The Monsters Among Us ➳ Daryl Dixon

23. The Shadow of Tyranny

I waited until it had grown dark outside before calling Rick over to talk.

Daryl was already beside me, having stepped into the cage the moment Maggie unlocked it and making himself at home on the concrete bench to my right. He had yet to fully relax his shoulders but having Michonne offer to take his watch had at least lessened his stiffness somewhat.

Rick pulled open the cage door and leant against the metal frame, tilting his head as he regarded me curiously. "What happened?"

I grinned ruefully and blew out a breath through my teeth. "Some shit, man. You won't believe it."

Daryl spun his body around to face me fully, crossing his legs and leaning his forearms against his knees.

"Look, I know you both thought I'd lost my damn mind by agreeing to go with her, but it was the only way to deescalate that situation," I explained, looking between the both of them earnestly. "She and Frank weren't going to stop and being uncooperative was only going to make me look worse. Besides, we all knew there was something shady going on. I needed to know what."

Rick straightened slightly. "And did you?"

I pursed my lips. "There was more I could've learned, but I needed to tell you what I already had."

Daryl leant forwards as Rick waved his hand at me to continue.

"I think, and don't quote me on this, but... Frank still supports Phil. And I don't think he's the only one." My chest began to constrict at the thought as I watched Rick's face fall somewhere between dismay and anger. "But," I continued quickly, "I don't think Claire is one of them. I just think she's using his loyalty to the fucker to further her own game."

"And what game is that?" Rick asked, his voice hard and grave.

I'd had time to think on that whilst sitting here. There'd been so many different possibilities to consider; a dozen conflicting motives and half as many passing thoughts of her moral character. Thankfully, deducing the reasonings and predicting the patterns of people had become a near essential part of my everyday life as an assassin. And even more-so as one of the fae.

A small, amused smile spread across my face as I snorted a soft chuckle. "The Game of Thrones," I answered.

Both Daryl and Rick shared a confused look before glancing back at me with near matching raised-brow expressions.

"She's playing for power," I elaborated. "Control of the council. I'd suggest she's using me to undermine all of you, to show your inability to think outside your biases. She'll paint me as a villain and wait for you all to fall over yourselves trying to prove otherwise. In the meantime, she'll use Frank and those like him to solidify a following of her own, until she has the majority and can use them to become the major power-player on the council."

The two men in the cell with me looked objectively disturbed by my theory, looking between one another with pursed frowns.

"I think she has Frank and his ilk convinced she's doing it all for Phil," I continued, despite the fact I knew my words were likely making the two poor men sick to their stomachs. "Which is why they're following him. The others are probably brought together by their mutual distrust of me - so, sorry about that. She either believes I'm the biggest threat to her play for power, or that I'm the greatest link between the Us and Them."