Page 35 of Broken Truths

“What do you think?”

He shifts on the floor. I’m sure he’s about as comfortable as the rest of us are, bar Eden, of course. She looks like a sleeping angel. “I can’t tell if he’s lying, not yet, but I’m going to fucking find out.” He props himself up on his forearm and peers over at our girl. Her blonde hair cascades across my shoulder. Oliver’s hand lays loosely across her hip. “I like her plan,” Leo says, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s a bit of awe in his voice. “We have to fight them like they would fight.”

“There are a lot of possible outcomes to that.”

“A lot,” he agrees. “But don’t you want revenge, too? They gave up your sister because of some misplaced idea about inferior sex.” His voice lowers. “And just from the sheer fact that the girl you love has been fucked over by them.”

I don’t have the bloodlust Leonardo Jarvis does, but I can get behind taking the Knights down, dismantling their ancient ideals, and maybe even the society itself if they can’t play by modern rules.

It’ll be hard to pull power from their grip. Those who are used to having it won’t like it being stripped away. They’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it.

“It’s dangerous.”

“It’s time,” Leo says with finality.

I can understand his anger toward the Knights. Toward anything his grandfather has his hands in, really. He never got any of the benefits of being a Knight that my family did. But it’s all changing now. Their corruption is staining the dirt they march upon red. When the first Knights dreamed of this organization, I doubt it was like this. I’m not sure the very foundation can even be saved.

Maybe it shouldn’t be.

“I agree,” I breathe out. “Just how the fuck are we going to do it, though? We’re not like them.”

“Ye of little faith,” Leo says as he lies back down.

Or that’s what I’m pretty sure he says. “Did you just say ye?”

“Huh?”

“You. Did you just say ye? You’ve been hanging out with Oliver too much.”

“I don’t say ye,” a new voice speaks up.

Pressing my lips together to keep from laughing, I relish in the moment. I’d thought he was sleeping, but it turns out none of us were. Well, except for the one person who brought us all together.

“Just because you’re an uncultured swine, Barclay,” Leo says, mimicking Oliver’s accent. He does such a poor job of it that I can’t help but laugh.

“Fuck off, the both of you,” Oliver grumbles. Silence greets us for another few moments until he speaks up again. “For what it’s worth, I agree. It’s time. I don’t care what we have to do, but we have to get it done. Who’s to say they won’t go after your father next, Alaric? Or another girl who hasn’t even been born yet. What if they get rid of her? Or worse, what if she stays and is subjected to all of this nonsense?”

“Doesn’t your grandmother have power over an entire army?” Leo asks.

“Yes. Maybe I should call her…”

“Really?” I ask.

“No, I’m not going to call the bloody queen to send an entire army to this Podunk town.” He breathes out. “Plus, I’ve already tried that before, and the answer was no.” I peer his way, but the only part of Oliver I can see is his hand still draped across Eden. “Not about this, but about something else. She gave me a whole big speech about using power wisely and blah, blah, blah.”

A smile quirks my lips. I can’t even imagine what kind of scenario Oliver was in to call his grandmother to see if she could bring the British army in.

I like him. He’s good for Eden. He’s a part of her past that shows her it wasn’t all bad.

“We’ll just have to start our own army,” Leo says.

His thoughts linger in the air, and I turn them over in my head. It’s not a terrible idea. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. There are a lot of people the Knights have scorned over the years. Powerful people, too. I’d be willing to bet some of them would come out of the woodwork to take them down.

It’s half an idea, anyway.

The other half is what Eden said yesterday. We fight crazy with crazy. We do what they would do in this scenario. We can dismantle the Elders one by one. I can look at the business side of things to see where they’re weakest. I can make some dealings that would threaten them, then we can hold it over their heads for information.

The tricky part will be getting them not to talk. Once word gets out what we’re doing, it will all be over. We’ll find ourselves on the other side of their ire.

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