The Corrupt Alliance

Ch 2 | No Exit

Silas

Silas was the last to leave.

 It wasn’t necessarily sad. Sure, he would miss the halls where he, Jaqen and Titania would meet for dinner. And his apartments where he could play piano and read political blogs on his days off. But as a whole, his exit from the Capitol Court wasn’t too tragic. He and Jaqen were starting a summer course at Harvard in a little less than a week and Titania was going to be just fifteen minutes away within the same province.

 He felt like today was the day the country had chosen to turn itself upside down and he loved it. The Counselor’s ex-wife released from house arrest. Rosaria Standish--the daughter of the family that led the political opposition against Cazara--coming of age. As a matter of fact, the stocks on ODIN had ballooned overnight, making the Kapoor Nadel family--foreigners, and nouveau riche to boot--monetarily worth more than any of the Top Ten families in the nobility. It was almost as if nothing could go wrong.

 The only thing better than leaving the Court was telling the manager, Sir Lorenzo they were going to leave. Silas could run the moment in his mind, as if it were on video.

 Lorenzo blinked at the nine of them and turned to Silas. “Haven’t you asked to leave before?”

 Silas bristled. He had asked to leave before. The Counselor had laughed in his face, telling him exactly why he would never be able to leave. Which only made him more determined to do so.

 “Yes, I have, Sir Lorenzo.”

 “I don’t think this time will change anything, Silas.”

 Silas smiled. “Couldn’t you at least give him a message?”

 The Manager gave Silas a withering look, but nodded.

 Silas could hear Jaqen take a deep breath behind him the same time he did. “Alastor McQueen, Back Bay, January. Those three phrases. That’s all.”

 And Silas wasn’t at all surprised when the Counselor immediately agreed to see them.

 Twenty minutes later, he was able to walk out of the office knowing he was free from the Capitol Court. By his twentieth birthday, the place would be a distant memory. He could study where he wanted. Work where he wanted. Marry who he wanted, if that ever came up.

 After making sure all his clothing and cosmetics were packed in the bags in the sitting room, Silas walked into the bedroom and turned on the light. “You’ve been very useful to me my dearest one, but unfortunately, I have to leave.”

 His bedroom, of course, did not respond, and Silas walked further in, opening drawers and closets to make sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind. He checked under the bed for stray coins, making sure no scrap of him was left here. He’d even opened the windows and the doors to the balcony wide, so the room would air and the wind would take the last nine years of his life away. Funny that the bedroom was the thing which made him want to get out, and helped him do it. People were amazingly willing to talk when you were in bed with them.

 Silas had just collected a stray button in the corner of one of his drawers when he heard a knock on the open door.

 “Can I come in?” It was Jaqen.

 “Sure. I’m just making sure I have everything.”

 Jaqen swept past Silas and sat on the bare mattress. Silas knew he was on edge, like all of them were, but Jaqen had a thing for seeming carefree and unconcerned even when he wasn’t. His languidness attracted his own breed of patrons, just like how Silas’s elegance and intelligence attracted his.