He put a hand through his hair in agitation because he couldn’t deny it.The knowledge they unearthed allowed others to intervene.Prevented violence from escalating.Allowed others to operate safely.
“All the time,” he murmured.
“All the time,” she agreed.“We make the world safer.”
The longer she spoke, the harder time he had biting his tongue.He needed to know.To hear her explain why she was consorting with people he considered evil.Despite her passionate speech, it wasn’t lining up for him.Wasn’t making sense with the Ali he knew.The one who had raised him and taught him to fight.
He sought something—anything—to pivot the conversation so that he wouldn’t slip and ask her what he so desperately wanted to know.“Did you know Mom was going to die?Doing work for the lightning teams?”
Granted, she’d been on a political trip with Celina at the time, not an active lightning team mission.Still, he’d always wondered how Alison felt about it.Had never asked.
“Most warriors die in the field, Connor.You know that.”A flicker of anger sharpened Alison’s movements as she turned away from him.
“Yeah, but Momknew.Looking back… some of her words and Dad’s… she knew.They knew.Prepared for it.”
“Davina’s premonition magic was as much a curse as it was a gift.I can’t tell you why she didn’t try to stop it, Connor.It’s not something she ever confided in me about.Not after she bonded with your father.I don’t have any answers for you about her death, or the choices she and your father made.”
He hadn’t really expected her to, but it was something that had been plaguing him recently.Leaving Opal alone in a dangerous world was one of the things that dampened his desire to challenge Hannelore.He’d be doing what his parents knowingly did to him and his sisters.Walking into death headfirst.Choosing to leave her alone.
“Your mother was an incredible warrior and leader.But she had blinders on when it came to the refugee program,” Alison said.“Sometimes, I thought she cared about it more than she did you kids.She didn’t appreciate that observation, but we both knew it was true.”
“She thought it was right.That it was bigger than just our family.”He’d gone over it endlessly.It was the only thing that made sense, given what he knew about her.
“It took me a while to see that,” Alison admitted, nodding her head.“I was so angry with her.Livid that she would make that choice.I couldn’t understand it.”
Timing clicked together in his head.“That was when you switched.From the refugee teams to reconnaissance.Wasn’t it?”
“Yes.I needed to do something else.Something that didn’t remind me of her.And eventually I came to understand.A world of peace is worth fighting for.Even when you have to make horrible sacrifices.”
“Peace,” he uttered the word, uncomprehending.“I don’t follow.”
“War is brewing under the surface, Connor.You know it.I know it.Every reconnaissance team in every realm worth their salt knows it.You can’t deny the truth you’ve witnessed.”
“Some of the realms… but not all of them,” he argued weakly.
Her sharp look called him out on his words.
Unrest and division were prominent throughout the realms.Worse in some.But what happened in one affected them all.Caused a ripple effect across the realms.Forced even peaceful realms like Calderre to choose a side.To fight.
“There.See?Your mind is working on the argument for me, isn’t it?”
“We’re still a long way from war, Alison.”
She laughed, striding away before turning back to him.“Really?Your daughter was sold twice, by two different groups, as a mage slave, and she was on her way to be sold a third time.All for a resource that she possesses that others don’t.A resource that many believe should be controlled.”
“Out of fear.They want to control magic because they fear it.”
“What’s the fastest way to end a conflict over a resource, Connor?”she asked.
His gut twisted into a knot as the tangled logic he’d been struggling to understand snapped into a straight, clear line.He locked eyes with her, sickened.His magic whispered at him, but he couldn’t pull his attention away from her.
She stared back, waiting for his answer.
Connor closed his eyes.That was what she was doing.Why she was doing it.She thought controlling magic would prevent another war.
He took a breath and forced the words out.“Eliminate the resource or its scarcity.”
“That’s right.Take away the reason to fight.Complicated, because the resource is tied to people.But the principle stands.All or none having it keeps peace.Every other scenario leads to war.”
