She closes her eyes. “I told you he had a grip over my whole life. He could have ruined me at any point, especially once I told him Liz was Jarron’s chosen. Everyone would believe I’d betrayed Jarron and I would be banished. I had no choice but to join the Cosmic Council. At least, I thought. In truth, if I’d known the full scope of his plans, I would have just come clean and hoped for the best. I’d have helped Jarron and Trevor protect you two from Vincent. But instead, I did the cowardly thing and accepted his invitation. I knew it was bad. Knew it was corrupt. But I didn’t understand what the Akrasia Games truly were until I watched it play out. They haunt me to this day. Maybe I should be content with just dying alongside the others for being part of it, but I’m a coward. And I am not ready to die.” Her voice breaks on those words.
There’s compassion in my heart, even as rage burns in my veins.
“I’m a villain, I know, but I don’t want to be.” She sniffs.
I’ve admitted to myself, more than once, that she and I are similar. I once thought I might have ended up like her if I’d been born with power.
Would I have done what Bea did?
I don’t think so, but how can I know for sure?
Do I believe her exclamation that she is “so sorry” for what she’s done? Or is that a ploy to get me on her side? She could just go all in with the rebellion and become the queen if she can kill Jarron. Then again, Trevor is against the rebellion. He’s sided with Jarron. Maybe that’s why she’s coming to me now.
This is hard. Harder than I’d expected.
I can’t trust her, can I?
So, then, why do I want to?
I wish I could talk to Liz, get her perspective on what happened and why. I wish I could see the things Bea said to the council and to Liz. I wish I knew more.
“Do you think you were right?” I whisper, my own selfish insecurities coming out.
“Right?”
“About Liz. Do you think you chose correctly.”
Her eyebrows rise. “Do you remember in the school when I told you I was betting on you?”
I nod.
“I didn’t mean in the games.”
“You—” I shake my head, trying to regain my focus. Is she saying she was betting that I am Jarron’s chosen? And what exactly does that mean?
“No one can figure it out for you, Candice. As much as Vincent is delusionally convinced Liz is the right one, we may never know for certain. Only Jarron and his mate will have that assurance.”
My shoulders slump. “It’s such a strange tradition to hold your culture on.”
Her lips curl. “It is, but there is no force more powerful in our world.”
I run my fingers through my hair. “Wait.” My mind spins back to the previous topic. “You told me the answer I came for, without any assurance I’ll make you that promise.”
She nods. “I didn’t see any other way. You weren’t going to agree until you heard what I had to give.”
“But it’s impossible. If you’re one of them, how do I kill all of the council members, without killing you?”
She’s set me up for failure. Does she expect me not to notice that?
“Or… do you plan to give up your spot before our plan is enacted?” And if so, to who? And why hasn’t she done it already? Whoever she chooses would have an automatic death sentence.
She sighs. “It’s a challenge, but not impossible. I cannot give up my place in the council yet, or else I’d have no way to know where they will be or how to contact them. I will give you that information once you agree not to harm me. That’s why I feel content in telling you the answer because you still need me. I can tell you there’s a meeting in three week’s time, that’s how long we’ll have to prepare. You and I can work together to end the games.”
Three weeks. I could save my sister in three weeks.“Without Jarron knowing.”
“Correct,” she says. “He wouldn’t trust me. And I wouldn’t trust him, not with this. He’d just kill me alongside the others.”
I could still do that too. Does she really trust me enough not to betray her?
