The Immortal Crown (Age of X #2)(88)
Author: Richelle Mead

“How,” began Lucian at last. “How could you and Mae possibly wreak this much damage in only a few days? I mean, I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but did you really want to get back at me for something this badly?”

Justin sat down beside him. “You can’t think of it that way. Think of it as an opportunity.”

“An opportunity for what?”

“Greatness. You said you wanted this trip to prove something to the people.” Justin held his hands up in the air. “Can’t you see it now?

Lucian Darling, the senator—the consul—who uncovered a plot to undermine our country and who secured the release of innocent Gemman girls stolen from their homes. Imagine how happy their families will be. The RUNA’s never been in better hands.”

Lucian thought about it for several moments. “The odds are good some of those girls were sent away, just like Mae’s niece. Are their families going to be happy?”

“The media doesn’t need to know that. All we’ll need is confirmation of their genes in the registry and then an adorable photo op with you.”

“Good will with my own people is going to worsen things with Arcadia.”

“The Arcadians don’t vote, and they’re the ones who’ve worsened relations with this media stream plot,” said Justin, warming up to all the spin potential. “And when they’re caught, their government’s going to disavow all knowledge of those hackers. We’ll let it be known that the girls were recovered through the assistance of our new defector friends and leave out the part about a rogue soldier killing Arcadians. The government here’s going to be so concerned about backpedaling and keeping us from retaliating on the data stream conspiracy that they’ll let the girls slide. So, really, we come out looking good, and relations aren’t that much worse than before.”

Lucian gave him a long, scrutinizing look. “How do you do that?

How can you talk people into anything? Do you think of this stuff in advance, or does it happen on the spot?”

“Are you impressed?” asked Justin.

“Kind of terrified, actually. But glad you’re not in politics.”

Perhaps now would be a good time to ask if he’d like to learn about Odin, said Horatio. You’re on a roll.

Justin ignored the bird but felt a little unnerved that in many ways, he was doing now exactly what he had back at Gideon’s house: spinning tales and converting hearts and minds. He wasn’t really sure if it was genius or trickery.

It’s both, said Magnus, almost affectionately. And this is why our god has chosen you.

“This dream plan only works if Mae gets those girls in without being caught,” warned Lucian. “That border isn’t easy for anyone, on either side, to cross. If the Arcadians find her, we’re going to be the ones having to do a lot of disavowing. And if it happens before we leave the country, there’s no way they’ll let their delegation come with us. Hell, who knows if we’ll be able to leave.”

Justin thought back to his last encounter with Mae. He’d had no sign that she was planning anything of this magnitude. Her concern had been for him, and if he would’ve let her, she’d have gone to the temple too. Something must have happened, something must have driven her to act. Something that probably had to do with that damned knife. And if that was the case, he had to believe she wouldn’t do this without a concrete plan to get back to her own country. What that plan was, he couldn’t fathom, but he believed in Mae. He had to.

“She won’t get caught,” Justin said firmly. “She’s been thinking about this. She’s got a plan, and we’ll see her back in the RUNA. That being said . . . life will be a lot easier for her when she gets back, even if she’s victorious, if you come out telling our government that you authorized her actions. They’ll spin a cover story for the media, but she’ll still have a lot to answer for behind closed doors.”

“I’ll have a lot to answer for,” protested Lucian. “I’m not consul yet, Justin. I don’t know why you think I have the power I do.”

“Because your star’s going to be so high after we sort out this mess that there’s no way you won’t be consul. And no matter how many regulations have been trampled on, no government official’s going to punish you for helping one soldier who’s responsible for a heartwarming victory. No one will come after you when you’ve got that much public love. They’ll grumble, and that’s it.”

“A consul leads the senate and upholds the law.” Lucian sighed.

“You’re basically telling me I can throw all that away if I’m popular enough.”

“Pretty much.”

Lucian sighed again. “Then we’d better go tell the others what to expect.”

Justin had to give his friend credit. Lucian might have needed a fair amount of convincing, but by the time he pulled himself together and called the other Gemmans for an impromptu meeting, it was as though Lucian had personally orchestrated everything from the very beginning. He did a fair amount of editing himself, smoothing out some of the parts where he’d clearly been in the dark, in order to inspire confidence for the plan. He stood by Mae, leaving out the part about her niece, and insisting her actions had been on his orders. He made everything sound easy, so much so that Justin almost wanted to let go of his own doubts and forget that there were actually a million things that could go horribly wrong.

Atticus, their diplomat, had the biggest problem with it. “This is a disaster,” he exclaimed. “There’s no way this can end well! We’ll start a war.”

“If what you say is true, they’re already trying to,” said George, who seemed to be taking the proposed conspiracy personally. “Why wait to catch their hackers in a sting? I saw we start dropping bombs as soon as we get home.”

“Because we need proof,” said Lucian patiently. “We need to find out how much they know and how much they learned from that

Gemman defector—what was his name?”

“Cowlitz,” said Justin.

George actually looked impressed. “I’ve heard of him. He was pretty high up on the tech side. Had no idea he ended up here. Me, I’d go to South America.”

That outside verification of Cowlitz’s history soothed Atticus a little, but it was clear his mind was still spinning with all the potential diplomatic fallout. “It’s going to be very hard getting that Arcadian woman back in with us.”