Chapter
Thirty-Eight
It was a few days later, and Lara and Freydis arrived at midnight.
Bear had given the men on the door the night off. Freydis and Bear took up guard positions on the door, the great hall was lit by only a glowing chemical light at each doorway, and I led Lara quickly and quietly through the shadows down to the lower level of the castle, down to the lower hallway where my living quarters were, and where the entrance to the lab waited open.
Lara was dressed down for the evening. Close-fitting jeans, a white sweater, both of which looked excellent. Her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and when she took off the sunglasses, her eyes glittered bright and pale with motes of silver flickering through circles of pale, pale grey. It was like seeing the eyes of a big cat—beautiful and predatory and dangerous. I had to drag my gaze off them.
I’d dressed down, too. Jeans and a black tank top that readYes You Canin big aggressive letters. And it showed off my shoulders and arms, which were very, very defined at this point. That thought only occurred to me when I saw Lara’s pale eyes glitter as she glanced at them.
“I met with Etri,” she said. “Throwback party last night.”
“A whatback party?”
“The host picks a historic protocol from at least a century ago and hosts a party to it exclusively for those old enough to have experienced it in its time.”
“Ageist much?” I asked.
She snorted. “You’ll understand as you get older. It is sometimes…well. Relaxing, not to have the very young teeming about. Throwing insults and threats at other guests, that kind of thing.”
“Hah,” I said. “What was this one?”
“Northern post–Civil War celebration,” she said.
I stopped and blinked down at her. “Huh.”
“What?”
“You were there for the Civil War,” I mused. “I mean. You just don’t come off like someone that old.”
Lara smiled. “Well. I do interact with the youth regularly.”
“What did Etri say?”
Lara shrugged a shoulder. “He said if I was willing to openly offer an apology for the incident, surrender Thomas to the custody of a neutral third party, return to the process of judgment via an Accorded emissary, with sentencing to follow if his guilt is demonstrated, that he will be willing to consider not setting Svartalfheim into a state of cold war with the White Court.”
“Huh,” I said. “And how much of that are you willing to do?”
She pressed her lips together. “I can’t do any of it, and he knows it. If I admit that the White Court was involved in removing Thomas from custody, it will weaken our stance among the Accorded nations significantly, which would in turn have consequences inside the Court.”
“Like what?”
“Challenges would become likely. Most of my people don’t mind if one lies, cheats, swindles, and betrays, but they have very firm opinions on the concept of being caught doing it. It’s a sign of weakness. That’s why the Court would be weakened—I’d be forced to spend time, attention, and resources on maintaining my position. It would limit the sorts of influences and negotiations I could manage with any of the other nations.”
“Which Etri can figure out, too,” I said.
“I would expect that, yes.”
“How’d he seem when he said it?” I asked.
Lara waved a hand. “You know the svartalves,” she said. “They show little.”
I stopped at the door down to the lab and gave her a look. “Come on. I’m not that dumb.”
She gave me a look of consideration and then inclined her head toward me as though I had scored a touch she hadn’t expected me to be able to make. “I am fairly sure he spoke with regret.” She smiled faintly. “Though I suppose I might have been projecting. Economic and diplomatic pressure from Svartalfheim could prove a heavy burden to bear while maintaining Raith against the other Houses of my Court.”
I grunted. “Etri seems a fairly decent sort.”
