Chapter 172: A mutually beneficial arrangement

"Excuse me?"

Ares stared at the man standing in front of him. He wasn’t sure if he had heard him correctly.

Alistair’s expression on the other hand did not change.

"I want you to make me king."

The silence that followed was almost deafening. Damon was the first to break it.

"You cannot be serious."

Alistair looked at him.

"I am. That is the arrangement I am proposing"

"You need to explain yourself," Ares said.

"My brother needs to be taken out of the way as soon as possible judging by the letter in your hand and I know you want Ayla back."

Cassian’s expression hardened.

"What does that have to do with you becoming king?"

"Everything." Alistair answered, looking directly at Ares. "You only have to decide whether what I am offering is useful in helping you achieve your goal."

Ares thought about this.

The more Alistair spoke, the more sense the offer made. They had been trying to find a way into Emberfall without alerting Lucius. The rider had given them a route but the route was still a risk.

And even if Ares managed to get inside, he would be moving through unfamiliar territory.

Alistair knew Emberfall and he knew his brother but there was one problem.

It could be a trap.

Cassian stepped forward.

"You have helped your brother infiltrate our palace in the past. Why the hell should we trust you?"

Alistair looked at him.

"I saved your life."

"And that is because you put it in danger! Or did you think we would not put two and two together? And now you expect us to believe you suddenly developed a conscience?"

Alistair’s jaw tightened.

"For all we know, this could be a ploy between brothers and you think we would stupidly fall for it."

"I am not here to earn your trust. I want something from this and I need your help to get it. It is what I would call a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Damon turned toward Ares.

"We cannot trust a word he says. This could be a trap... hell , it definitely smells like one."

"You are making this unnecessarily difficult." Alistair sighed.

Damon’s eyes flashed.

Ares lifted his hand.

"Enough."

He looked at Alistair.

He knew he could not trust a word coming out the man’s mouth but he knew people like him. Jealous and disgruntled with how their life had turned out. He was predictable but not dangerous and if he played his cards right, he would get from Alistair more than he bargained for.

Ares turned toward the guards standing at the entrance of the tent.

"Take him." He gestured.

Alistair’s expression finally changed to one of panic.

"What?"

Ares ignored him completely.

"Take him to an empty tent. Tie him up, put men around it and no one speaks to him unless I give the order."

The guards moved immediately.

Alistair looked between them.

"You are making a mistake." His voice rose as a guard grabbed him. "It is not a trap. You need my help."

The guards pulled him outside and the tent flap fell closed behind them.

Ares turned to his brothers as soon as they were gone.

"I do not believe it is a trap." He said.

Cassian stared at him in disbelief.

"When did you become so trusting, brother?"

"Not trusting." Ares corrected. "I can see Alistair for what he is. He is a disgruntled man who wants his brother’s throne and believes it belongs to him by rights. That is not a man who works for Lucius. That is a man who works for himself."

"You cannot be so sure of that."

"I am." Ares said. "Think it through. If Lucius wanted to trap us, would he send the one man, he knows we would never believe? His own brother. Sending Alistair is either the stupidest thing Lucius has ever done, or it is not a trap at all."

"Even if he is not lying," Cassian said, "why would we trade one tyrant for another? We came here for Ayla. We did not come here to put another Veyr in that chair."

"We will not be, if we do it right." Ares answered. "We have sat in this tent trying to work out how to get her out with the least blood spilled. There is one thing Father taught me that I have never once been sorry for learning. Be ready for every kind of possibility, even the ones you would not have chosen. Especially those."

He strode to the table and tapped the map.

"This is a possibility we did not have yesterday. Alistair is a door into that place and we no longer have to worry about being caught following the rider’s map. Alistair will take me in himself through the front gate."

"I don’t know, brother." Cassian shook his head. "I have a bad feeling about trusting him."

"Again... not trust, brother." Ares said. "It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. He wants something from us and we want something from him."

Ares turned to Damon.

"You have been quiet."

Damon sighed. "I really am on Cassian’s side on this. We cannot put our entire plan in his hands. We should carry on as we were planning."

Ares looked at both of them. He could see the doubt in both their faces.

"Fine." He said. "We continue as we were planning."

He knew his brothers were right to be suspicious but something about Alistair’s offer had lodged itself in his mind.

Later that night, the camp had fallen quiet. Ares walked into the tent Alistair was being kept.

His hands were tied behind his back.

"My brothers do not believe that you are trying to help us." Ares began without preamble.

"I assumed as much."

"But I am willing to make a deal with you."

Ares saw the relief enter Alistair’s eyes.

"What deal?" He asked.

"You get me into the palace just as Soren got you into ours and I will make you king."