Andreas grumbled behind me, “They’re not all the same.”
“Maybe this is the start of change,” Dionne mused hopefully.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The elite have been known to choose their partners from families who were once part of the council.”
Marcel straightened in his seat. “Dionne broke that trend.”
“And you’ve joined the ranks,” she finished.
Tobias scoffed and dropped his gaze to his thighs, shaking his head. “This won’t change anything. They’ll still look down on us.”
“We have to start somewhere,” Dionne argued.
“It should have started with removing them from their seats.”
“What do you suggest? A conversation or a war?”
“Have a conversation and if nothing comes from it, then we prepare for war,” he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“And how do you intend to win such a war?” Andreas asked.
Tobias cocked his head to the side, blonde curls falling over his shoulder. “Surely, you’ll lend us your skills.”
“My daughter sits on that council. Do you really expect me to wage a war against her?”
“This has nothing to do with Sloan.”
“You’ll destabilise the heavens and Earth if you start a war,” Dionne snapped. “There’s too much to risk.”
The surrounding voices became muffled as they descended into an argument.
War?
They couldn’t seriously be discussing war in my living room.
A gentle hand landed on my shoulder and I looked up at Andreas.
“Are you okay?” he asked gruffly.
“Andreas, what is the likelihood of them starting a war?”
He shrugged. “We get a little restless in the lower heavens. The topic gets raised often. Your appearance, hearing what Hunter did to you and your bond with Grayson, has sent a seismic quake through lower Elysia.”
“And I thought it would just be a little ripple,” I muttered, trying to make a joke.
“It feels different,” he stated. “Like something is brewing.”
“Why?”
“You,” he responded simply. “You’re a symbol of what some of us lost and what some of us fear. Hunter is in a difficult position.”
“How so?”
“He can’t win. If he kills you, he sticks to his convictions about how demigods are a threat. If he lets you survive, then he’s made an exception when he couldn’t do that for the rest. I imagine that’s why he’s left it to the council. Don’t be fooled by his version of democracy. He keeps them around for his own benefit. I’ve dealt with many people in my line of work, and Hunter is the definition of a coward.”
He wouldn’t find any argument from me. It made sense that Hunter was unwilling to pull rank and decide when it would further vilify him. If the council made the decision, he had multiple others he could blame.
