Page 72 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
Kieran snorted again. I allowed myself a sideways glance and saw that he was shaking his head. “They should wake up soon enough. In the meantime,” he said, looking pointedly at the Enforcers stationed around the room. “It looks like you’re getting by just fine.”
“I think their spouses and children would disagree,” Addis replied evenly.
“Right, yeah. The spouses and children.”
There was a pause as Addis waited for him to continue.
Kieran sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“Well,” Addis finally said into the uncomfortable silence. “I suppose we can come back to that later.”
“That was the plan anyway, right? We’ve gotta save something to talk about when you torture me. Otherwise, how will you justify it?”
Addis grimaced. “We don’t use torture as a method of gathering information here in Cyllene.”
“Of course not.”
I scanned the faces of the other Council members and found them all to be impassive. All except Cato. He was no longer leaning his face on his hands, and I could see that his mouth was twisted slightly. He looked uncomfortable.
Was Kieran right, then? Did The Council really torture people? How often, and for what reasons? Kieran was always saying that I was naive. After the past few days, I was starting to think he was right. How had I gone all these years believing that the same people who were capable of executing my sister were above other forms of violence?
Maybe I didn’t believe it, though. Maybe I just chose not to think about the possibility.
“Our primary concern here,” Addis said, turning his attention to me. “Is this young woman here. Maila, you are such a valuable asset to Cyllene. Despite a difficult upbringing, with family members making poor decisions, you have earned our trust through years of devotion to the betterment of our community.The work you do in the Library is crucial to our continued success in this world of…magic.”
I watched his lips move without hearing. My brain was stuck on “difficult upbringing.”
I saw Irene’s reflection in the mirror as she stood behind me, teaching me how to braid my hair. I saw her making me a pot of soup when I came down with a cold, and us both laughing—me until I was wheezing and coughing—because it tasted like seasoned water. I saw fuzzy memories of my mother and father. A smiling face here, a warm hug there.
“It’s not enough that you killed my sister.” Somewhere far away, I realized it was my voice that was speaking. “And that my parents gave their lives for this city. You also have to assassinate their character and tarnish their memory?”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Now I was the one whose stare was boring into Addis. And what I felt blazing inside me wasn’t humiliation, or anxiety, or the pleasant burn that I felt when I looked into Kieran’s eyes.
It was rage.
“I said earlier that we think it’s important,” Addis began carefully. “To get on the same page about some things. There have certainly been some misunderstandings here, and I think Kieran and the others in his group have…stoked the flames a bit.” Here he gave Kieran a sympathetic smile. “Your family was on a dangerous path, Maila. One not only of self-destruction, but one that had the potential to take all of us down with them. Beginning with your mother.”
At his words, everything in me became still.
“She realized her own abilities purely by accident. Abilities your father didn’t have, of course. But it didn’t take long for it to become apparent that those abilities were passed on to Irene.”
I blinked at him. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion.
“The benefits of those abilities were…immeasurable. The possibilities for how they could have been used to help the citizens of Cyllene—to help us not only survive, butthrivein a world full of magic—were simply endless. But your mother had other ideas.” He paused here, seemingly for dramatic effect. “Obviously, we have a duty to protect Cyllene’s citizens, above all else. And so that was the first time Leon had to step in and…handle things.”
Deep in my soul, behind that door that I kept locked at all times, I had suspected the truth. How could I not, after what happened to Irene? Yet his words made me feel like my insides were clawing their way out of my body.
“We had hoped that all these wild ideas, these threats to our citizens’ safety and security and well-being, belonged to your mother and your mother alone. But unfortunately, your father supported her in her beliefs. They were misguided, Maila. I need you to understand that. They weren’t evil people or bad-intentioned. They were just very misguided. And none of that is your fault or your burden to bear.”
I was shutting down. This was something I could not handle. I needed Addis to stop talking.
“Your parents and sister couldn’t let go of these idealistic notions of letting Strangers—outcasts and criminals—into our city. They couldn’t let go of this idea that everyone should havean equal say in what happens in Cyllene, that everyday citizens should get to know the details of its inner workings.” Addis laughed. “Maila, no one elsewantsthat. No one wants to open their home up to dangerous people and wait for that inevitable day when they hurt us, take advantage of us, or worse. People don’twantthe burden of the responsibilities The Council bears. Maila, our citizens want simplicity, they want safety, and they want contentment. And we give them that.”
He sighed here. Something about it felt rehearsed. “The decision we were forced to make regarding your mother, and your father, and later Irene, was a difficult one.”
Stop. Stop. Stop.
