—
We gathered in the gym. Me, Lara, Ramirez, Forthill, Will (wearing a bathrobe and carrying a notepad), and Butters. Bear was hanging out nearby with Freydis, who looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen her.
“A helicopter,” Lara was telling Butters. “It dropped us off in a park about three miles from here and we ran the rest of the way. My security people followed in cars and they’ll take us home. How did you get here in half an hour?”
“We happened to be about a mile off at a B-dubs to watch the fights,” Butters said. “Sometimes things just work out.”
“You don’t really think that, do you?” Lara said, smiling.
Butters grinned. “No, ma’am. Hey, isn’t there supposed to be a wedding? How come I haven’t gotten my invitation?”
Lara glanced at me. “I spoke with Mab about that. We agreed midwinter would be a better date symbolically. I suppose we’ll do invites at the end of the summer.”
News to me. But Mab had gotten what she wanted. She tended to be less utterly unyielding once that had happened. “Okay, okay,” I said. “Social hour can continue after.” I went around and made the introductions, just to be sure everyone knew who everyone else was.
“I thought the White Council wasn’t on good terms with you anymore,” Lara said, arching an eyebrow at Ramirez.
“I’m not here,” he answered calmly. “And I’ll be able to prove it later.”
“You know,” Lara said to me, “I’ve always liked him.”
“I want to figure out what happened,” I said to everyone. “I only sawthe fight at the front of the castle and up on the roof. What happened back at the rear?”
Freydis raised her hand. “Me and Gard and the goth girls took it to the ghouls and the Malvora. Ghouls put up a pretty good fight. Malvora are a bunch of cowards. Started running the second blood started hitting the ground. Gard says hello, by the way, Dresden. Says to tell you not to think she was there because Marcone likes you.”
“Oh no,” I said in a dull tone. “Not that. What do we need to be worried about here?”
“How many injured do you have?” Lara asked at once.
“Uh…” I scratched at my head. “Bear, you okay?”
Bear shrugged. “Mostly I’d say I’m better than just okay.”
“One of the gargoyles got busted up,” I said. “Basil says they’ll fix him up in a couple of days. What about your people?”
“Two of my sisters were wounded,” Lara said. “They’ll be more cautious in the future.”
Will, who had been ready to start writing things down, said, “That’s it?”
I looked around the room and said, cautiously, “Yes.”
“Thank God.” Forthill sighed.
“A coterie of Black Court ancients,” Ramirez mused. “Several dozen White Court with small arms. Fifty or so ghouls. And no one died.”
“We had early warning,” I said quietly. I took the black envelope out of my pocket and held it up. “If we hadn’t, we’d have had a massacre on our hands. Our dead hands.”
“May I?” Lara asked. I passed it to her. She opened it and read the note from Drakul, frowning, then passed it down to Ramirez. Everyone looked at it.
“I don’t understand,” Forthill said quietly. “Why would Drakul do that? It ensured that his forces took total losses.”
“Not total,” I said quietly. “Mavra got away. She seemed pleased by it all.”
Ramirez made a growling sound. “Why does she keep surviving?”
“Because she’s intelligent,” Lara said calmly. “And she learns from her mistakes. That is what survivors do.”
“Which is what we’re trying to do right now,” I said. “This wholenight was one piece of paper away from being a disaster. I don’t want to sit here fat and happy and think because the fight went well that it means we’re invincible.”
