“It’s funny, I’m the one who shouldn’t trust him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you don’t know my brother very well, do you? Someone as cautious and careful as him always has something to hide. He calls me a charade when in actuality, he is the one always in a disguise.”
“So you’re saying don’t trust him?”
Her eyes grew as big as saucers. “Trust him? You do know that he has also been banished from the court, right? That, and he has an active bounty on his head from the council. Both for good reason.”
“Sure, but the same could be said with Jezz, and—”
“Do you trust my sister?”
“I do.”
“Do you know her? Truly know her?”
“Yes—I mean, no, not really, but—”
“Then how can you trust her? You only trust someone you truly know, right?”
I narrowed my eyes, unsure what Lady Jacidia was getting at. “Jezz is a good person, Lady Jacidia.”
“Never good to her own kind. She’s a Senterrian loving lap dog who only cares about protecting those filthy m—” she stopped short, noticing my face twisted at her words. “Oh, but she’s always a pleasure to be around!”
I couldn’t see how anyone hated Jezz. She had a good heart and stood for something. I couldn’t let Jacidia tarnish her reputation like that. “It’s not fair to judge her without knowing her full story. I know she hasn’t been home for a while, but she’s done nothing but help us.”
“Help us?” Jacidia tilted her head to the side, a smirk forming on her lips. “Or help humans?”
When she asked me that question, I knew I screwed up. I didn’t like the way this conversation was heading. Jacidia looked like the type who could unravel me with just a stare, so I had to watch my words around her. If she could figure out Rufian in a heartbeat, then she could discover me as well. Granted I didn’t know her as well as she knew her brother. The girl still seemed very smart and deductive, so I tried to drop the topic altogether. However, she insisted…
“How long have you known her?”
“Not long.”
“How long?”
“Few days.” I kept my answers short and sweet, keeping my eyes on the road.
“And Jerius?”
“Same.”
“So not very long, either.”
“No, not really.”
“I’m just saying to be careful. You never know what people’s true intentions are. Even those closest to you can have ulterior motives.”
I wanted to brush Jacidia’s warnings off, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something she wasn’t telling me…
“Are you trying to tell me something about your brother, Lady Jacidia?” I said frankly, looking down to her with a seriousness on my face that made that smirk on hers fade. “If there is, I need you to be perfectly blunt with me.”
“Hmm…” She paused, looking away from me concerningly. “You know, there was a time I respected him. He’s my older brother, after all. But his views…his ideas, they were so foreign to me. I couldn’t understand them. There was no understanding Jerius no matter how hard I tried. My father would beat him for thinking so differently. He thought no one knew, but I did. Time and time again, Jerius was sent to the cellar, at first, for minutes, then later, for hours. I could hear my father scolding him, calling him a pig-loving fae. A monkey-simping fae. Father hated humans, telling us tales of all the terrible things they did to us.”
“Like what?”
“They tried to dominate all other races with their cyber gears!” she blurted out, clenching her chest. “The dungeon core favored them! Please don’t tell me my brother corrupted your mind into thinking otherwise!”
“N-no,” I said, waving my hand defensively toward her. “I just wanted your perspective, is all. I’m not taking sides here, I promise.”
“They are all criminals, Syodas! Every last one of them!” I could see the distress in her eyes. It was clear that she felt passionate about this, and I was in no position to move her emotions one way or another.
“I'm sorry,” I said. “You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.”
She shook her head. “No, it's okay. This is reality, after all.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Even before the peak of war, my father knew humans were trying to dominate us. He believed that they were using their technology to gain control over not only Mavriel, but the entirety of Thalian. He was always talking about how Alzera-Kar, the creator, wanted to punish us for thriving for all of these years.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Equalization. We’ve grown stronger than the dragons. And instead of throwing a plague our way to lessen our numbers, or even taking away our magic, she got creative and created cyber sense.”
“Is that what everyone believes?”
“The majority of Mavriel, yes. Of course there are other theories, but they all lead to the same crippling and aged war. And I am so tired of it, Syodas.”
I listened intently, trying to understand where she was coming from. “And Jerius? What does he think?”
She chuckled. “He thinks that humans are the perfect race. He says they were never after world domination, and that we pushed them to act like savages. I swear my sister believes the same thing, and it’s truly sad.”
