“What happened with Gahiji and the old man?”
“Bugger went straight to Sutekh. Listed his complaints against your handling of the situation.”
“Hmm.” Dagan poured himself a glass of water and
started ladling in spoons of sugar. He’d run out of lollipops days ago, and since Roxy hadn’t had anything
in the house that was sweet—not candy, not chocolate,
not even ice cream—and since he wasn’t about to leave
her alone and unguarded while he went shopping, he’d
made do with what he could find. Refined sugar. Not
ideal, but going without was even less ideal. Especially
since he’d been slitting his wrist open at regular intervals to bleed into a cup. “And?”
“And Sutekh listened to what Gahiji had to say.”
“Hmm.” He chugged half the glass. Grimaced.
EVE SILVER
285
Chugged the rest. A translucent, goopy sludge of halfdissolved sugar sat at the bottom. With a sigh, he
grabbed the spoon and scooped it out, then licked the
spoon clean. Nice. Sugar rush. “And?”
Alastor laughed. “Any of Dad’s troops show up to
keep you company?”
“No.”
“Then you can figure the rest yourself.”
“You talked the old man down.” Dagan set the
spoon on the table. “I owe you one. How did you manage it?”
“I merely pointed out the obvious. That Sutekh is
the one who called a peaceful gathering of the heads
of the Underworld to be held three days hence. Slaughtering one of Aset’s Daughters practically on the eve
of that meeting might lead to the entire Asetian Guard
showing up looking for blood. Hardly a way to support
his assertion that he’s looking for a lasting peace.”
“Not good politics.”
