Carmine wasn’t looking so flash himself. “Did you sleep?”
“Not much. Come, they are waiting.”
We really were attending a council. “I thought that was an excuse to get me out of Steth’s beating.”
He grunted. “That too.”
If Athira had sold me out, or if she and Tempest had been caught, then I’d be dealing with ice Carmine. But hewasoff. “How long will this take?”
“As long as it needs to.”
“Gratia is expecting me for queen training.”
He cast a glance at me. “She won’t meet you today. She has started the mating ritual with the purple.”
The Purple. “That was quick.”
“My sister is swept away with the force of the mating ritual.”
I could easily understand that. But the words of the mated red in the Pinnacle rang in my mind. He’d spoken of how easy the start had been between him and his yellow mate. Only later had the prejudices of others threatened to divide them. “The further they get, as quickly as possible, the better.”
We were nearly at the war rooms.
Carmine’s gaze was on me. “I had advised the opposite. For her to wait.”
“Gratia’s the smarter sibling.”
“Gratia is cunning enough… She did not appreciate my advice. But your cunning exceeds most, and certainly her own. What is your reasoning?”
“My reasoning is borrowed. The further they get before the opinions of others encroach, the better they’ll survive with their unique circumstances.”
“Is this why you won’t complete the ritual with me? Have the opinions of others encroached too much upon your feelings?”
“That has more to do with your murdering my family and locking my twin in the dungeon,” I said pleasantly. “I wished for our mating with everything I had, Carmine, until I did not. The moment you confessed what you’d done, everything I’d felt for you was gone in a second, dead, and it will remain dead.”
Carmine studied my face. Looking for an entry point? I hoped my expression was as unfathomable as his.
He gestured for me to enter the war room first. I walked in and took the seat opposite his.
“Mate-Intended,” the four other occupants murmured.
I looked expectedly at the others. “Is there an emergency?”
Carmine did not sit; instead, he started to circle the rectangular table. “We sent several hundred demons to attack the coven last night. They were forced to retreat.”
My brows shot up. “Unexpected. What happened?”
The blank looks of four crimsons snapped to me, and I felt the sudden weight of Carmine’s focus too. I laughed without humor. “You think it was me?” Their expressions didn’t change, and I laughed again. “This is gonna be good. Go on then. Howdid I single-handedly beat back a demon army? From here, no less.”
The eldest crimson, a male by the name of Tsee, replied, “By sending a warning with your magus power.”
I tilted my head. “That’s not as far-fetched a theory as I’d hoped. Magus can send messages any number of ways.”
“Did you warn them?” asked the councillor that Carmine valued the most. A woman named Deuk.
“I did not. There are limits on what you suppose.”
Carmine had not accused me directly, but he wasn’t about to extract me from this either. “How so?”
