He did, always, handle things.
He’d handled Lawrence, piece by piece. And now he’d silenced Bo with insinuations and Protocol. Because Bo had dared to treat Everil gently. To kiss him and touch him and offer him security.
Because Everil didn’t deserve to be treated that way.
“Protocol is bullshit,” Talia snapped. “No one’s cutting out anyone’s tongue.”
Nimai lifted an eyebrow, disapproval in the thin line of his lips. He didn’t need to say it. Didn’t need to tell him that Talia’s disrespect was another sign of how poor a guardian Everil was. How he couldn’t be trusted with a Gate without Nimai.
“You’re correct, Talia,” Everil couldn’t seem to get his words to leave him above a low murmur. Nimai hated it when he mumbled almost as much as when he spoke too loudly. “Bo is my bond, not my pet. That Protocol doesn’t apply to this circumstance.”
“No Protocol applies to this circumstance,” Nimai snapped. “Because no one else would be so monumentally foolish as to claim a human as alegitimate bond.”
“Even so.” Everil didn’t bother defending himself. Hehadbeen foolish. He had let himself behappy. He knew better. “I have, and he is. I may have trespassed against Protocol, but Bo hasn’t. He isn’t fae. It doesn’t apply.”
“I would be careful about leaning on his humanity, my love.” Nimai’s smile was so very affectionate. “No one cares what happens to a human.”
“I don’t require them to. But I do intend to defend my bond from insult.”
“You?” Nimai’s laughter was bitter. Accusing. “You’re hardly a reliable defender, my wild horse. You’ll be off and running again as soon as this infatuation is over. And where will that leave him?”
“Ifthat happened, it’d probably leave me about to get a lesson in manners Bo’s answer came with the sweetness of a summer night. Withtrust. “And more than a little emotionally compromised.”
“If,”Nimai answered, reflecting Bo’s own emphasis on the word. “That’s correct, I suppose. The Council is likely to make the issue moot.”
Everil bristled at that. “The Council has no authority–”
Nimai cleared his throat, and Everil’s mouth snapped shut. Nimai loathed arguments.
“The Council has authority over anyone who poses a threat. Bonded or not. And there are those who question whether what you have even merits the term. Your ‘bond’ has a right to ignore the summons, of course. They do not require his testimony to reach a verdict.”
With every word from Nimai, Bo grew a little closer, his hand remaining in Everil’s hair, though it’d be wiser for him to pull away. The man, Everil was beginning to fear, hadn’t the least self-preservation instinct.
“There a pretty Protocol approved way of telling someone to buzz off so we can talk?” Bo asked, speaking softly, even as his anger and fear screamed through their bond. “Otherwise, my default is ‘fuck off for a few,’ and I’m thinking that’ll be treated as ‘yes, please, make my choices for me.’ ”
“These are rented rooms,” Everil couldn’t bring himself to meet Nimai’s gaze, but he could at least force the words out. “Hospitality Protocols don’t apply.”
“Which means, ‘buzz off so we can talk’ is fine,” Talia added. “You just have to be the strongest one in the room if you want to be listened to. Which. I am.” She turned to Nimai, power building around her. “So buzz off.”
“I would, sweetheart, but I have an obligation to the Council.” Nimai’s tone was all politeness. He always knew who to treat well.
“They gave you a message. And you delivered it. Obligation discharged.” Talia shrugged. “You can hardly bring Everil and Bo back with just a ‘wisp. If they expected you to, you’re fucked. I’m not helping.”
“Talia,” Everil said very quietly.
“He’s not the boss of me,Dad.“ There was a hint of Talia’s strange humor in her words, even as she glowed yet brighter with power. “And neither are you. If he wants us in Faerie, he better go, because I’m not doing anything until he does.”
“The Council has already convened.” Nimai used the careful, near singsong tones one used to address young children.
“Then it’s a good thing they’re immortal. They can wait.” She was a small star, sitting on a hotel bed. Too bright to look at. “And you can tell them I said it’d be averybad idea to act against Bo or Everil without all Protocol owed tomyguardians. I might lose my temper.”
“I can’t speak for Talia’s opinion on bluffing,” Bo added, quick and confident. “But I’m pretty sure this is a time where fucking around and finding out won’t go well for you, Nims.”
The air filled with the taste of Nimai’s magic. The burn of cinnamon and clove. He didn’t glow, as Talia did. He didn’t change in the least. Instead, the room did, as his perceptions painted themselves on every surface.
Tawdry, cheap decor. The bedding soiled and shamefully rumpled. The smell of damp and mold and sex.
Disgusting. Sullied. Unworthy of a fae of class and taste, just as Everil himself had always been.
