“Do you know his name?” she asked without turning around.
“Not yet, ma’am.” Nikhail stood tall, even though the Chancellor’s back was to him. “My team is working on it. Theyuncovered this video last night. The meeting took place two weeks prior to the attack on your home.”
“And it’s all like this?”
“Yes, ma’am. All two and half hours of it.”
One hundred and fifty minutes of rantings and ravings. The rebel leader blamed every single thing that had ever gone wrong in the Republic of Balance on the Representatives.
This was Nikhail’s fifth time watching the film, and he was fairly certain he could recite the speech from memory.
“I see.” The frosty words rang through the room, and Nikhail shivered.
For a woman whose magic was fire, the Chancellor embodied ice.
Several minutes passed in complete silence as the leader of the Republic of Balance stared at the screen. When she turned and met Nikhail’s gaze, there was no warmth there. No kindness.
“Find out everything you can about this footage. The source of the file. The people. Even the building itself. Get mesomething. These people thinkI’vebeen a problem?” She sneered, and her gaze sparked with fury. “They haven’t seen anything yet.”
The Chancellor turned and swept out of the room—a feat for a woman on crutches—without waiting for a reply. It wasn’t until the door fell shut behind her that Nikhail sank into a chair. Adjusting his tie, he wiped a hand across his forehead.
“Yes, ma’am. Of course, ma’am,” he said to the empty conference room.
Unhooking his laptop from the projector, he got to work. If the Chancellor thought he was doing this for her, she was mistaken. Even if she hadn’t ordered him to do this, he’d still be here.
Every keystroke and search and moment that he worked was all for one person: River.
And for her, he would do anything.
Hours later,Nikhail sat at the same conference table. The remnants of the dinner he’d ordered in, a rice bowl topped with grilled chicken and sautéed vegetables, were littered around him. He’d barely tasted the food.
By his seventh rewatch of the video, his appetite had waned completely. He’d eaten out of obligation.
The problem was, even though the rebels’ methods were awful, they weren’t entirely off base. At their foundation, their arguments made sense. The way the Republic of Balance was currently set up, a pyramid with the Chancellor at the top, followed by the Representatives, created an unjust power imbalance.
It wasn’t right, having a few all-powerful leaders in a country that was home to millions. Representatives weren’t elected, and the people had no say in them. They inherited their positions.
When Tertia Waterborn gave up her spot as a Representative—or when she Faded—Ryker would become the next Representative of the Fae in the Central Region. This was how it had always been and, unless things changed, how it always would be.
That didn’t sit right with Nikhail. It never had, even before Laurie, his sister, had embarked on her mission to let everyone know exactly how awful the Representatives were.
But there was a difference between recognizing an inherent imbalance and being able to repair it. It was abundantly clear to Nikhail that the rebels were the wrong people to mend the country and clean up the mess it had become.
Their methods were dark, and violence was their weapon of choice. It was clear in listening to the video that they believed the only way forward would be to forcibly remove the Representatives from their positions. The Black Night was ready to doanythingto make that happen.
The entire train of thought was problematic. How did the rebels not see that?
Removing those at the top of the pyramid without fixing the system that had put them there in the first place would create a power vacuum. A void that needed to be filled.
The nameless leader had made it clear that he thought he was the right person for the job.
And that would not go well.
What good would it be to exchange one broken system for another?
With the Black Night at its helm, the Republic of Balance would descend into dark times, much like Ithenmyr had during the Crimson King’s reign. No, the rebels would have to be stopped before that could happen. Dealing with the mess that was the current government would have to wait. If only?—
Nikhail’s phone, which was resting on the table beside him, started vibrating. Any hopes that he had of River calling were dashed when he saw the caller ID. He picked up the phone, answering with a curt, “Hello?”