“No.” He wasn’t sure whether to laugh at this close-but-no-cigar guess or chew Gray out for implying that the only reason to work alongside the League was to get under a woman’s skirt. “Why would you think so?”
Gray was glaring again. “Why shouldn’t I? Everyone makes such a fuss about what a beauty she is.”
Lydia Harper looked like her mother. That would never be a recommendation. More importantly, she wasn’t Beatrix.
“I heard her speak in Baltimore, and I was impressed,” Peter said. “Then I saw firsthand how much she frightens the magiocracy. This movement she’s organizing, it’s our best chance to get change.”
Next to him, Gray was nodding. “All right. Just as long as you’re on board because you believe in this.”
Well—that was the right thing to say. Peter kept his voice light as he replied, “And you? Any other interests you’d like to declare?”
Gray, making the tricky turn up Peter’s driveway at just that moment, bit his lip. Then he gave a self-deprecating smile. “Isn’t Congress reason enough?”
Later—whenBeatrix returned with Lydia, Ella and Rosemarie in tow—they sat in the receiving room again as Peter explained what he’d found. And importantly, what he hadn’t found: nothing in the truck, in the hearing rooms or in the hallways the senator normally traveled. Good news. If you trusted Gray.
“I don’t trust Gray,” Beatrix said after Peter went back to his attic and R&D.
Ella nodded. “He strikes me as the sort to switch sides if the going gets tough.”
“I don’t like that the man’s one demand was for us to tell him everything,” said Rosemarie, who wasn’t frequently inagreement with them. “The whole thing could be a ruse. He might already be working with the magiocracy.”
Beatrix could feel the tendrils of panic working on her muscles, reaching up her throat. Not because of her sister—they hadn’t told Gray anything that seemed likely to further endanger her. This time, the fear gripping her was for Peter.
“What are we going to do?” she croaked.
“I trust him,” Lydia said. No fire and brimstone this time. Her words were quiet. “I did a great deal of research on him, you know. I talked to people in town, I asked other legislators, I read up on his voting record. And I’ve met with him more than any of you have.”
“And?” Rosemarie said, clearly not convinced.
“He doesn’t play games. If he says something, he means it.”
Beatrix glanced at Ella and Rosemarie. Both looked deeply skeptical.
“Lydia …” Beatrix took her hands. “Remember how dismissive he was about ‘neo-suffragists’? And that he warned Omnimancer Blackwell about us? He’s not a good bet. Even if he isn’t on the wizards’ side right now, he won’t see us as partners he can rely on.”
Her sister’s expression did not change. “He’s never sponsored any bills for women’s rights, but he’s never sponsored or voted for anything on the other side of the fence, either. He just needs a push in the right direction. Nobody’s ever challenged his preconceived notions before.”
Beatrix had always found that preconceived notions were exceptionally hard to overturn. Especially when those notions were held by men about women.
“I need you to trust me on this,” Lydia said. “Please.”
Beatrix sighed. Lydia was the only one who’d trusted her judgment of Peter in the frantic moments after the assassination attempt.
“All right,” she said, forcing the words out. “But before you tell him anything you wouldn’t reveal to the general public, run it past us first. Especially if it involves Omnimancer Blackwell.”
Lydia nodded.
“Let’s hope we don’t regret this,” Rosemarie muttered.
After that, Lydia and Rosemarie stayed put to discuss strategy—no easy thing to do at their own house now—while Beatrix went to the second floor with Ella.
“‘Especially if it involves Omnimancer Blackwell,’ eh?” Ella said as she closed the door.
“If Gray is a spy, we’ve just announced to the magiocracy that the omnimancer’s in our camp. We’ve endangered him.”
Ella waved a dismissive hand. “They know that already. Garrett saw him finding the tap on our phone, after all.”
But Beatrix wasn’t at all sure that Garrett had told his squad about that. He’d run the risk that someone might warn Peter off in an official capacity and get an earful about the assault and false imprisonment Garrett had subjected him to—for personal rather than professional aims.
