“And what if they’ve talked aboutthis?”
“Then they have.But I don’t think so.He seemed…” I thought about it, about the multicolored toenails, the fond way he’d treated that little girl, how comfortable she’d been with him.Part of being a war mage was being able to size people up quickly, and Carales…
“Seemed what?”Cyrus demanded.
“Strangely trustworthy.”
“Trustworthy?He’s a vampire!”
“Now who is angry?”I asked because his emotions were all over the place.Like mine had been today.Apparently, my subconscious was smarter than I was and had figured a lot of this out earlier, but hadn’t bothered to tell me.
“I’m not angry, I’m frightened, and you should be, too!Sebastian—” Cyrus broke off, and his face contorted slightly, as if he smelled something bad.But he came out with it.“He’s a good man, and I love him, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind.He’s always been ambitious; it’s one of his defining traits.And that isn’t always a bad thing.He risked a lot to get where he is.A less determined man couldn’t have done it, wouldn’t have even wanted to, as Arnou has enough wealth and prestige for almost anyone.”
“Almost,” I repeated wryly, and Cyrus nodded, a jerky up and down.
“Yes.But Sebastian thought he should lead.Not just Arnou but all Weres.And so far, he’s been proven right.If anyone else were in the top seat, we’d be sidelined in the war, of no help to anyone, and none of the problems we’re having internally would be addressed.Sebastian is having to drag the Were world, kicking and screaming, into the modern age, and somehow he’s doing it.But it hasn’t been easy, any more than getting the respect of the rest of the supernatural world, who are used to overlooking or ignoring us—when they’re not busy spraying air freshener to mask our scent!”
So, he’d noticed that, too.
“But ambition has a downside,” he added.“And if it came to it—”
“You’re not sure what he’d choose.”
“Oh, I’m pretty damned sure!Not that he’d hurt you—he would never deliberately hurt you.But he might talk himself into helping the war a little here, a little there, using his new force as leverage to get things he wants, to oil the tracks.Until it snowballs.Until we’re committed far more than we should be, and you—”
He broke off abruptly.“No!To hell with dinner!You’re staying here!”
“What?”I asked because I’d all but forgotten about that.
“I don’t want you anywhere near Sebastian!”Cyrus said viciously.“He’s too intuitive—sometimes I swear it’s like the man can actually read minds!But right now, we have a lid on this; all he knows for certain is that you can force a Change onto Weres within your vocal range, which he saw you do at Wolf’s Head.And that you can send out a call for help that those within earshot can choose to answer or not.
“That’s not that much.More than the rest of us can do, but not a game-changer.And we need to keep it that way!”
“And you think he’s not going to check?”I said skeptically.“After what he said today?”
“Check how?There’s nothing in the records—”
“Cyrus.All I had to do was take an elevator upstairs.”
“But you don’t have a war to run and another to help with.He does.His attention is being pulled in different directions all the time, and he’s not a trained investigator—”
“But hehasinvestigators,” I pointed out.“Good ones.”
“If he commands them to look into this.”
“Which hewill—”
“Which hemight.But they’re already busy trying to track down Bleddyn.And figure out which clans are loyal and which are wavering.And a thousand other things!
“If we drop this, and he doesn’t have any reminders, any reason to dig further, he may go with the old stories.Which talk aboutÚlfhéðnarin reverential terms, but don’t explain a damned thing.We just need to keep you away from him—”
“How?I’m basically his sister-in-law, and he’s staying right down the hall.And we can’t go home with Rand stalking us and the war heating up—”
“We’ll manage,” Cyrus said stubbornly.“For one thing, you stay here tonight.I’ll make your excuses—”
“Stay here and do what?”I asked, a little angrily, because why were we talking about the goddamned dinner?
“Put your feet up, read a book, I don’t care.Just—”
