There was a small silence before another voice asked, “How would you choose where each Prime exists within such a hierarchy?”

“The decision would depend upon their individual level of power. They need to be strong enough to hold their position.”

“Why?” a different Prime asked. “You’re promising a future without war. Why does it matter if they can hold their position?”

“Demons respect power,” she replied as impatience very briefly flickered across her face. “A Prime on a high level would need the respect that ensures Primes on levels below them take their authority seriously.”

“But what about the Primes you decide should be placed on the lowest level?” called out Malden. “They would have no real power at all. It would only be a matter of time before they started challenging Primes on higher levels in an attempt to overthrow each other.”

“They would need my permission to battle; such a rule would be in writing.”

Jolene scoffed. “And we’re supposed to wave that piece of paper at any lair who bothers us and hope it makes them go away?”

Isla’s jaw clenched. “If a Prime did such a thing, they would be severely punished.”

“But the damage would already be done,” Malden pointed out.

“Yes,” allowed Isla, “but once they were punished, the rest of our kind would be very hesitant to do so again.”

“You say that small lairs are vulnerable now,” began another Prime. “Your plan – which would include placing us on lower levels – would simply make us even more vulnerable.”

“You would have the protection of the higher levels.”

That same Prime addressed everyone as he asked, “Can any Prime in this room say they haven’t punished one of their Force or sentinels for abusing their power over the other lair members? The same would happen to each Prime if a hierarchy was implemented,” he told Isla. “That power would be abused, and the vulnerable would pay for it.”

Isla shook her head. “If we implement my hierarchy, there would be better order, less demons being harmed, and safer streets. In addition, we would not have divides. We would effectively be united. It would put us in a good position if somehow our existence was exposed to humans.”

Someone from the back of the room snorted. “It’s been exposed many times to humans, and we’ve dealt with it each time.”

“Yes,” agreed Malden. “One point I want to make is this: if you really had such faith in your own plans, you wouldn’t try to attack my character and my promises by fabricating stories about me stealing your materials.”

She regarded him with disappointment. “You and I both know it’s the truth.”

Raul spoke then. “I asked Malden this question yesterday, and I’ll ask you the same thing. How do you think you can exert your authority over Primes who are more powerful than you?”

“There are few Primes more powerful than me,” replied Isla, her tone arrogant. “In any case, I don’t need to be more powerful than someone to exert authority.”

Raul snickered. “How else could you keep someone like Knox Thorne in check? If you tried to punish him, he wouldn’t stand there and take it. He’d retaliate.”

“Knox would never harm me.”

Harper turned to Knox. “I think she truly believes that.”

“He and I go back a long time,” Isla went on. “We have too much regard and respect for each other for him to harm me.”

Raul raised a brow at Knox. “Is that true?”

“I wouldn’t like to harm you,” Knox told her. “But that doesn’t make you safe from me. And I’ll never give you or anyone else any power over me.” Never in his life would anyone ever control him again.

That response had Raul smiling. “Let’s pretend you’ve been elected, Isla. You’re Monarch. He’s refusing to do what you want. So, what do you do?”

Face hard, she responded, “Punish him, of course.”

“How? How can you be expected to take him on?”

“All of us here would stand united against any crime committed. That means we would unite against him. I doubt even Knox could defeat us all as a unit.”

“And what if we don’t want to join you in standing against him?” asked the Prime directly behind Harper. “What if we’d rather mind our own fucking business?” Some chuckled at that.

“That would be considered a betrayal.”

Raul sighed, waving a dismissive hand. “Maybe the public might be in favor of your hierarchy. But as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing realistic about it. Like Malden, you’d be biting off more than you can chew.”

She licked over her front teeth. “I’m sorry that’s how you view things, Raul. It’s true that we can keep our ways as they stand. But then our problems will also remain. Think on that.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

There were certain types of people who were only interesting when they were drunk. Dario was one of those people. Sadly, he wasn’t drunk.

As he did his best to convince Harper that electing a Monarch would benefit the U.S., she got the feeling he was hoping that if he could get her onside, he could thereby get Knox onside. Snort. No one had that kind of influence on Knox. The idiot should know that.

Glancing at the reception desk, she saw that Knox was still there; flicking through papers with the concierge, who had rushed to him as they exited the restaurant not long after Isla’s speech. Knox had left her with Tanner while he quickly helped his staff deal with something. Dario must have seen it as an opportunity to speak with Harper without any interference.