WOLF
I walked down the hallway after leaving Indigo with her mother. The thought left a pit in my stomach. It could backfire horribly. Still, I knew it was the right thing to do.
When I walked into Indigo's room just earlier, she looked almost like she was in a trance. She only snapped out of it when I told her I still trusted her. But, she still needed to talk to her mother, the one who destroyed her life, for closure so she could move on and keep her head in the game.
If only I could do the same.
Soon. One day.
But right now, I had to take care of an angry mob, an incompetent leader, a stern woman, and an ostrich lover who was nowhere to be found. Knowing Nydia, she was probably looking for more rats to give a home to in an attempt to process the information of Indigo's father.
But it's been hours. One of the reasons Nydia was perfect for undercover work was because of how quickly she could recover. She was malleable, quickly becoming whatever her environment needed her to be while still retaining her basic qualities, so she didn't overtly appear like a threat.
Of course, her mother's death had also been nagging her for the past few months, ever since she came back from Evandor. If the new reveal added too much pressure to an already fimble jar, it could shatter.
I'd never seen her shatter. As a friend and tactician, I don't think I ever want to.
But the first thing I had to take care of was the incompetent leader. Next would be Nisa. If I could get Nisa, a person who the rest respected and clearly hated Indigo, to support Indigo, the people would at least put up with Indigo.
The hard part was getting Nisa's trust. I couldn't simply let Indigo loose in a crucial mission against the Assassins. That could work on people like Cree and Laine, but not Nisa.
I attempted to puzzle the multiple pieces of information rattling around my mind, trying to find a solution. My uncle's words rang loud and clear in my ears.
Plenty of people know much more than they realize. Even the greatest fool you've met. But the thing that fools don't have is the ability to recall the information at the right place and time. You must be able to wield it to your needs, to piece it together, or it's merely wasted space in your mind.
Knowledge isn't intelligence. Using knowledge right is intelligence.
I seethed with rage at the thought of my uncle, but he was right. The simple advice was my savior all these years. So, what piece was I failing to puzzle together?
I passed a group of women talking amongst each other with hushed voices, red faces, and frantic hand gestures. They were most likely making plans to kill Indigo, but the fools were always making plans and never carrying them out. I hoped that remained the case.
I wasn't in the mood to clean up their dead bodies.
I knocked on Laine's office door before stepping in without an answer. Laine didn't even look up from his stack of papers.
"I don't know where Nisa is," Laine said.
"I'm here for you, not Nisa."
"I'm not sentencing Indigo Fluor to death, but I believe Nisa's still planning out the execution."
I shrugged. I pieced that together already. But I also knew it would take time to plot out the murder of a highly-trained Assassin, even if the rest of the base were open to joining the mission. Plus, Nisa wasn't foolish enough to attempt a murder this close to Eveleen Sharpe's confession, when Indigo and the rest of us would be most on guard. I had time.
"'Indigo Fluor'?" I asked as I sat in the chair opposite him. "I expected you to be the first person to call her a Fortier."
Laine looked up. "You're the one who said she was nothing like a Fortier."
And then, I found the final piece of the puzzle. The pieces clicked together, a whole and definite image coming into view. My lips curled up.
Laine sighed. "What's your plan?"
"My plan," I began, "is Indigo Fortier."
He furrowed his eyebrows, and I continued.
"Most problems you can merely sweep under the rug, ignore them, and everyone else forgets. People have to take care of their own lives. They don't have enough time to care about others. But this is their problem. Indigo's heritage directly threatens them, so there's no way they're going to forget. So, the only other solution is to embrace it."
"You want her to advertise to the rest of the base about her connection to the people everyone hates?"
"No. I want her to advertise it to the entire nation."
There was a long silence. Laine took a deep breath. "Continue."
I was glad he was willing to listen, though I knew he mostly just wanted to know what to look out for if I went ahead with my plan behind his back.
"The mole we have in our base must be a Raven. I'm guessing the Ravens wanted us to capture Eveleen Sharpe. They knew she was a hardened and experienced Assassin who would be impervious to most torture. By letting us get her, they knew Eveleen would be more likely to speak to her daughter, and then the mole could easily extract the information from Indigo if the 'public trial' scheme didn't work. Of course, by now, the mole would've notified the Ravens of Edsel's affair.
"If we want any chance of leveraging the information for ourselves, we need to leak it first to the Streeters and the Assassins. Since we carried the information, the Streeters would perceive us as stronger and most likely join our side. But if the Ravens leak it first, it doesn't matter whether or not we hold Indigo Fluor. They'll only seem stronger for knowing the deepest secrets of the Crowns.
"Additionally, it'll prove to the base, especially Nisa, that her heritage can be used for good. They won't ever completely like her or agree with her, but they'll have to put up with her since she's our greatest piece of leverage against the Crowns."
He took a long look as he tried to sort out just what this would require of him and ways to say no.
"For any of this to happen, Indigo has to agree," he said.
I nodded. "She will."
"You warned me not to use her. Said she'd been used enough in her life and doing so would make her snap. And here you are, doing the same thing."
I shook my head. "I won't use her. She'll come around on her own accord. I reckon it won't even take long."
"I don't think so," he said. "You can see it. She won't agree."
"She will. I can see it."
"You and I must see very different things."
"Nothing new."
"She was so desperate to prove she wasn't Fortier that she barely lifted a finger against an angry mob trying to kill her," Laine argued. "There's no way she would take the name and confess to the world."
"You saw her once after Eveleen shook her. You didn't see the way she immediately became more confident, more herself, in a fight. The way she fought like a great Assassin and was so clearly proud of it. It's hard to let it go. You don't know how it'll always be a part of her."
"Just like you?"
I ignored his jab. "She will come around. I know it."
Laine shook his head. "Even if she does, it's too much of a risk. It would put an even greater target on our backs. We can't protect ourselves against the Assassins as the Ravens can."
"We can if we try," I said. He glared and I knew he understood what I meant.
We can if you try.
"We would need to steal even more supplies, mostly weapons, from the Assassins," he said. "Possibly millions of dollars worth. And we need to find more specialized Streeters, which means opening our doors wider and risking one or more Raven and Assassin spies. I'm not putting everyone here at risk on the claims of a hormonal teenager and the mood swings of another."
I wasn't a teenager anymore, but I didn't say anything. I could've been as old as Laine and had as much experience as him, and it still wouldn't matter. Laine refuses to move his ass, and nothing would change that.
I stood, knowing talking further was useless. Just as I reached the door, Laine spoke again.
"I know you want more action. I know you want to take over and vote me out," Laine said. "I respect that. You're young and hungry. But, before you do anything irrational, remember that I kept you around despite knowing who you are. You might not be grateful for my actions anymore, which is understandable. But you should still be afraid of what I might do if you push too far."
I nodded and stepped out of his office. It was a threat but an empty one. If I fought for re-election and won, he wouldn't leak my secret. He knows it would throw the base completely off balance, and everyone he wanted to protect would be left defenseless in the middle of a weak organization. Besides, people would turn on him too for knowing all this time and not doing anything about it or sharing with everyone else.
If I took his position, there was nothing he could do. It was just a matter of timing. It had always been a matter of timing.
My time was coming soon, and I would seize it, no matter what.
So... fun fact: This is actually the halfway mark of the book. Ish. There are 66 chapters.
Now, I know that's a lot, but we didn't actually reach the word count of the first book yet because most of the chapters are shorter. Plus, in the future, there's just a lot of shifts in POV required, so I will most likely release multiple chapters at a time when there are short ones.
But yeah, since I'm following almost three main plotlines and quite a few small ones while having multiple POVs, this book has over double the chapters of the last book.
That being said, we are actually super close to the climax. In the next seven chapters, you'll probably be able to guess the main setting of the climax (though I have laid a few hints in the past few chapters and even the first book) and the characters will be planning and setting up for it.
I think you guys are going to like it! I loved planning it ;) 👀👀
Anyways, see you guys and don't die before the end! (It would be a shame
~Sreenija Paruchuri