I’d hope so.
I felt dizzy, and he put a couple of pillows behind me to make sitting up more comfortable.
“We also have the problem of the car Jen and Sophie stole, took to the house to pick up the rest of your students, and followed you into the desert, not choosing to wait for Sebastian.”
I blinked.“They can drive?”
“No.”He eyed me.“Our children are hooligans.”
“I blame you,” I said, before I realized what else he’d said.“Sebastian came?”
“Everyone came.It turns out that setting off a God-Killer resonates through the magical atmosphere like a nuke going off.The Circle arrived with everything they had, only to find that Sebastian had beaten them there, having been alerted by Sophie.”
“She had her leopard follow me,” I said, remembering.
“Yes, it seems it can daywalk now, albeit with difficulty, something we’re not mentioning to the Circle.”
“Got it.”
“And by the time you were taken, she’d already alerted Sebastian, who had rallied the troops and was on the way, as well as the clan out at Wolf’s Head.But the clan was closer, and everything happened so fast that he and the Corps arrived to find the battle already over, with the Black Circle dead or fled, or trussed up in a few cases for the Corps to question.”
“And the leader?The council member who kidnapped Sebastian?”
Cyrus shook his head.“No, we didn’t find him—and we looked.There is a large underground complex, and he and some others may have escaped that way, if there are other exits.”
“If?”
“The Corps is still trying to get down there.It’s a labyrinth and a well-warded one, with booby traps everywhere.They say it could take weeks, if not longer, to fully explore.But they’re hopeful that the attack has crippled the organization, at least for a while.”
Yeah, I hoped so, too.And I wasn’t surprised about the leader.A quick fade was his specialty, although I couldn’t feel too bad about it this time.
We wouldn’t have won without him.
Or without the rebel clans.
“Rand, and the others—”
He nodded.“Things have changed a bit since you’ve been out.They aren’t perfect—they are very far from perfect—but the rift in the clans has been healed.”
“They view you as Alpha,” I said, remembering.“And you’re loyal to Sebastian.So they have to be, too.”
“Their thirds may view it like that,” Cyrus said dryly, “but their human sides most definitely do not.I think they’re back on board mainly because of you.”
“Me?They were baying for my blood!”
“Not by the end.Under your guidance, they fought like no one ever has, not in memory.They came together as one, and united, we were powerful.Enough to take out an entire dark mage stronghold alone, without the Corps’ help, without anyone’s.Magic didn’t stand against us; nothing did.Those who never thought that Weres could have parity with the mages think that no longer, and Sebastian is suddenly fielding demands for more involvement in supernatural politics, not less.As well as calls for us to take our place as a leading voice in the war and whatever comes afterward.”
I took a moment, trying to comprehend that.
I failed.
“But doesn’t that violate tradition?”
He smiled slightly.“It seems the tradition is suddenly less important when there’s the possibility of power, glory, and reward on the line.”
Imagine that.
“Oh, and Dave asked me to give you a message,” he added, “about Neuri.”
