Keeper of the Lost Cities: Rebuild [COMPLETED]

Chapter Thirty-Four - BIANA

Biana tried to not let the thought of Dex going without her sting. They weren't together anymore—she had to accept that. She had to be strong.

She met Dex's eyes, and she didn't flinch like she'd imagined she would. "Any leads on the gadgets?"

His face hardened, whether out of frustration or resentment toward her, she didn't know. "No."

Be strong. "I guess that leaves Navik Hishia," she said with a sigh, then flourished her pen at Keefe. "You mind telling them what we found?"

The others perked, and Keefe ran a hand through his hair, a habit he always did when he knew he was about to disappoint someone. "It wasn't much; just a lot of human stuff. He had shelves of human trinkets, a library of human books, and he even had an air conditioning unit in his room."

"So... what does that mean?" Amy asked. "That he was human?"

"Definitely not," said Jensi. "The elves are just now seeing humans as something better than a nuisance; I don't think the Council would have allowed one to live in the Lost Cities. Even if they did, why make such a fuss about the whole process now? They're starting to come clean with all of their mistakes, and they've made it clear banishing the humans was one of them. If Navik was a human, they would have pointed to him to minimize the impact of that mistake."

"What if he was a human spying on the elves?" Amy pushed. "Maybe he found something out about the Purities that they didn't want being known."

"Jensi's right," Biana said. "I'm pretty sure Navik wasn't a human. But maybe Navik did find something important." You mean he's definitely found something important, she thought. He'd found the location of the Purities' meetings. But if felt like Alina had witheld something; maybe there was more to Navik's murder than just that.

"Something the Council hasn't told us yet?" Keefe asked, echoing her thoughts. "I mean, I know they're not, like, the ideal role models—of course that would be me—but I guess I started trusting them. They're willing to change this much, with the Human Reinstatement Program."

Biana nodded along, more to distract herself from Dex's sharp periwinkle gaze than anything. "I know, I know. I want to keep faith in the Councillors too, but Alina got a weird look on her face when I told her about Navik—and I know that could be because an elf got murdered, but I can't help feeling it's something else."

Dex laughed like she had said something extremely funny. "Wow—you're actually saying you doubt your pretty little Councillors. Never thought I'd see the day."

Amy leaned forward so she could fixate a glare onto Dex. "Are you done?"

"Stop, it's fine," Biana said, waving her off. She took a moment to prepare before facing Dex again. "Seriously, though—if you have a problem, you can leave."

"Maybe I will."

"Good."

"Good."

"Okay."

"Fine!" He made to stand, but Keefe grabbed his shoulders, pinning him to the couch.

"Okay, you two need to listen to me. Biana, we need Dex, okay? That means no kicking him out of the meeting. And Dex, Biana is our leader right now, so you need to listen to her without making any stupid comments. Got it?"

"You know you're not addressing the real problem," Amy muttered. Jensi kicked her not-so-subtly.

Biana's face heated. It had been stupid, but she'd thought, for an oblivious few moments, that she could keep her issues secret from the group. They didn't need the distraction, and seriously, it was fine. She was okay. Hurt, a little, but it wasn't that big of a deal.