The Seventh Immortal (Hearts of Amaranth #1) (10 page)

Daniel held up a hand, staying Grant's fury.
“Calm yourself, my friend,” he said. “Keep your emotions in check.
As soon as we give into our hate, Christa has already won. We must
stay strong. We must stay disciplined, and approach these new
developments with a measure of caution.”

Eve glared at Mayor Levin. “You're being a
hypocrite,” she replied. “If you hadn't shot that man in my church,
we might not even be here. We might have convinced her to join us,
and we might be celebrating our victory over the forces of chaos
right now.”

“
He knew about us,” Daniel snapped.

“
And now another does,” Eve said. “This boy she saved... He
knows what we are. Nothing has changed.”

“
I will remember my mistakes, but I will not repeat them.
You are right. I was wrong to shoot that man. We need to tread more
cautiously with this girl.”

Grant shifted uncomfortably. “And where do
we go from here? She has humiliated us. She needs to suffer for
what she has done.”

“
She can stop a hundred bullets and send them screaming back
at our police,” Daniel said. “What do you suggest we do that
doesn't put us in a worse position? I think we need to stop
thinking about hurting her and start thinking about apologizing to
her.”

“
Apologize?” Grant leaned forward and
slammed his fist into Daniel's desk. “Do you know what I've been
through? I had to convince a dozen men that everything they
witnessed tonight was some kind of
hallucination
. I had to dance around the truth, to
keep them from discovering the truth about her... Let alone the
truth about us. She threatens everything we have worked for and you
thinking we should--”

“
I think we should be careful,” Daniel said, interrupting
Grant. “Kait Selias changes everything, and we have to adapt. She
would be a powerful ally.”

“
And a dangerous enemy,” Grant noted.

“
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now... She
is our friend. And we will treat her as such. We will hope that
Christa's people will make the mistake of turning against her.
Maybe we can bring her into the fold.”

“
What if we can't?” Eve asked.

“
Then we find a way to destroy her,” Mayor Levin said.
“Before she can destroy us.”

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