Heaven Hath No Rage - Book Two

Unearthed Secrets

For 19 suns, Ava was shut out from all meetings. Killian was allowed to sit in on The Council while she was confined to the Complex and the rest of the city for the seemingly endless suns. She didn't expect to be welcomed into the political fold with open arms but she hadn't expected to be shut out, wholly and absolutely.

When Viv had once said that women were involved they just ran the show from behind the curtain, she wasn't lying. Not once were the eyes or ears of the audience on her, she was stuck in the dark wings of the theatre helping the men on stage. It was frustrating not only because she knew that if Killian had managed to keep up then so could she but because it was her ideas being discussed.

It was her effort, it was her proposition and as such, it was hers to argue, hers to present, hers to advocate for.

While she was unhappy with the way things panned out, it wasn't as if her role wasn't clear from the beginning. She was aware she wouldn't be involved in Vaith or Council business unless it was behind closed doors, late at night– which is what happened. After dinner and rest, Ava would be called to her father's office where strategizing and planning for the next sun would commence.

It was exhausting and Ava found herself sleeping well into the aftermornings most of the time she was there. They had some victories, and more straightforward measures had passed. Some of the surplus money from taxes that The Center had yet to use before the end of the classification was allotted for the remaking of old roads and the making of new ones. Orphanages were allocated funding to improve the education and livelihoods of those without guardianship. Schools were opened to more than just boys and a fund was started for families who could not afford to send children to school.

But even then, the propositions were voted on for selfish reasons. Roads could more easily transport soldiers and provide easier access to populations that were deemed risky or explosive. Funding orphanages made it harder for the underworld to make use of them as a recruiting ground to work against Baethos. More educated people meant more for an emerging workforce in technologies– which was only needed because The Center needed to compete with the South of Dove Island to avoid them being a new power center.

As predicted, language and religion had failed to pass or even be entertained as a possible discussion. All of the other matters of importance had been argued on, tabled, brought back forward, and eventually lumped together into one massive reform policy. It was done by the opposition in an attempt to push all controversial items into one vote in hopes to get it to fail.

The reports she received once she was able to speak to her brother and father were that they were falling just short of enough votes for a permanent policy. Six people were on their side. The only ones left to convince were the Ammyretts, the Barthes, the Sevars, and the Qualites. All of which were firmly against them and it didn't seem like the tides would be shifting in their favor. Ava had been meeting with Jona–who had accompanied his father and brother– in the dead of night after her father had finished briefing her.

He was unable to deliver his father, no matter how hard he tried. Both she and Jona had overestimated just how much of an influence he could have on his family. Ava was convinced that it would not be long until the request would arrive at Theo's doorstep to kill his family. They had both realized over their time at The Center that Ava's precious advice of making himself a hero in the eyes of The Council and Baethos by convincing his father to be the deciding vote in reforms would not be able to be realized.

She had watched as his frustrations had mounted and boiled over, there were a few times that he had declared it was not long before he would come into power. Even if he hadn't said it, his demeanor had given that fact away. He understood there would never be an organic way to get his father's seat.