A/N: Sorry for this one. My depression and anxiety are kicking my but this week and I'm feeling so disassociated that this one has been a real struggle. Not my finest work. Sorry.
“We have a problem,” Ve announced as Leof and I made our way towards the dining hall and lunch. So much for macaroni cheese and garlic bread...
Not even a week had passed since we retrieved Ábroden, and while I expected retaliation sooner or later, I already knew that our immediate concern wasn't Tiw. Not directly, at least. Instead, the betrayal came from a different quarter.
Sighing, I diverted course towards the basement staircase instead of the dining room, heading for the security office and the privacy it offered, all while grumbling bitterly about it. “What's new. There's always a problem. This time it's Tanya, right?” I asked.
“What's she done now?” Leof asked as we descended into Ve's realm, the administration and security hub of the cohort, and took our seats at his boardroom table once more.
“She's picked a side and it isn't ours,” I answered, not waiting for our head of security to explain. My appraisal was condemning enough.
Ve gave me an irritated look as he complained, “I'd forgotten how irritating that skill of yours is. Do you want to tell him what’s going on or will I finish?”
I grinned at him, unrepentant as I announced, “You may proceed.”
He opened his mouth then paused as if waiting for me to interrupt. The idea tempted me, but I didn't want to drive my brother-in-law completely out of his mind. Not when he was trying to protect our people. Nodding at my silence, Ve admitted, “She and her cronies went out just after sunrise. Nothing unusual about that, except most of us avoid going out unnecessarily these days because of how often we've come under attack. Anyway, they went out, and were gone for a couple of hours. They didn't visit Requiem or any of the places we monitor, and even hacking into Northumbria Police's system to take control of their CCTV proved fruitless. It seems they were very much trying to avoid detection.
“Anyway, Syn and Oliver are on CCTV duty; they saw the group return, but when Tanya attempted to enter the tunnels she just bounced back, like she'd hit a wall at force. When her friends tried, they did the same. Because of your ward, I presume. But that's also the strange part; the ward didn't evict them from Milbank earlier – nor did it send them to sleep, nor whatever else you've currently set it to do - but it won't let them back in now.”
“They've only just made their decision,” Leof guessed, running his hand through his hair and frowning. “They mustn't have known for sure that they'd turn against their cohort, not when they left, but whatever happened while they were out has forced their hand, or encouraged them to defect. It's troubling that they must've actively decided upon a course of action that could cause harm to us or the cohort, in order for the wards to trigger. But what course is that? Surely it’s more than further contact with the press, when past action wasn't enough to earn eviction? Although we've never had evidence against Tanya for providing... unfortunate... reports of our deviancy and instability, we still suspected. What have they decided on than so much worse that betrayal of trust?”
“In the past, even while betraying the cohort’s trust, in a perverted way they thought they were doing what was best for the cohort,” I murmured, my own brows pinched together as I pieced together my suspicions and regretful understanding. “They wanted me to lose control because they saw me as the architect of not only their fall from your bed, but the doom of the cohort as a whole, both when you died and as we've come under attack after attack by people who want to control and use me. When they tried to manipulate the press to make my role as Sire untenable, yes, they wanted revenge because I made the bunnies redundant, but they also wanted me gone because I painted a target on the cohort's back by simply existing.
