Koruna

Doubts and Decisions

Chapter 80
Doubts and Decisions

“Is that real?” Oni asked doubtfully.

R’ao stared at the box and sighed, “This complicates things.”

“More complicated than it was two hours ago?” Jacob frowned, there was something else happening that he didn’t know about.

Oni explained to him what had transpired between them and Abriel, Jacob chuckled amusedly, “So one of them is lying. It stands to reason that Shola hasn’t done anything to question his loyalty and this Abriel girl seems to have a screw loose. I don’t see what the problem is. Deal with fact and reason, focus on that and play the rest by ear.”

“Koruna believes Abriel. She would not admit it but she does.” R’ao said in a low tone.

“Koruna wants to believe it and she is not in any state of mind to make a rational decision and I am beginning to suspect that neither are you. Oni is taking lead on this.” Jacob ordered.

R’ao didn’t argue, he knew that when it came to Koruna, he was blindsided and honestly, he just wanted more time with her. He was beginning to think himself pathetic when he rationalized that there was nothing he could do for her. He didn’t want to get into it with his father which he suspected was his plan all along, always using Oni as a means to get him in line. It was the oldest trick in the book, predictable yet functional but not today.

R’ao shrugged in response and Jacob chuckled without humour, “Are you losing your edge son?”

“Wouldn’t you love that?”

“When it amuses me and right now… it doesn’t.”

“You can’t eat your cake and have it.”

Jacob looked at Oni and asked, “What do you propose we do?”

Oni knew what was happening, this wasn’t the first time he had to play mediator between those two, he had managed to hide his feelings for Koruna and it baffled him to no end why these feelings refused to leave. He could only look and watch Koruna in pain while R’ao got to stand by his side, the least he could do was not add to her worries.

“We are the Arks, let the Ballans deal with their problems. If Koruna does as Simi wants, it puts is as disadvantage. Let’s reduce Simi’s reach on Nige as planned. People won’t side with the least powerful family or person. She might have their weaknesses in their grasp but fear only works for so long
Anger is stronger than fear, both have short lifespans but when we pitch them against one another, we only have to sit and watch which will have the higher gain.” Oni said simply.

R’ao watched him suspiciously, Oni was not one for politics or psychological maneuvering. It he preferred to do things mechanically, he could see his point but it was strange coming from him. “What are you saying? We release every information we have about Simi to the public and control the tide, but we also release some of the secrets we have on them so they think it’s Simi threatening them and as a result balk on their agreement because of anger?” Jacob scratched his chin.

“I was thinking more in the lines of paying them in their own coin. They framed us for the kidnapped people in the Flames, I say we release the secrets we have and make them think it was Simi first before we slowly reveal what happened on the island as much as we can. Spark public outrage, it will get to the point where they’ll have to choose between their pride and Simi. We don’t have everything but we have enough to go by. Witnesses from the Island, people who haven’t been completely broken by her like that boy.” R’ao suggested.

Jacob looked at him with surprise, he regretted his earlier comment as he wanted to get a rise out of R’ao but it seemed like R’ao had been doing some thinking of his own as well and it was well in line with his plan, Jacob wanted to everyone behind the scenes and right now, it was a two out of four situation. He already had a plan to deal with Jonathan Reeves, and he could not deny that Shola would be in the best position to be a spy but it didn’t make much sense. Shola had been loyal to the Ballans for as long as he could remember, he tried buying him once and it didn’t work.