The Rogue Guardian

Chapter 34: A Lack of Ideas

Hey guys, awesome news! Phoenix Rising got on the hotlist at 177 recently, and I'm really happy about that! Less awesome news: I'm not sure I'm happy with the title Phoenix Rising anymore. It's just really common and doesn't go really well with The Royal Thief. But I'm not sure changing it is a good idea. Do you think people would get confused by the name change? I'm really paranoid about this, I hate that I might lose people for such a silly reason. If you want to leave your opinion that would be great! Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

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"Well? What's the verdict?"

Ysmay didn't answer Liz's question immediately. She was exhausted-- all of the rebels who had been in the meeting were. She looked around as though she was debating saying anything, but finally she said, "It's not a pleasant one. We're going to war, though how many sides we're fighting against isn't clear yet. We'll do our best to get the twins back on our side and the Silvers will do their best to stop that from happening. Roman might decide to help either of us or just to cause general mayhem. Either way, everyone needs to prepare for danger ahead."

"But that's so--" I stopped speaking almost immediately, realizing how loud my voice was and how unwelcome my opinion, but now people had turned toward me. Dammit. I cleared my throat. "I mean, the Phoenix may be larger than the Silvers, but surely we can't really afford to lose as many people as this will cost."

Ysmay looked about as happy as you'd expect her to be after being questioned by someone like me, but to her credit she didn't ignore me. "Obviously we can't, but until the twins show their hand we have no choice but to proceed."

"So force them to show their hand."

"And exactly how do you propose we do that?" Her patience was at an end. "You're not a leader, Eyro. You've been part of this less than a week."

That wasn't true, I'd been involved with Aiden's rebels for almost a month, but she didn't give me a chance to say anything else. And being called by Jaden's name, even days after I'd used it as my fake last name, gave me a start that kept me from interrupting.

"Do us a favor and keep your mouth shut, especially when people far older and smarter than you have spent hours evaluating our options beforehand."

"All you've done is decide you have no options!" I responded hotly.

"And that is a perfectly valid decision. You may go sulk about it somewhere else if you wish, but you will not question my authority."

I might have tried to do something worse than questioning her authority just then but Kay put two firm hands on my shoulders and steered me out of the room, the rest of the gang close behind.

"What are you doing?" Lucien asked once we were out of earshot.

"Being the voice of reason!" I shook Kay's hands off as we went down the stairs, emerging into the fire-lit room of the inn.

"No offence, Eyro," said Liz, "But I don't think you've ever been the voice of reason in your life."

She kind of had a point there.

"There's always options," I insisted anyway.

"Not always," Lucien objected. "This all seems very complicated, doesn't it? I think Ysmay's right. We should sit back and let everyone else decide where they stand. And until someone treats it like anything else, we need to act like it's war."

"No, sitting back and letting other people decide is how you lose control of the situation," I said, exasperated.

"Were we ever in control of the situation in the first place?" Wes mumbled to Kay, who shrugged.