“I would say so.”
Without another word, the two of them strode off to the stairs and, likely, the study above. Raghnall’s two sons and granddaughter whom I didn’t know the name of followed as Nick, Cleo, and Paxon peeled off to go as well. Luca, Milo, Isla, and I remained, though we knew we’d be called into the conversation soon enough.
“Are you alright?” I overheard Milo asking Isla.
“Me?” she scoffed. “You’re the one covered in blood,husband.”
The word was not uttered as a term of endearment but rather hissed through a grimace. Milo noticed and frowned even more deeply. Still, when he held out a hand, she took it. The two of them made their way through the staring crowd of House Avus to the stairs which they ascended together, a united frontof displayed unity more effective than anything we’d ever seen before.
“We should go,” Luca said beside me.
“I’m not holding your hand.”
He chuckled by my side as we stepped over shattered pottery and followed Milo and Isla to the study above.
Chapter Seventeen
Milo
Raghnall was not a man known for his levelheadedness. Even so, I thought I’d never seen him as furious as he was now, and that anger was reflected in the expressions of the sons at his back and the granddaughter he’d chosen to replace Cora in this group. I watched her as the others spat their grievances the moment the door was shut behind us, none of it any different from what I’d heard from my own family below.
In truth, I couldn’t say I disagreed with them. Cosmo was a monster who needed to be put down but, if we didn’t do it the right way, we risked setting a dangerous precedent that any of the major Houses had the authority to neutralize a patriarch without following proper protocol. And if we set that precedent, the future would be chaotic. So we had to do this the right way, by the book. I was letting Nascha explain just that while I turned my attention from the new girl to my wife.
Isla sat beside her grandfather, as all Heirs were intended to do, and frowned quietly as the matriarch of House Avus laid out the facts before them, taking pains to soothe Raghnall’s temper. If the man had his way, we’d all march right over to House Viperthis instant and bring the old man to his knees before sending his own head rolling across the pavement. I had to admit I was almost tempted to let them do it.
But the precedent.
The door clicked shut again and I looked up to find Luca and Olympia had entered after lingering in the hall a bit longer than anyone else. I watched my cousin as she settled into the corner and leaned against the wall with crossed arms. Something was going on with her lately, something that may or may not have to do with Luca. They were communicating through the bond again, I knew it by the way she’d reacted just before he and the others had entered downstairs. She’d gone suddenly still before meeting my gaze and turning toward the door. She’d known he was coming which could only mean he’d warned her as Isla had warned me. That was interesting. Olympia knew better than anyone that communicating via the bond with a former partner you weren’t married to was forbidden. Then again, my cousin had never taken well to anyone telling her what she could and could not do. She seemed to thrive on acting against what she was told. Still, it was something to keep in mind moving forward, that whatever I told Olympia had a chance of getting back to Luca as well.
“How do we begin this infernal process?” Raghnall barked loudly enough to draw me out of my thoughts.
“First, the minor houses will need to be notified of their involvement in any trial concerning the patriarch of a Major House,” Nascha said.
“Or matriarch,” Raghnall’s unnamed granddaughter mumbled.
“Lyra,” one of Raghnall’s sons snapped.
I recognized the name and looked her over with a new understanding. She was the one they’d offered to Dante, the onehe’d refused outright. Maybe Dante had been more perceptive than I’d thought.
“Once the leaders of the minor houses are notified, we’ll need to send for witnesses, as many as we can get, as well as any priests who may be experts on Cosmo’s undoubtedly theological defense,” Nascha announced, saying almost exactly the same words I’d spoken to her earlier today. “If we can get a few Guardians to testify as well, that would go a long way.”
“The priests and Guardians all belong to the Vipers,” Raghnall grumbled. “You won’t find any of them willing to testify against Cosmo.”
“Civilians then,” Nascha said. “Witnesses who saw him do it.”
“Third Ringers and Deckers, you mean.”
“There weren’t any from the Second? Or even the First?”
“Anyone from the First would have been at the wedding or a Viper. The Second…who knows? Maybe some families of the Culled, though they don’t usually attend. It’s a long shot.”
“Over three dozen people saw him behead a fifteen-year-old boy,” Olympia spoke up from the shadows. “Are you telling me they aren’t enough?”
Nascha frowned at her granddaughter before answering.
“Tensions are high in Sanctuary,” she began, “and rising by the second. The leaders of the minor houses are getting anxious. They won’t be inclined to believe the word of the lower ringers without confirmation from someone higher up.”
“Thirty of them,” Olympia repeated, disgust evident in her tone. “They wouldn’t believe thirty people telling the same story over one snake lying to their faces.”
