He shot me a look.“Great, now can I get some details?Everyone is asking, and I have no idea what to tell them.”
“Tell them whatever you want.I’m making this up as I go.”
“Lia.”It was his stern voice, which usually did things for me, but not so much today.Which told me that I still wasn’t recovered, because he was wearing a close-fitting, plain white tee that showed off his muscles, and contrasted nicely with the tousled dark curls and five o’clock shadow, despite him having probably shaved a couple of hours ago.He looked edible, and the tight, thigh-hugging jeans didn’t hurt.
Heal already, I told myself, and then I said, “We need help.Or are you and I supposed to feed, clothe, counsel, and support eight hundred people by ourselves?”
“It may not be that many.Sienna said she might be able to absorb some of them into the diminished clans at Wolf’s Head, who are searching for new members—”
“What?”
He nodded.“She was going to merely house them for us for a while, but the other clans got together and decided—”
“They decided.”My voice was flat, causing him to frown.
“—that they could use the help on a more permanent basis, and Sienna agreed.They’re sorting through them now to find out who might be the best fit.”
“Are they?How thoughtful of them.”
That time, my tone was less flat than vicious because he raised an eyebrow.“It’s not everyone who would be willing to take anyvargulfs,” he pointed out.
“But taking those healthy enough to assist with the older ones isn’t actually helping us, is it?Especially if they have other skills we might use.So Sienna skims off the cream of the crop, leaving the old, infirm, and seriously traumatized to us.That doesn’t sound like a plan.”
“Is that why we suddenly have two new lieutenants?”he asked, head cocked.“And no truck, by the way, as they took it out to Wolf’s Head before daylight.”
“Did they?”Good.I liked to see initiative.
“Lia!”
“We know nothing about the new arrivals, and we need to,” I pointed out.“It also gives Noah and Lee something to do.”
Other than getting in trouble.
“And sends the wrong signal, don’t you think?”Cyrus’s voice was even, but one look at his carefully neutral expression told me he wasn’t happy.
“The wrong signal?”
“Noah messed up.He meant well, but he almost got you killed.And as a reward, he gets promoted?What am I supposed to tell the rest?”
“That it’s temporary.”I drank apple juice, which had taken the place of orange as the acid wasn’t supposed to be good for me, and wiped my mouth.“He agreed to that; they both did.It’s just to give them the authority to speak on our behalf.”
“On our behalf?”he repeated.“And if they promise things we can’t do?Hell, Lia, we don’t even know what we can do yet!”
“And if we don’t get organized, we never will.”
“You think I don’t know that?But these boys have no experience living in a well-run clan, or much of one at all!You should have talked to me about this.”
“You haven’t wanted to discuss much of anything with me lately—”
“You’ve been recovering!”
“—and I didn’t think it was a big deal.It isn’t a permanent change.It’s to help us with a temporary situation—getting hundreds of new clan members vetted, supported, and settled.We can’t know what they need if we don’t know who they are or anything about them.And what was the alternative?You could have selected different boys, I guess, but we’re going to have to test all of them for leadership qualities eventually, as we’ll need more than a few lieutenants, so why not start with—”
I broke off, because he was looking at me like I was crazy.“They areteenagers,Lia!”
“Yes, in most cases.But so is half the Corps these days—”
“Who, a few months ago, were homelessvargulfs!Many haven’t seen the inside of a clan for years, and none were from families prominent enough to have helped run one!They have no idea what they’re doing, and yet you give them our authority?What were youthinking?”
