“Exactly!”I exclaim.
“Wait. That was really the answer? I was kidding,”Knox declares.
“Kidding or not, it’s true. How many fucked up situations have we run into because people in power were abusing it?”I ask.
“I’d say like eighty-seven percent of our problems come from that,”Valen points out with a hollow laugh.
“So what are you saying? We go around and try to weed out all the corruption?”Siah asks, his eyes filled with doubt.
“Hell no, that’s pretty much impossible. But what if we were an alternative force that could somehow help if the case was bad enough? Like beta, paladin, enforcer, badasses, but for anyone who needs it, not just one kind of supe,”I explain.
Everyone goes quiet, and it’s not just the guys.Everyonein the room is suddenly quiet. I look up, and the whole room is staring at me.
Shit. I wasn’t paying attention.
“Um, sorry, what was that?” I ask in an effort to cover my ass.
Fuck, I hope it was a question that has them all staring at me, and I didn’t just do that thing where I think I’m talking in my head, but I’m really talking out loud.
“The Seventh House was asking, if they vote for you to be the Sovereign, will you open up the barrier?” Tok tells me, and I flash him a grateful smile.
“That’s an excellent question,” I announce, stalling as I figure out what the fuck to say. “I think that’s an issue that needs to be discussed in greater detail before I could truly decide,” I start to say.
Several people narrow their gazes at me, and I quickly rethink my plan to spout off some polite political bullshit.
See, this is why I would suck at this job.
“I think the people of this city should have a say in what they think is best for them. I personally think it would be a good thing for Sentinels to get reacquainted with the world. We could open up the barrier so that the Sentinels who want to do that, can. And for those that don’t, Tierit could still be a safe haven for them. I think there’s probably a way to make both sides of the argument feel safe and happy.”
I lean back in my chair and close my mouth. Murmuring starts up in the room, and I look over to find Tok and Marn beaming at me.
Well, shit.
If they’re happy with that, then I didn’t help myI don’t want this jobargument.
“Okay, let’s come back to what you said, Bruiser,”Bastien requests, pulling my attention back to him.
“About the barrier?”I ask.
“No, about the beta, paladin, enforcer, badass thing. So do supes hire us?”he queries.
“Um...we’re like hella rich already,”I point out, and some of the guys smile, while Siah says,“We are?”
“Yeah, we haven’t had much need to dive into the finances side of things yet, but the readers left me a fuck ton of money. Like our children’s children to infinity and beyond are going to be good, and I mean reaaallllyyyy good,”I tell him.
“So you want kids?”Sabin asks me, and I choke on nothing.
The room looks over at me as I try to get a hold of myself, and Enoch stands up and brings me a glass of water. I stop coughing and hold the glass up like I’m toasting the room and announcing that I’m going to be just fine. I take a sip, and Sauriel gets the conversation started again.
“Where the fuck did that come from?”I ask Sabin.
He shrugs.“You’re the one that brought up kids.”
I glare at him.“Only in the sense that generations long after ours will be set up financially.”
“You still brought them up,”he counters, and I roll my eyes.
“I thought we were supposed to be paying attention to the Sovereign discussion,”I snark.
