“Hear, hear!” Zeng murmured.
“If you’re so concerned about the ramifications of his being in Hell, I wouldn’t have thought you’d be so opposed to my request,” Kensington said in a deceptively mild tone.
“I’m sorry,” Bhati interjected. “But I missed the previous discussion. Kensington, you explained on the phone that Mr. Phillips has transported himself to Hell, but what was your suggestion for a solution?”
“And are we actually going to talk about the fact that heactually did that?” Cavendish spoke for the first time. His voice was quiet and shy but held a note of awe in it. “No one haseverbeenable to do that.”
“I’m not sure if he’d have been able to until recently,” Kensington said casually. “The boost in power from his familiar certainly would have helped.”
There was an uproar around the table at this announcement, and Zach noticed Kensington looking smug. There was no doubt in Zach’s mind that Kensington had deliberately dropped that into the conversation to provoke this exact reaction.
“Bartholemew!” Zeng shook a finger at him. “You never mentioned he had a familiar!”
“Holy shit,” Bhati exclaimed. “Holy fucking shit!”
As much as Zach enjoyed seeing powerful and experienced magical leaders losing their minds over his boyfriend, it still wasn’t moving them forward with a plan. “The plan was to combine our powers so we could open a portal for Kensington and myself to return to Hell to retrieve Drew,” he told Bhati.
The sorcerer tugged at his chin while he considered this. “I’m not certain how much power would be required, but it would definitely be worthwhile trying,” he agreed. “How would you return, though?”
“The same way we did previously,” Zach explained. “We travelled to the Borderlands and Drew created a portal for us to come home.”
“Impressive,” Bhati said.
“Indeed,” Van de Laar agreed.
Tremblay was sitting with a sneer on his face, but he couldn’t dispute their praise.
“So, what have been the arguments against such an attempt?” Bhati asked.
“Marcus believes it to be a waste of power,” Zeng said.
Tremblay snorted. “That was only the least of my concerns. My biggest fear is that we will anger Lucifer by trespassing into his realm and we will face the consequences of that. If the boy got himself there, then he canget himself back. We shouldn’t take the risk of sending even more people there.”
“Alistair,you’rethe head of the Alberta chapter,” Zeng said to Cavendish. “What are your thoughts?”
The young man went bright red and refused to meet anyone’s gaze. He fidgeted as he thought, and then shrugged. “Considering the Prince of Hell has yet to arrive with an army to demand retribution for Drew’s initial visit, I doubt he’s even noticed.” Tremblay was glaring at him, but Cavendish resolutely refused to look at him as he continued. “I don’t believe there’s an overt risk if we send the Grand Master and Zachariel there.”
“I agree,” Van de Laar said. She raised a hand, her colourful bracelets clacking together. “I think the risk of an untrained yet powerful magic user being alone in Hell is much greater.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Zeng said. “I shudder to think what might happen if he fell into the hands of certain demons.”
“It’s not worth the risk!” Tremblay declared, slapping a hand on the table.
“As Kensington pointed out before, this discussion was for the heads of our chapters,” Bhati said, not unkindly. “I don’t know if you get a say, Tremblay.”
Tremblay looked ready to explode. His face was bright red, and a vein was throbbing in his temple. “Cavendish! You say you value my opinion, and I am your trusted advisor. So why are you ignoring my advice now?”
Cavendish squirmed in his seat. “I’m sorry, Marcus. I just don’t agree with you on this.”
“You are young and inexperienced,” Tremblay barked at him. “Do you really believe you know better than me in these matters?”
The young wizard seemed to deflate into himself. He shrugged but didn’t reply.
“Given Alastair agrees with the rest of us,” Kensington said archly. “I would say that hedoesknow better than you. Your opinion on this isirrelevant, Tremblay.” He looked at the others. “Is anyone in opposition to the proposal?”
Zeng and Van de Laar shook their heads, and Bhati said, “I’m all for it.”
Kensington looked at Cavendish. “Alastair?” he asked gently. “I need you to confirm your stance.”
