Xolia swallowed down everything she wanted to say, to shout at him. She resisted the urge to fight him. “Well, he’s dead. I’m not the same as I was during the rebellion, I’m not planning on blindly following orders.”
“‘Not the same?’” Tanzin laughed and turned around again, resuming their walk. “Please. You are FAR’s biggest puppet. Though your speech this year at the dinner didn’t seem to go so well.”
“You watched it?”
“Anyone with a stake in politics watches it.”
Xolia seethed, nothing she could say would sway him. He must’ve known the same because he didn’t say anything more. They were both hurtling toward their inevitable conclusion. She stepped into the room, which had a few other people, some visibly human, milling about. There was a bar set up to the right, with large screens above the bartender. Pictures of the fighters were presented, along with past fight statistics. Everything set up for bets.
There were no whispers of Helen’s ambitions for the evening though Xolia already knew that was set up to be more of a surprise than anything. Tanzin didn’t enter the room, he just saluted tersely to Xolia and strode away. It only increased her curiosity, while she’d had no strong opinions about the twins in the past, she wanted to know everything that had happened to them after the end of the war.
“How lovely of you to join us,” someone said behind Xolia.
She turned to find the weathered face of Jordan Davenport, the senator of finance for Ris. He had aided Peter during the rebellion, using his role as treasurer to embezzle funds to FAR. Once the rebellion had ended, Peter rewarded his loyalty by naming him senator of finance. He had a reputation for being an upstanding member of the Risian government and Xolia was surprised to see him here, so brazenly.
“Senator.” She nodded deferentially.
“Please, Ms. Stone. None of that is needed here.” He waved her away and took a sip of his drink.
“I just wouldn’t have expected to see you at someplace like this,” she admitted. She had only met him once, at the end of the rebellion when she was still searching for Silas.
He lifted a brow. “Even senators need something to do in their free time. And I was persuaded by the variant Persion boy to give the fights a chance. Of course, I haven’t been able to get the legalization of the fights past the Senate floor, but all the taxes on the bets get paid so I find it’s easy to turn a blind eye.” He winked at her.
She lifted the corner of her mouth in return. “I hear tonight is going to be extra. . .entertaining. Is everyone else in here part of the government?”
Senator Davenport shook his head. “Business mostly. Much of the government is far too fractured to engage in mutually secured destruction. FAR has changed a lot of things, Ms. Stone.”
It was no secret that the Gornne Administration, and many before it, had been corrupt. Peter had fought voraciously for FAR to escape such low levels. Everything was run above board. Everything was transparent. Xolia looked around at her surroundings. She was not above board. Though neither was Atlas. “Do you think Peter has a good chance at re-election?”
“I couldn’t say. This is the first election we’re having in this form of government, and the first one in over ten years. Unfortunately, there are a lot of humans that are stuck in the old ways.”
“But surely they’ve seen what Peter has accomplished. What he still wants to accomplish,” Xolia pressed. It was at that moment that she realized the full weight of what it meant for her to become the vice chancellor. It would be power, true power. It would mean something. She could mean something again, not just to herself, but to the country.
“Chancellor Bellevue hasn’t been polling highly, and neither has Vice Chancellor Campion,” Senator Davenport said. “Though without any other official candidate announcements, we don’t have much to compare them to.”
In the background, the announcer called the first fighters, and the other attendees gathered closer to the large window to look down at the masses of low-level spectators and the two fighters in the small cage. Adonis was still gone.
Xolia pushed all that to the back of her mind as she continued to push for more insight. “What do you want to happen?”
“Of course I want FAR to stay in power. If Chancellor Bellevue goes, I won’t be too far behind him. A new candidate will want to fill his Senate with those loyal to him and who helped get him elected.” Senator Davenport shook his head. “Tonight isn’t about politics, though, let’s enjoy the entertainment.”
Xolia nodded and walked next to him. Down below, the fight was in full swing. The smaller of the two variants wielded rocks, while the larger wielded water. Xolia had missed what type of fight it was, though the two of them used the elements in their raw states. No weapons of any kind formed in their hands.
It was over when the earth wielder landed a large chunk of rock across the other’s head. They crumpled in a heap, and the announcer called the winner after ten tense seconds. Two people in gray uniforms rushed to unlock the cage and dragged the unconscious variant out. Xolia pulled back to see some of the people on her level with smug grins. A small sigh escaped Senator Davenport.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Adonis entered the room during the fourth match. Xolia stood alone, having drifted away from Senator Davenport at some point during the second match. She had placed herself near the back of the room, preferring to study the people in the room rather than the fighters down below. Xolia was confident almost two-thirds of the room were humans, leaving only a small portion of variants.
Adonis’s face was harried, and his usual suave demeanor was replaced with frantic movements and a jerky tilt of his head to draw Xolia over to him. “Is everything okay?” she asked under her breath.
“We need to get you down there now,” he whispered. “The twins are going to be a bigger problem than I thought.”
A shiver ran through Xolia. This was really happening. A quick look around the room confirmed everyone was still focused on the fighting below. Xolia tried to flex what had grown back of her hand and thumb, but sharp pain shot down her nerves. “Let’s go.”
Adonis rushed her through the hallway and pressed the elevator button no less than ten times before the doors slid closed.
“Adonis.” Xolia used her right hand to grip his chin and force him to look at her. “It’s going to be okay.”