I shook my head. “Dammit.”
“Harry,” Molly said, in a very small voice. “I’m sorry Mab manipulated you like that. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do anything about it.”
“I know. I get it. You didn’t have a choice.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” she said intently. “I’ve talked to her quite a bit over the past couple of years. Enough to know that she’s scary smart. Have you considered the notion that she might be the one around here with the brains and the perspective that no one else has? She might be trying to look after you. She might even be right.”
“There’s no ‘right’ here,” I said quietly.
“No? Because I’d rather it was you in control of Lara than the other way around,” Molly said quietly. “And I’m grateful that you won’t be in her thrall.”
I stared at her for a long moment. “You agree with Mab.”
“With her strategy, yes,” Molly said. “It’s practical. Reasonable. It offers one of the only means for containing Lara Raith’s increasing influence in the mortal world—the protection of which is Winter’s primary task, if you recall.” She looked aside at me sadly and then down. “I disagreed with her tactics. I thought she should have communicated with you.”
“And you thought I’d have agreed to wholesale abuse of the Third Law because it was practical?” I asked. “That would be all I need. The White Council coming after my head.”
Molly grimaced. “The law only applies to mortals. Lara isn’t human.”
“Wow,” I said quietly, “is that so not the point.”
She made a dissatisfied noise and waved a hand in acquiescence.
I was quiet for a moment. Then I said, “You know that when Lara understands what has happened, she’s going to be furious about it.”
“Mab thinks she won’t be,” Molly said. “At least, not for long.”
The protesters started chanting again, well ahead of their usual appointed time. I frowned down at them and then leaned out over the merlon to look up and down the street.
Carlos Ramirez, in a long grey coat, was walking down the street toward the castle. He was too far off to make out his face, but he moved as quickly as he could with his cane, his body tense.
“Speak of the Wardens,” Molly said from beside me, “and they shall appear.”
We went down to the front door to meet him.
“Harry,” Carlos began when I opened the smaller door. Then he saw Molly and froze as if he’d been smacked with a wet fish. “Oh. Um. Lady Molly. Hello.”
Molly gave him an awkward smile. “Warden Ramirez. A pleasure to see you.”
Ramirez’s face twitched, and he turned it into a smile almost instantly. “I trust you’ve been settling into your new, ah, duties?”
“There’s so much travel.” Molly sighed. “And you? You’re moving well.”
Ramirez looked down at himself and shifted a bit uncomfortably, as if he’d had to resist taking a step back from Molly. “I’m…really bad at playing nice about this.” He sighed. “Another year of really uncomfortable PT and I should be back to full speed.”
“I didn’t know it would happen,” Molly said quickly. “I’d never have…I’m sorry.”
I frowned and looked back and forth between them. Protesters chantedhey, hey, ho, ho.
“My first mission for Winter,” Molly clarified. Her cheeks had turned pink. “Carlos was there for something else. We, um. There was a misunderstanding, and he got hurt.”
Carlos showed his teeth without precisely smiling. “My own fault. I’ll be more cautious in the future.”
“Oh,” Molly said in a much smaller voice.
He gave her a rueful smile. “My gut says it’s for the best. When have you and the Wardens ever gotten along?”
“Hah,” she said, without energy. “I suppose that’s true.”
