“Stop trying to protect me, damn it, and tell me what’s going on!”
“By the time Arnou’s forces reached Tartarus, the mages were already there,” he said, as if I didn’t know that.
“Yeah, because they didn’t listen when our boys told them what was happening.”
“Agreed, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Circle wasthere.So all the clan saw were a few hundred war mages crawling all over the place, battling the remaining Black Circle types, and ordering everyone around.Which made it look like they won the victory—”
“That’s bullshit!”
“Yes, but public perception isn’t about what happened, but about what people think happened.And that story fits better with their prejudices.Stories are being circulated about your bravery that day, but everyone already knew you could fight.But the fact that our auxiliaries were there as well, that they played a major role…”
He sat back against the footboard, and despite the hour, he looked tired.“I haven’t heard the name Fireborn since it was first announced.”
I stared at him.“But HQ—”
“The Circle was infiltrated, and not just the lobby.The bastards made it down to the lowest levels.Meaning we can’t even acknowledge that it happened without making our new allies look weak as hell, something that would lend fuel to the argument that we shouldn’t be partnered with them in the first place.”
“But Sebastian knows—”
“I think so, but he’s chosen to ignore it, so he must agree that we can’t risk it.Not now, when one of the main causes of the split in the Were world is over that alliance.Anything that adds credence to Bleddyn’s arguments could result in other clans defecting to him, and that—” he shook his head, his face dark.
“So it neverhappened?”
“Not officially.”
“But we bled for that!Noah almost died for—”
“Goddamnit, Lia!I know!Iknow.And I hate this as much as you do.Politics,” it was bitter.“I always left that shit to Sebastian, always hated it, found it stupid and boring, and—and now I need to be able to play that game, and I’m not sure how.I’ve been paralyzed for days, caught up in an avalanche of smaller crises that never seem to end, and not knowing where to even start with the big ones—and I still don’t.And neither do you!”
No, I didn’t.I wanted to crawl back under the covers, curl into a little ball, and wait for all this to blow over.But I couldn’t.
And I did know one thing.
I sat back against the headboard and looked at him.
“If something happened and Arnou was mortally wounded, if their people were scattered and leaderless and desperately needed help, and another clanoffered to come in and ‘organize’ things… what would they say?Even a close ally, what would theysay?”
Cyrus looked shocked for a moment, maybe because I’d just equated Arnou with Fireborn, something most Weres would have considered insane.But it wasn’t.In fact, that was the whole point: we were both clans, both sovereign, both capable of solving our own shit.
Or if we weren’t, then this was all a farce, and we weren’t a clan at all.
He closed his eyes and pinched his nose, looking pained.“No one would offer,” he rasped.“Money, yes, food or medical supplies, certainly.But to have outsiders come in and order clan members about?It’s… unthinkable.”
“And why is it unthinkable?”I asked, crawling over to hug him, because he looked like he could use one.
“It would destroy Arnou’s honor.The clan’s prestige would take a huge hit, one that our people might never—” he stopped and his eyes opened, as it registered what he’d just said.“Our” instead of “their.”And I could almost see him understand that he was, even in his own mind, still the heir of Arnou rather than the leader of Fireborn.
Of course, he’d turned to his old clan for help; of course, he hadn’t even questioned it.He’d hated beingvargulf, hated the stares and shuns and danger that came from being entirely alone in this world.How wonderful it must have been to have his family back!To have all the money, help, and support he had lost.
And Sebastian.The brothers had always been close, enough that Cyrus had risked everything to put him on the throne, believing that he was what the Were world needed right now.And maybe he was; I hadn’t seen anybody else who could do better.
But Sebastian would sacrifice our little “experiment” in a heartbeat if he thought it would help him win the war, or unite the clans, or probably for a dozen other reasons, because it was just a bunch ofvargulfs, right?
But they weren’t justvargulfsto me, or to Cyrus.They were family.They were our clan, they depended on us, and theymattered.
And I guessed Cyrus was thinking the same, because his face flushed.
“Fuck,” he whispered.“What am I doing?”
