Align Ourselves

by Adrianna Schuh

  "I know it's not much," she said after telling him what had happened. "But we're working on it."

  He nodded. "It's enough for now. But what can I do? I need to get out of here."

  "No, Lex. For right now, you need to stay here. If you try to escape, you'll only cause more trouble. We need to let them believe that we're on the same side."

  "Aria, I can't just sit here. My people need me.”

  "You're right. They do need you. Alive. So getting yourself killed is not going to help them, okay?"

  "But-"

  "No but's, Lex. I'm serious. There isn't anything you can do right now. Wait until we do our part. I promise to keep you updated. And we will need you. But for right now, the best thing for them, for us, is keeping you alive. And that'll only happen if you stay here. If you don't resist."

  He sighed. She knew it wasn't what he was used to. He was a leader.

  "I know this is hard for you," she said, sitting down next to him. "But you've done so much for us. Let us do this for you."

  "Alright."

  "Promise me. Promise me that you won't do anything reckless?"

  "I promise, Aria. Do you need me to swear on it? Or is my word enough?" he asked, smirking.

  God, she thought, I've missed that fucking smirk.

  "Your word is enough," she said, placing her hand in his.

  They sat in silence for a few minutes. Again, she had that feeling. Like this was her place, right beside him. That no matter what happened, they'd have one another. That they'd get through this together.

  "Lex, I-”

  "Remember the days we spent at the house?" he suddenly asked.

  "Yeah?"

  "Maybe we should have stayed there. Grown old. Had a kid or two," he said, smiling.

  "Wasn't that one of your conditions?"

  "Actually," he said, "If I remember correctly, I said it was a preference. Not a condition."

  She smiled back at him. Despite what was going on, despite the terrible situation they were in with Warren taking the palace and Lex being held prisoner, something like peace washed through Aria. Peace and light.

  And maybe something she could only describe as hope.

  "We'll go back," she said, putting her head on his shoulder.

  They stayed like that for a few minutes, but eventually, she knew it was time for her to go. She stood up.

  "Everything will be okay, Lex."

  "You believe that?"

  "I do."

  "Okay, then. I do too. I believe you, Aria. I believe in you."

  Chapter 41

  Aria decided to go to her room so that she could have some privacy. So that she could think about her next move.

  On the way there, she realized she hadn't eaten anything all day. She decided to stop by the kitchen first to grab a snack before going to her room.

  When she saw Edwards in the kitchen, she had to remind herself that she couldn't throttle the woman then and there. That she had to be patient.

  So she swallowed her pride and apologized to the woman.

  "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking," she said, "They were awful to us at first. I was lucky that...that he seemed to like me."

  "Funny," Edwards said, "You really had me convinced last night."

  Aria knew she didn't buy it.

  "Yeah, well, he made us all believe that you were dead. So I was a little shocked. And the concussion you gave me didn't really help, either."

  "Sorry about that," Edwards said, not sounding sorry at all.

  "It's fine. I'm just glad that my mother and the rest of you are okay. That you found us."

  Edwards nodded but continued to watch Aria as she moved around the kitchen. She grabbed an apple and some dried meat, pretending like she was looking for something else when really she wanted to grab one of the kitchen knives.

  "Hey," Aria said, "Do you know where the bread is? I don't see it anywhere."

  It worked.

  Edwards turned to glance around the kitchen, and when her back was turned, Aria grabbed the knife she'd been eyeing and stuck it up her shirt sleeve.

  "There it is," Edwards said, pointing to Aria's left.

  Aria turned and grabbed a piece. After thanking the woman, she finally made her way back to her room.

  Inside, she took the knife out of her shirtsleeve and placed it in her boot. She sat back down on the couch and ate quickly.

  She got up to find a piece of paper so that she could jot down a list of things they needed to do before Warren sent the guards back for the others. If they were going to overthrow him, it had to be before he brought more reinforcements here.

  She found a few pieces of parchment paper on Lex's desk. She grabbed a pencil and went back to the couch. As soon as she sat back down, there was a knock on her door.

  Ben was the last person she expected to be standing on the other side.

  And yet, there he stood.

  "Can we talk?"

  A few things ran through her mind at the same time.

  The first thing was that she should try and pretend with him too, but there was no doubt in her mind that he wouldn't buy it, not like the others. He knew she cared for Lex.

  The second thing she thought about was how long it'd take her to reach for the knife in her boot and stick it right through his jugular. He'd bleed out in minutes. She'd get the knife there before he could even put his hands up.

  She stepped aside to let him in. She still hadn't made her mind up yet.

  He watched her a little wearily, but he came inside.

  "I know you're mad at me," he said.

  "I'm not mad," she said.

  "What?"

  "I'm not mad. You brought my mother to me. I'm not mad."

  "But-"

  "But nothing, Ben. There's no point in talking about why you didn't tell them that we were okay. That we weren't being held prisoner. Why do you let all those innocent people get killed.”

  "Aria, I did it because-"

  "Because you love me?" she asked. She let out a bitter laugh, "You don't know anything about love, Ben. You're too selfish to know what love is. And bitter. I mean, that's why you did it, right?"

  "No, Aria, I'm not-"

  "Yes, you are. You're a fucking coward. And you were selfish and bitter. You lost me to Lex. You lost Mara to Grace. That must've driven you mad, right? That you lost both of us to them?"

  "I don't care about-"

  "Yes, you do," she said, cutting him off again. No, she wouldn't kill him. And she knew she'd never convince him that she was on their side. There was no point in trying. But she could hit him where it hurt. She could make him feel as awful as she felt.

  "That's why you did it. You wanted us to lose them, to lose this place. Maybe you thought we'd even be on your side?"

  "Aria, please just let me explain-"

  "No, Ben. I don't care what you say. I don't care what you do. You're nothing but a petty, stupid coward. You're not a good person; you aren't even a man. You're just some jealous idiot that got a lot of innocent people killed. And for what? I will never be with you. Mara will never be with you. You're gonna die alone, like the selfish little coward that you are."

  He looked hurt, very hurt. It made Aria feel better.

  And maybe that made her a bad person. But she didn't care. She'd been so angry, so upset for the past 24 hours that the satisfaction running through her veins pushed all thoughts of human decency from her mind.

  "I wore that nightgown for him, you know," she said. She wasn't even sure what she was trying to do anymore. All she knew was that his pain was easing some of hers. "You remember? That pretty black one? Yeah. I wore it. And he fucked me in it. Right through those doors there," she said, pointing towards their bedroom. "And he was so good. So much better than you were. I saw stars, you know? I really did."

  Ben shook his head in disgust. He didn't have anything to say after that. He left, and she let him. Knowing that he'd be thinking about what she said for the rest of the day.
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  It made her happier than it should have.

  That night, she had her first meeting with Warren.

  He asked about the other villages. About the people. About everything, really. And she told him enough to be convincing, but not really anything that would be of use to him. And she neglected to mention that a few of the other villages were much bigger than the one below them. She wanted him to underestimate them. Their numbers had to be a secret

  He seemed genuinely pleased by her cooperation.

  She seemed to have him fooled for now, and that was good. Because they couldn't take this place. If they had all come here together, maybe things could have been different. She was sure that Lex would have taken them in. But they didn't give him the opportunity to do so.

  The whole situation was one big mess. But Aria knew she had to find her way out of it.

  Chapter 42

  The next morning, she joined the others in the throne room. Warren had them all assigned to different positions.

  Mara, Isla, and Martinez were all assigned to the guard. They were stationed at different positions, but they each now had access to a gun. Adrian had asked for a job guarding the weapons in the training area, and Warren agreed. But he would be joined by two of Warren's men, so Aria wasn't sure how they would sneak anything out of there with the two of them being around at all times.

  "Hey, it's not ideal," Mara said after Adrian had told them. "But it's something."

  It's not enough, Aria thought. The others were given various other jobs, but no positions that Aria thought would help their plan to overthrow Warren.

  "I hope you're all rested," Warren said from the front of the room. He had taken Lex's spot at the front table. Watching him and his council sit where she, Lex, and Grace had sat made Aria feel sick.

  But she kept her anger at bay. She couldn't let her emotions come through; she had a part to play. So with that in mind, she turned and gave Warren her attention.

  "The land here is better than we could have expected. There is plenty of space to farm, fresh water, and livestock. For right now, we will remain on the palace grounds and the palace grounds only. That is an order. Do not go past the limits. I will be sending a party to search the woods and make sure that no others have gotten too close for comfort."

  "What about when the rest of our people come?" someone in the crowd asked. "This place isn't big enough to hold all of us?"

  "When the others come, we will expand," Warren said.

  Aria looked over at her mother, sitting on the other side of the room.

  I told you, Aria thought.

  "Expand where?" another person asked.

  "As of now, the plan is to stay on the palace grounds. When the others join us..." Warren looked around, "We will clear the village below us and make homes there."

  "What about the people who already live there?" another voice asked.

  Aria looked for the source, hoping it wasn't one of her own. She'd given them explicit orders. They had to be convincing.

  But the source was an older woman about Katy's age. Aria didn't recognize her.

  "They will evacuate the premises," Brent's mother said from beside Warren, "If they know what's good for them."

  Aria turned to look at Brent. He caught her gaze for a second before looking away like he was ashamed.

  "When will the guards go back?" Aria asked.

  "We need to assemble a team. The rest will be waiting, and since there are quite a few of them, I can't send many people. We need all the space we can get to bring the others. I hope one trip back will suffice. So with that in mind, we need about five people to go. Any volunteers?"

  About ten hands went up. A few people looked at Aria, silently asking if they should raise their hands. She discreetly shook her head no. They all needed to stay if their plan against Warren would work. They had to attack before the group left.

  Warren chose five people.

  "When do we leave?" one of the men he picked asked.

  "Tomorrow morning."

  Aria's stomach dropped. Tomorrow morning? Aria looked towards her mother. But she was looking at Hunt. The look on their faces mirrored Aria's. Tomorrow? That was way too soon. Aria had thought that it would be at least a few days. But tomorrow? They hadn't even thought of a plan yet.

  Eventually, the room cleared. But before everyone could part ways, Aria told her friends to meet her in her quarters in fifteen minutes. She made her way towards her mother and quietly told her about the meeting.

  She walked to her room alone. Her mind raced.

  She sat down on the couch in her front room and put her head in her hands. Too fast. This was all happening way too fast.

  By the time she heard the first knock on her door, she still hadn't come up with a solid idea, any sort of plan. She didn't know how they would stop the group from leaving tomorrow morning.

  Mara was the first person there. They waited in silence for the others.

  Martinez, Adrian, Hunt, and Katy eventually joined. Hunt let them know that Brent couldn't come. Peter and Isla wouldn't be joining, either. They couldn't get out of whatever they had to do.

  "Tomorrow," Adrian said. "That's way too soon. I mean, we don't really even know who's on our side yet."

  "I know," Aria said. "Does anyone have an idea?"

  No one spoke up.

  "Look, we don't need to come up with something to stop him—just a delay. Just something to give us more time to come up with a better plan," she said.

  Still, no one spoke up.

  They all looked around at one another. Aria felt desperate. Even she couldn't come up with anything.

  "Maybe we could do something to the horses? So no one can leave," Martinez said.

  "What do you have in mind?" Hunt asked.

  "I mean, we could set all the horses loose?"

  "But that would mean losing all of them," Adrian said.

  "Losing them is better than more people coming here, right?" Martinez asked, looking around.

  "That won't work," Hunt said. "There are too many horses. And I think it would only hurt us more in the long run. "

  Aria put her head in her hands.

  "Okay, obviously we aren't getting anywhere. So how about we just...we take the day to brainstorm. We'll meet back here tonight after dinner. See if anyone has any good ideas," Hunt said.

  Everyone nodded in agreement, and they parted ways once again.

  Aria knew she couldn't hide in her room forever. And her absence would be noted eventually. So she made her way out of her rooms, feeling more desperate than ever.

  She thought about what they could do for the rest of the day, not really paying attention to what she was doing or who she was interacting with.

  At lunchtime, she finally got a chance to talk to Brent. Martinez had filled him in on the plan, and Aria had hoped that Brent had thought of something.

  "No, Aria," he said, "I don't have anything. But-but they had a meeting. They're definitely leaving in the morning. Whatever we're going to do...we need to do it fast. They've already packed supplies. And Warren sent a group into the woods a few hours ago, in search of Lex’s people."

  Aria hoped that the people from the palace had made their way down to the village. She didn't want to think about what would happen if they stayed on the palace grounds.

  She wanted to talk to her mom. Maybe one of the others had a plausible idea? Some sort of plan?

  But when she did see her a few minutes before dinner, Aria caught her eye, silently asking if any progress had been made.

  Katy shook her head a little, telling her that no, no. There was no plan.

  "Maybe someone else had an idea," Jackson whispered from beside her. But Aria felt like he was only saying it for her own good, not because he actually believed one of the others had come up with anything.

  Aria looked away. They were standing near the entrance to the library, where many of the historical books were kept. Her eyes landed on a book with a title that gave h
er an idea.

  In one of Lex’s Greek history books about herbal mixtures, she had read about something that could make people sick. Nothing too drastic, but something that might cause severe nausea or stomach pain.

  But no. She couldn’t do that. Could she? And she’d need help because she’d need to get the right things for the mixture.

  No. She had to remind herself that there were some lines she couldn't cross.

  Since she knew she'd be meeting with the others after dinner, she decided to check on Lex before she went to the throne room.

  This time, the guard let her pass without a word.

  She found him pacing the room, looking nervous. Well, at least he's on his feet. At least he's feeling better.

  "I feel like I'm going insane," he said before she got to the last step.

  "Lex, you've only been down here for two days," she said, walking towards him.

  "That's already too long. I'm not used to staying in one place. To have nothing to do. No one to take care of. It's driving me mad."

  "I know, and I'm working on it."

  He stopped pacing and leaned against one of the walls. She walked over and joined him, leaving a few inches between them.

  "There must be something I can do. I can't- I can't just sit here anymore."

  "I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do right now."

  "Aria-"

  "No, Lex. I've told you. We need you alive. And we haven't even done our part yet."

  "But-"

  "Just let it go already," she yelled, "You're not in control here, Lex. And I know that you don't like that. That you aren't used to that. But you can't do anything right now! Why can't you just trust me on this?"

  "I do trust you, Aria."

  "Then give me more time, okay? I told you I'd get you out of this."

  He sighed. "So, what's going on on the outside?" he asked after a few minutes.

  She wasn't sure if she should tell him about what was going on. It would only make him more nervous. But she thought about the conversation they'd had right before all of this happened. About trust. About being open and honest with one another.

  So she told him.

  "Tomorrow? That's too soon," he said.

  "I know."

  "You have to stop them, Aria. If- if more of them come here, we'll never take this place back. There are already too many of them here."