I pause. Let my words sink in, and wait for a flash of realization in his eyes. I have to know for sure that he’s unaware. If he’s not—if he knows everything and I’ve just blown my cover—then I will end him here and now and take his severed hand back to the lift if I must. I’m prepared to do what it takes. I’m risking it all on the chance that he’s ignorant, and that he will see my reasoning.
Eyes wide, his features harden into rigid lines. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I clear my throat. My nerves are making it feel closed, like a vise is tightening around my neck. It’s hard to breathe. “I know that you know who the Rebels are.” I narrow my eyes.
“Yes, I do.” He levels a strained look at me. “But how do you?”
“Because…I am one.”
He springs up, and I flinch as his hand pulls back. I cover my face, ready to block, but the blow never comes. I peek around my crossed arms. He knocks his crown off as he grabs fistfuls of his hair and begins to pace.
“Shit, Zara!”
I reach out, and then tentatively place my hand on his shoulder. “Please listen to me.” He looks down at me, and his eyes are lost, the anger a fraction less. I go on. “I didn’t start out as one. I was recruited after I was brought here. But it’s not what you think. Your father has lied to you, Sebastian.” I release a heavy breath, then suck in another. “Outside is horrible, yes. But the Virus was designed by your father so he could have slaves to power Karm. They don’t die. They are out there.” I point toward the wall. “And they’re being given as sacrifices to mutated humans in order to keep them from destroying his project.”
I expect him to react in confusion, shame, shock—but not the way he does.
He laughs, a hollow, humorous boom. “Oh, my God. You have gone mad.” He drives his hand through his already disheveled hair, then turns and heads toward the door. “I’ll get the physician. Maybe we can postpone the wedding an hour more until he’s looked—”
“Sebastian.” I step in front of him. “You know what I say is the truth.” I stare into his eyes. “Look around you. How do you think this all works? What has your father already told you? What has he been teaching you?”
Realization lights his eyes with a sudden clarity as he stares into mine. He turns his back to me. “I was to learn some great secret before my crowning on the morrow.” He sits back down on the bed. His jaw tenses, and he grinds out, “But this madness is not it.”
“What I tell you is the truth.” My hands shake at my sides and I ball them into fists. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve seen my father out there, his eyes lost to the Virus. And I’ve seen the compound, where the Taken labor, harvesting power so that your father’s realm can thrive.”
He stares at the ground, silent. I kneel before him. “Sebastian,” I plead his name. “You once asked me what it takes to rule.”
His eyes snap to mine.
“I now know the answer to your question.” I take his hands in mine. “It’s yes. Our emotions and feelings for others make us stronger. That’s what’s needed to be a great leader.”
He tilts his head, studying my face before blinking away the memory stirring within him. He straightens his back. “Why you?”
“Everyone thought it was me who had to stop Hart. But it’s not.” I
seek his eyes imploringly and assert, “It’s you.”
His eyes blaze liquid gold. “I would never—”
“I believe in you,” I say quickly, desperately. He bites down on his lip, and red beads against his teeth. His shoulders shake. Taking a steadying breath, I keep on, knowing he’s either close to seeing the truth, or I’m dangerously close to having to defend myself. “I believe in the compassion you have inside you—the kindness, the goodness, the love for your people. I believe you can find a new way for Karm, and protect its citizens.”
His eyes glaze over and he shakes his head. “You don’t understand what you ask of me. My father is everything to me. He’s given me everything. I can no more go against him than I can my own nature.”
“I know you. You’ve told me of all the boundless things you want for this realm.” I grip his hands. “See them through. Remove Hart from power. On the morrow, once you’re crowned, order him locked away.” I huff. “Hell, he’s already locked away. But take away his power, his fear over the people, his command. Take down the barrier, end the torment, and everyone will follow you.”
His eyes glisten, and a single tear shimmers at the corner of his lid.
“I will follow you.”
He’s so close. I can see it in his eyes—he’s wavering. Having been raised by Hart, the fear is present in him. I can feel it rolling off him in waves, but I’m close to breaking down the barrier around his heart. I need to tread lightly. But he’s so close…
ER-ER-ER.
ER-ER-ER.
I flinch at the ear-shattering siren, and Sebastian springs up. “What the hell—?” He looks down at me, his eyes carving a fiery trail along my face. “What have you done?”
I shake my head. Panic thunders through my body. “Nothing. I don’t know what’s happening.” And I don’t. I glance around the room, at the blinking lights as they flash on and off above our heads. The room vibrates with the alarm. The sound is deafening, and my head pounds in sync with it.