Cillian lifts her chin. ‘I wanted to stay and care for you. But I had to go when I found out the truth.’
‘Truth?’ Tilly presses.
Cillian nods. ‘I discovered the most terrible thing. I learned that EASA’s mission to find the weapon was not going to be allowed to succeed. The World Council was going to do all it could to see it fail. Mandon and his councillors don’t want Earth to be saved. They didn’t want it back then and they don’t want it now.’
‘Oh,’ Tilly says on a sharp inhale.
I’m staggered by the claim. Mandon is cold and calculating to be sure, but this… wanting the destruction of Earth? Why? I recall Treesa’s mistrust of the World Council and their Red Vipers. Does she know something of this?
‘Do you have proof of this?’ Garth asks.
‘Yes, how did you learn about it?’ Cal adds.
