their freedom before and even still recently they chose a king over a democracy. We need to get to the bottom of this as quickly as we can.”