“I have no opinion one way or another at this time.I reserve my vote.”
After that, Ryan didn’t call out any more names.He didn’t need to.With a few exceptions, the forty-three answered according to an order established long, long ago.
Gus was the last to give her answer.
“For.”
Silence fell.
Gus pretended not to notice as several of her siblings looked at her in surprise.Even through the shadows he’d wrapped around him to hide his face, she could feel the weight of Ryan’s stare, his confusion and curiosity sending a nervous flutter through her stomach.
She did not like being the focus of his attention.
Actually, she disliked attention from any of them.
Swallowing hard, Gus spared a brief moment to be grateful for the foresight that had compelled her to don the mask she kept on hand for occasions such as these.
It was a little more ornate than a gathering like this strictly called for.Careful contouring gave the impression of a bird’s beak.The raised swoops and swirls along the forehead and cheeks made it seem more elegant than it deserved.It covered the entirety of her features.The only thing left visible were her eyes, which were the pale green of a dewy morning.
Before arrival, it had seemed like an unnecessary precaution since everyone here already knew what she looked like.
Or at least they had.At one point.
It had been years since she’d shown her face to the forty-three.So long that some of them whispered that she must be hiding hideous scars.Otherwise, why else would she go to the trouble of concealing her features?
With the emperor’s youngest Face in attendance, a man she only knew by reputation, but who was said to be both calculating and ruthless, she was glad she’d taken precautions.The mask coupled with the head-to-toe cloak that covered her entire body would hide any identifying traits, making her more difficult to hunt later.
Graydon was not a man she wanted on her tail.Unlike the rest of her siblings, Gus didn’t have many natural defenses.
Her skill set lay in a, let’s say, alternative, direction.
That made her no less dangerous, but she didn’t want to test that assumption.
Better to be a ghost.It was safer.
Gus liked safety.
Something that felt like it was in critically short supply now that all eyes were on her.
Quietly, she cursed the impulse that had compelled her to step in.It would have been safer to maintain the status quo, but memories of a boy with eyes the color of sun-drenched daisies and the way they’d sometimes danced with laughter on very rare occasions had kept her from burying her head in the sand.
Damn it, she wasn’t built for the spotlight.She faded into the background.She didn’t stand out.
Luckily, her siblings lost interest almost as quickly as they’d gained it.Their attention turning to the negotiation with Graydon.
Gus let her shoulders slump the faintest bit.The only outward sign of her relief.
Thankfully, things wrapped up quickly after that.
No surprise—Pallas was chosen as the forty-three’s representative to keep Kira in line.
Gus wished him luck.Their youngest sister’s tendency to buck against authority was the most predictable thing about her.Kira didn’t like being told what to do.For any reason.Even her safety.It made Gus wonder how a man like the emperor’s Face, someone well known for his tendency to manipulate and control those around him, managed to entrap Kira.
Not that it was any of her business.She was never going to have occasion to find out.
Gus rose, gliding down the stairs to the exit she’d scouted ahead of time.The rest of the forty-three milled around, either taking the rare opportunity to catch up with each other’s lives or to jockey for dominance to see if anything had changed in the intervening time.
Wanting no part in any of it, Gus kept to herself as she reached the bottom.She entered the great hallway running under the stands and gradually made her way toward the back of the complex where one of the exterior walls had partially collapsed, allowing sand and other detritus from outside to blow into the building.
