Dark Ascension: A Generation V Novel (35 page)

“Stop, sister,” he said.

“Even you, Chivalry?” she asked, shocked.

“Yes.” He nodded, but there was a world of sadness in his voice. “If a side must be chosen, here and now, then I choose to follow Fortitude’s path rather than to fight him.”

“Even if that means fighting me?” She reached over to touch where his hand was holding her, and her grip tightened, making his jaw clench with pain, but he didn’t waver, just held her gaze and refused to look away. Something passed between them—and it was Prudence who looked away, and who stepped back.

“Very well, brother,” she said, so low that I wasn’t sure how many in the room could even hear her. “Since you have at last made a decision, I will agree. Two votes to one, after all.” She looked around the room once more, disgust curling her lip. “Though perhaps the staircase remains our best moment of unity.”

*   *   *

The race factions all filed into the dining room for the first official discussion. Staff members hurried among them, making certain that everyone had chairs and glasses of water. Loren Noka had dug out a stenographer’s typewriter, and was setting it up so there would be an official record of all statements made, though I noticed that she’d also downloaded a recording app to her phone to augment it.

Chivalry stood beside me, watching silently. Finally, as the last entered the room, and they waited for us to join them—not as their rulers now, but as the last of the voting factions, my brother turned to me and asked, “Do you understand what you’ve begun, brother?”

“Something better, I hope.” I answered.

“Hope,” Chivalry said, disgusted, and shook his head. “This wasn’t what Mother wanted. She foresaw problems coming and wanted us to share control between the three of us, and she must’ve wanted that for a reason.” Urgently he whispered, “We’re moving off her path, Fort, and into the wilderness. And without knowing what she knew.”

“There’s no real vision into the future, Chivalry,” I insisted. “The future is what we make it.”

My sister joined us, and gave a slow nod at my statement. “Indeed, brother.” Her blue eyes glowed. “The future will continue to come, no matter what you do. You make this deal today, with these individuals who you seem to trust so much. But remember that you’ll be dealing with their children someday. And then their grandchildren after that. And their great-grandchildren. You’re not even thirty yet, Fortitude. You don’t understand that we—your family—are all that will stand with you against the wave of time, as all others get crushed into the sand.”

I could feel my mouth twist. “That’s why you let Chivalry stop you. Because you think that I’ll change my mind.”

“I have time, baby brother,” she answered. “Centuries of it, and enough to have learned the true value of patience.”

“Time goes both ways, Prudence,” I reminded her. “Now, I’m going to go make a future that I’d like to live in, whether you like it or not.”

I entered the room, hearing the footsteps of my siblings as they followed me. All the eyes were on me, but the ones that I met belonged to a small black fox, swathed in vet wrap bandages and held in the arms of one of her cousins. She wagged her tail at me and yipped, just once.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. L. Brennan
lives in Connecticut with her husband and an assortment of extremely spoiled cats. Holding a master’s degree in fiction, she teaches basic composition to college students. Her house is more than a hundred years old, and is insulated mainly by overstuffed bookshelves.

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