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My lips immediately pressed into a thin line. “No, I wasn’t.”

A grin adorned Tristan’s face, his head tilting as he relaxed his eyebrows. “I won’t ask any questions —for now— since we have to move on.”

I straightened my shoulders, a tension aching along my chest. “What are we to do with Kaleb?” I’d briefed him on my new mantle granted by Kaleb. Yet, no solution came to fruition.

Schemes came to be as a means of revenge against the system That Man upheld after it had failed our mother. In the beginning, we protested formal events through nonattendance and interfered with public national conferences between Cabinet.

Then, it twisted into destroying the Lower Belt’s events: from setting aflame ceremonies for Elected Officials to destroying charitable works hosted by common citizens.

We were never able to reach That Man— until we uncovered where his strongest ties lay.

The CEG.

By then, our roles had welded themselves to us, and all our efforts shifted onto guardians.

“We could steal Kaleb’s upper hand,” Tristan suggested.

Kaleb possessed the notebook of secrets. It tracked all the underhand deals, affairs, and schemes of the Ministry and the Human Bureau. No one knew how he came to hold such information, but its existence has been hinted at through his private interactions with Christopher and Noah.

Yet he didn’t risk its whereabouts to anyone. Not even himself.

I was quick to meet Tristan’s gaze through the dark shades. “We both understand the dangers of it. We’ll jeopardize too much.”

“Then we don’t do it ourselves,” Tristan said. “We can recruit someone to do the bidding.”

“Who?”

“Ms. Eli, of course.” Tristan’s confidence oozed too easily. “She’d be a great asset.”

“A great asset?” My voice heightened in pitch as my legs sprung from the chair. I quickly collected myself, though the unsettlement within my throat didn’t ease. “The woman is a menace who has no sense of calculation. She reacts frantically and storms off when she doesn’t receive her way.”

“Guardians are still human, Alek. Their actions are ruled by emotion, unlike vampires who are cunning and calculating, like you and your brothers. You dragged Ms. Eli into my infirmary with such brashness, although you sought her help. Then before she could question, you were quick to shut her down.”

Tristan’s eyebrow raised as he angled his head toward me.

I released a heavy sigh. “Go on then.”

Tristan’s face beamed but suddenly diminished as his expression hardened. “While Kaleb’s ultimate destination is the Premier, he possesses enough intel to set the Human Bureau and Ministry on fire. The CEG comes first as a form to dismantle the product of the two highest investors and weaken them.”

“How would the guardian come into play?”

“She’ll fulfill her role as Kaleb sought out— under your hold. You do exactly what he commanded you to, with a twist.”

I shook my head. “That won’t work. I don’t have the charm my brothers possess nor the capabilities of conviction. Like Sonia, the new guardian isn’t easily swayed.”

In addition, her actions were explosive. She expressed herself easily with her honesty. There was no definite calm in her, and that could equally work in our favor or ruin our progress.

And based on her documentation, she had no recorded family and no debts to manipulate to our advantage.

“Then we use our compassion,” Tristan suggested. “As allies, you’ll paint yourselves with authenticity to lead Kaleb away from our plan without suspicion.”

In truth, I longed for it all to stop. The abuse, the fights, the political feuds. If this was the only plausible solution to end this, then so be it.

“I haven’t been the nicest to her.”

“And neither have your brothers. But unlike them, you’re remorseful. Apologizing is what you’re best at.” My face flushed with a wave of heat. “You concentrate on amending your relationship with her. But don’t take too long. With how fast time is moving, the Ball will be here soon. I doubt they’ll decide on a marriage candidate by then, though.”

I turned of age during the summer, yet the topic of marriage shadowed us since Christopher’s twentieth three years ago. With Noah and Kaleb trickling afterward, it grew more prominent as none of the three seemed to showcase any interest. The twins and Raphael would turn in the next two years, but Cabinet desired a cemented agreement due to That Man’s poor ruling.