Ava as Alistair's unwilling employee and political pawn

Ava as Alistair's unwilling employee and political pawn is a relationship built on a bargain that becomes harder to refuse once Alistair takes control of the Coterie. He first presents himself as an ally helping to remove Venus, but makes clear that his assistance serves his own ambition. After Venus falls, Ava discovers that her pact binds her to the organization, not merely to its former leader. Alistair can therefore offer practical support while claiming the right to direct her labor, turning an apparent alliance into a struggle over what freedom remains to her.

A bargain made for advantage

Alistair does not approach Ava as a benefactor. When he proposes joining her group, he explicitly rejects the idea that sympathy motivates him: he wants a change of regime and a position in the power structure that will follow. He and Duncan had already discussed such a change, though Duncan had previously refused him. Alistair now offers to help Ava remove Venus and then take Venus's place himself, presenting the succession as part of the same arrangement rather than an afterthought.

Ava's side of the bargain is framed by immediate need: Alistair describes the situation as one requiring everyone to help. Yet his offer carries a political cost. When Lock asks whether the Coterie could instead be disbanded, Alistair argues that another organization would emerge, while the area descended into a war zone. His proposed transition thus depends on Ava accepting his claim that replacing Venus with a new leader is safer than abolishing the organization. He promises continuity and a smoother transfer of power, not freedom from the Coterie's power.

Venus's fall does not end the pact

After nearly dying, Ava receives a week away from the Coterie and assumes that Venus's death has ended her obligation: without Venus, she thinks, there can be no pact. Alistair's summons to The Inferno overturns that assumption. At their meeting, Ava insists that her pact was with Venus and should have ended with her. Alistair produces the paperwork and points out that it makes Ava belong to the Coterie as an organization, which he now embodies as its leader.

The discovery exposes the difference between Venus and the institution she controlled. Alistair compares Venus to a chief executive or despot who can be removed without the company or country losing its assets and resources. In his reading, Ava is one of those assets. The pact's vague wording has left her without the protection she assumed she had; Alistair even notes that a lawyer might have warned her, while Cade explains that local nonhuman lawyers are owned by the Coterie. The encounter makes the relationship's imbalance concrete: Alistair can treat the contract as an enforceable source of authority, while Ava has no comparable institutional help with which to contest it.

An employee and an instrument of consolidation

Alistair acknowledges that Ava and Cade were bullied into an unfair arrangement, but sympathy does not lead him to release her. He says he would be foolish not to use his assets, then explains why he needs Ava: the new head of the Coterie will attract challengers, and he expects the transition to become dangerous. He is still cleaning house, offering some of Venus's loyal followers the chance to change allegiance while identifying others as too dangerous or unstable to retain. Ava recognizes the role he has in mind as burning out the remaining threats; Alistair confirms it.

His proposed use of Ava is not simply that of a conventional enforcer. Alistair says that he needs loyalty and someone who can determine who will remain loyal to him. Bianca's abilities are known only to the drove and a few others, so she can attend meetings and gather information unseen. Ava, by contrast, is too young to be trusted with that discreet work and, in Alistair's assessment, too conspicuous to move subtly. The two women therefore occupy complementary positions in his plan: Bianca can observe without drawing notice, while Ava is to serve as a visible screen behind which that hidden work can continue. Ava's question about being a veil for the veil captures how thoroughly Alistair turns her into a tool of political surveillance and security.

Support with conditions

Alistair distinguishes his rule from Venus's by offering material benefits. He says Ava and her team have received back pay for their Coterie service and will continue to draw a paycheck while they remain in the organization. He tells Ava the money is hers, acknowledges that it cannot bring back those who died or relieve her guilt, and suggests using it to rebuild her bookstore. She may instead donate it, he says, but neither choice changes how she earned the money. The gesture is therefore both real compensation and a reminder that her livelihood remains tied to compulsory service.

He also presents an education plan as part of the arrangement. Ava may choose a college, with Alistair favoring nearby schools or online options so she can remain at home; he will pay for books and tuition. The offer is not unconditional: he intends to review her transcripts, receive updates from her professors, and require at least a 3.0 GPA. Even his support for a future beyond Coterie work comes with oversight and performance demands. The contrast is sharp: he gives Ava money and a route toward college, while retaining authority over her schedule, work, and progress.

The relationship consequently remains more complicated than a simple contest between a cruel former leader and a benevolent successor. Alistair insists that he will be different from Venus, and his willingness to pay Ava, fund her education, and help rebuild what she lost offers evidence of practical differences. But he also refuses to let her decide that her service has ended, expects her to help remove his rivals, and makes clear that a refusal to use the money cannot undo the past. His leadership replaces Venus's personal rule with a more administrative form of control: files, contracts, paychecks, performance standards, and political assignments. For Ava, the new arrangement offers resources and a measure of support without granting the release she had believed Venus's death would bring.