Viva La Vida

Part 12

The tiny triumph of recruiting Duke Sanders lights a fire in them, opens up a hunger inside them that Liam didn't think could live in him. For the first time he truly understands the rebels—there's a void in the universe somewhere, and they can feel it in their souls. There's an insatiable hunger they all carry that doesn't just want change, it demands it. With this kind of force driving them, this kind of determination at their backs, he doesn't see how they won't be able to prevail. The nobles have nothing like this in their blood; in court, everyone is sleepy with success, drunk on the absence of danger. This feels like an injection of quicksilver. This is stars and champagne in his arteries.

Sometimes, when he's not around the others, the doubts start to creep in again—how can he possibly throw his own uncle off the throne, when Simon has given him everything, including his right to the crown? How can he pull off that kind of betrayal when he's never even been able to stand up against Simon? Will the people trust him if he turns against his own family? Most importantly, is he ready to rule? Do the people want him?

Niall is skilled at reassuring him, especially about bringing the commoners to his side, but what usually works the best is just submerging himself in the dynamic of all five of them together. It makes him feel invincible in a way he's never felt before. They are an army of five that's ready to take on the world.

Of course, they don't always get along—the differences in their upbringings and opinions are far too great for that. Harry and Louis are usually at odds the most, but Liam is fairly sure that about ninety percent of that stems from their unresolved sexual tension. The other ten percent can probably be attributed to Louis' frustration with Harry's privilege and reluctance when it comes to taking risks, and Harry's frustration with Louis' constant teasing and thoughtlessness.

"What do you mean, pretty boy?" Louis snaps, bristling after a throwaway comment about Louis always being at base. "You think that I'm not good enough to go out on missions? You think I'm here all the time because of that? Is that what you're saying?"

Harry looks shocked at Louis' instant jump to this conclusion, but is immediately up in arms. "That's not what I said, stop putting words in my mouth. You always do this—you always make up shit I didn't say so you can get angry at me, and then you mock me for the things I do say, andI want you to stop calling me pretty boy, I don't like it—"

"Well, I want a country that hasn't been brought to the edge of ruin by an upper class of corrupt and violent nobles who have very little regard for the life of people like me, but you can't always get what you want, Your Grace," Louis says, very fast and all in one breath.

Liam swears Harry is about to punch Louis in the face. "You didn't have to make it political like that, Louis, what the fuck? That wasn't even what we were talking about?"

"Yes, it was," Louis snaps, sounding more than a little hysterical. "Every damn thing we talk about is political! My entire life is politics! So's yours! We're so damn political that I can't even wank anymore without thinking about what it'd be like to have Simon off the throne!"

"Too much information," Zayn and Niall chorus in unison. Louis just sneers at them before flopping face down on Liam's bed with a little too much force for it to be entirely unpainful on the hard mattress.

"What do you want to talk about, then?" Harry asks, his voice suddenly soft, and not in that dangerous way it sometimes gets soft. He sounds like might actually feel sorry for Louis.