“I don’t know details, but if no one talked your ear off, I’d guess it was handled,” she told me. “Gunfire in the Calgary Tower, though? We’re lucky they shooed everyone out before giving you that note.”
“The asura don’t want to blow the big secret anymore than anyone else does,” I said. “We all find being invisible much preferable to the alternatives.”
“That we do.” Mary tucked herself into my shoulder. “I imagine Grandfather will dump as much of the cleanup on me as he can,” she noted. “That’s his style.”
“That it is,” I agreed. “If you can break free for a late lunch, I’m meeting Talus at his steakhouse at two. Not officially business.”
She snorted.
“What, two Nobles in the meeting?”
“Three. Robert will be there,” I admitted.
“So, it’s business and you need the girls to play cover,” Mary replied.
“He didn’t say Shelly was going to be there,” I said. “But I’m guessing she will be.”
Shelly Fairchild was Talus’s mortal lawyer and girlfriend. The noble certainly hadn’t learned any greater ability to follow the rules of his station in romance since Robert’s birth.
“I also want your point of view on whatever he’s bringing up,” I told her. “You still know Calgary a dozen times better than I do, plus you grew up outside the mundane world. I didn’t.”
“Stop trying to make me feel better,” she snapped, breaking our embrace and stepping back.
I paused, considering her for several seconds.
“I’m sorry,” I ventured. That seemed like a good starting point. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel better; I was telling you why I wanted you there.”
She inhaled and then nodded sharply.
“Fair,” she said in a rush. “Sorry. Just feeling twitchy after last night. The kind of enemies you’ve acquired, Jason… I don’t feel like I’m in my weight class anymore. I’m just a wildcat shifter. I worry that I’m putting you in danger.”
“I think the evidence goes in the other direction,” I reminded her. “Your enemies, after all, didn’t just break up our first date in weeks. Those guys were after me.” I paused. “If you want to…protect yourself, I’ll back you…”
I was pretty sure what I was saying, even if it hurt. If Mary didn’t think it was safe to be with me anymore, then…well, I’d do everything in my power to make our separation painless.
“And if I want to protect you?” she demanded.
“How much cold iron is in the gun you’re carrying?” I asked pointedly.
“Triple-kill rounds,” she said slowly. “Cold iron, rock salt and silver.”
“I don’t need you to be my bodyguard, Mary,” I told her. “I need you to be my partner, my second set of eyes—the person with a brain, because Powers know I’m not sure I have one some days!”
She chuckled. It was a somewhat forced thing, but I thought I’d made my point.
“I know what you mean, though I think you do better than that most days,” she allowed, then checked the time. “I’ve got to get going. I’ll make lunch unless I can’t; will text you either way.”
Mary went from stiff and angry at me to kissing me goodbye in her usual tempestuous whirlwind.
Living with a wildcat was an experience, that was for sure.
Two o’clock rolled around surprisingly quickly, and my current cavalcade arrived at the restaurant Talus owned. Technically, it was part of a chain and Talus didn’t own the restaurant itself.
Technically. I don’t think anyone was under the illusion that Talus’s various tentacles stretched throughout the business didn’t give him control. Certainly, he always had a private room in the restaurant, and the staff ushered my party into it.
Kristal and Riley were today’s guard contingent, a Welsh water nymph Vassal of the Queen and a Hunter Gentry from somewhere in Scotland. Neither was visibly armed, but then, neither was I.
Mary was already waiting for me and gave me a quick kiss as she indicated a chair by her for me.
“It’s getting crowded in here,” Talus observed behind me. “I forgot that everyone comes with bodyguards these days.”
I hadn’t actually noticed the werewolf standing unobtrusively in the corner. Barry and I went back a long way, by my standards. The big dark-haired shifter was one of Clan Tenerim’s enforcers, and part of his duties had always involved protecting the Clan’s “little sister.”
With Mary’s involvement in the Speaker’s administration, that role had apparently become more full-time.
Talus himself was escorted by his son and his girlfriend-slash-lawyer. It wasn’t so much a bodyguard business, in Robert’s case, as a “watch each other’s backs” business. Talus was more powerful than his son, but that was by criteria that only mattered amongst Nobles.
Those criteria were confused by me. By some standards, I didn’t even qualify as a Noble. By others, I was actually more powerful than Talus himself. Seventy-odd years of experience made up any effective difference, though.
Talus was more clearly Oberis’s nephew than Robert was Talus’s son. He was taller than Robert, with long blond hair and golden eyes. There was a lithe, unconscious grace to him that even I was inclined to term as fey, a grace that Robert and I were still decades away from mastering.
“Kristal, Riley,” Talus continued with a nod to my two escorts before turning to Mary’s. “Barry Tenerim.
“You are all welcome here, of course. Realize, however, that we speak of the business of blood and Fealty. Betraying our confidence today would have dire consequences. If you are bound by oath or other fealty to pass on what you hear, I suggest you have lunch in the main restaurant.”
He smiled with the easy charisma of a man who has commanded others for most of a ninety-year life span.
“We know that loyalties are easily divided. It will not be held against you.”
The room was silent for long seconds, then Barry Tenerim chuckled.
“I don’t know about fae, but shifter oaths don’t work like that,” he reminded us. “I am tasked with Mary’s security. That includes her secrets and confidences, or I’d make a shitty protector.”
“My Fealty is to the Queen, but while Master Tenerim has phrased it differently than I would, I agree with his point,” Kristal added.
Riley took up a solid leaning post against the wall, the Gentry surveying the room with a sardonic expression.
“Hunters don’t have Fealty,” he told us. “We have chain of command. And my chain of command says I work for Jason Kilkenny, which means what he wants killed gets killed. What he wants kept secret stays secret.”
Talus laughed.
“All right. Then I’ll have more chairs brought in,” he told the bodyguards. “I have no intention of making anyone stand while we chatter on.”
The staff at the restaurant knew the nature of the meals and attached meetings that took place in Talus’s private room. They took our orders, brought us drinks and then completely disappeared to allow us to talk in privacy.
“How is your elevation to the nobility treating you?” Talus asked as he swirled the wine in his glass. “You’ve come a long way from the changeling who showed up on a bus without a penny to his name.”
“I had at least five dollars to my name, I’ll have you know,” I replied with a chuckle. “It’s taking some adjustment; you’re right. I had some time to get used to people listening to me when I was working as Mabona’s arbitrator here in Calgary, but being in command is still new to me.”
“How about being bait?” he continued.
I sighed.
“That…that I could live without,” I admitted. “It’s been almost six months. Somewhere out there, there is an entire conspiracy of Fae Lords that want my blood. Literally. Somewhere else out there, there is a Pouka Noble who wants me dead.”
I shook my head.
“This isn’t exactly heartwarming, though the friends and allies that have gathered around to help me definitely
are.” I made a toasting gesture with my Coke as my pair of bodyguards chuckled.
Kristal, I noted, was making very intentional eye contact with Robert. The young Noble didn’t appear to be certain what was going on, but he wasn’t objecting, either.
To be fair, I’m not sure I’d have known what was going on in his place. Mary’s approach to flirting was best described as “apply gold brick wrapped in sock to idiot male’s head.”
It was easier to pick up when it was directed at someone else.
“We do what we can,” Talus told me. “Which brings me to a point that I want to keep very quiet.”
I straightened, eyeing him.
“I can get you out,” he said softly. “We have a few tricks that can shield your signature, make you impossible for the Masked Lords to track. You’d probably have to go hide in a mortal life somewhere, but I could make sure you and Mary were set up for at least a mortal lifetime down in the Caribbean or some such.”
“I volunteered for this, Talus,” I reminded him. “I’m not trying to run.”
I reached for Mary’s hand and squeezed it under the table.
“Mary?” I asked. “I’m in this fight for the long haul, but…”
She squeezed my hand back…and kicked me gently.
“I have no intention of being your mistress, put up in a beachside apartment somewhere safe and protected,” Mary said sweetly. “I’m here, and I’m staying.”
I snorted and arched an eyebrow at Talus.
“You didn’t actually expect me to take you up on that, did you?”
“I wanted to be sure you knew the option was on the table,” my friend replied. “It’s easy to agree to fighting a war when you’re talking to members of the High Court—and you think it’s going to be quick. Six months of waiting for them to strike wasn’t what you signed on for.”
“I won’t let my father’s killers escape justice,” I said quietly. “And even if I was willing to let that happen, the Masked Lords have already caused enough damn trouble. If I can lure them in and stop that, I will. I owe that to the fae. To our people.”
Talus saluted me with his wine glass.
“Good,” he told me. “But remember that the option is there. I have the resources to make you and Mary disappear. So long as I’m still breathing, Shelly and I can smuggle you to safety.”
I glanced at my bodyguards. They looked surprisingly unbothered by this entire discussion about me abandoning my oaths and duties. Fae were…mercurial, I suppose.
“That’s not all you wanted to talk to me about,” I guessed.
“No,” he agreed. “I was approached, back in the fall, by several unknown parties. There was an extended period of feeling each other out, as they were testing me and I was testing them.”
He smirked.
“Or playing them, as the case may be. I suspected from quite early on who I was dealing with.”
“The Masked Lords,” Mary guessed.
“Give the werecat a prize,” Talus agreed. “I wanted to know what they were up to. They wanted to know what my price was. They guessed wrong.”
“Your price for what? Becoming a Masked Lord?” I asked.
“No. I don’t think they thought that was ever a possibility.” Talus leaned back, sipping his wine as he studied me. “They were smart enough not to offer me Calgary, either. They knew I’d never turn on my uncle.
“They wanted me to deliver you, Jason. In exchange, they offered me overlordship of North America’s Seelie Fae. All of them.”
I whistled silently. There was no such role, which meant that the Masked Lords were continuing their plans to completely rebuild fae society to their vision. An idealized vision of the world before the High Court.
“They’re mad.” I barely realized I’d spoken.
“They’re powerful and they want more power,” Talus replied. “They don’t want to be bound by the High Court anymore. They want to decide what Covenants and oaths they follow, not be bound by fealty to the race.”
“That way lies chaos and the breach of the Covenants of Silence,” Mary objected. “We can’t hold together a global supernatural community if one faction goes off on their course.”
“Exactly,” Shelly agreed. “That’s what I told Talus after he told me. Speaking as one of the mortals who help keep that particular Covenant…” She shook her head.
“I don’t know what would happen if humanity found out what was hiding behind the curtain,” she admitted. “I’d like to think we could adapt, that humanity would just absorb you as another branch of themselves, but…”
“Racism gets ugly enough when all that’s involved is skin color,” I said bluntly. “What do you think is going to happen when they realize some people can conjure fire and break walls with their bare hands?”
The silence that followed was long enough that the arrival of lunch interrupted further conversation.
We all knew that the world the Masked Lords wanted would be doomed from the moment they took power. The Covenants between the races existed for a reason, after all.
5
Arbitration. Mediation. Facilitation.
Whatever label you wanted to hang on it, it was a large chunk of the job I actually did for Mabona when I wasn’t being bait. Since I owed Fealty directly to a member of the High Court, I was neutral in affairs between the various lower courts.
I went straight from the lunch with Talus to my scheduled meeting. Four fae were waiting for me in the rented conference room in downtown Calgary, very clearly divided into two different groups.
Two Seelie, two Unseelie. All from Vancouver. The Seelie had sent a pair of Gentry. The Unseelie had sent one of their Gentry and a hag.
The hag was using a glamor to make herself look just as perfect and gorgeous as the Gentry. She’d probably have been quite upset to realize I could identify types of fae at a glance. The same with most other supernaturals, too.
I’d once thought all fae could do that. I’d once been very uninformed.
All of them rose as I entered. My two shadows took up residence on either side of the door and I looked around the room.
“I presume this room has a security camera?” I asked.
“It’s suffered a strange mechanical failure,” the older of the Seelie Gentry told me with a grin. “I believe our Unseelie…acquaintances brought a white-noise generator?”
The hag snorted—but produced what looked like a glorified iPod and laid it on the table. It began emitting a frankly irritating noise that would render our conversation unintelligible to any recording devices.
“All right,” I said, then pulled the silver-hilted sword of a member of the Wild Hunt out of thin air. Four sets of eyes focused on the weapon as I laid it in the center of the table to make sure I had their attention.
“Your Courts have appealed to Mabona for arbitration in a deal gone sour,” I stated aloud. Powers that are, my job was surprisingly mundane for all of the strange and fey politics wrapped around it. “I’ve reviewed the documentation you provided, but why don’t you summarize your positions for me.”
All four of them started talking at once and I let them continue for several seconds before giving in to the melodramatic urges that ran in every fae’s blood.
An invisible telekinetic hand slapped the table, almost loud enough to sound like a gunshot. All of them were suddenly quiet and I smiled.
This wasn’t a job I’d have chosen for myself, but I was turning out to be surprisingly good at it.
“You.” I pointed at the Unseelie hag. “The Unseelie Court’s position. Quickly and concisely, if you please.”
I had no illusions about any fae’s ability to go on and on and on about politics if given the chance.
“Both our Courts partnered to create a joint venture three years ago,” she told me calmly. “The intent was to use our position in Vancouver to assist Chinese supernaturals in acquiring property despite the mundane government’s rules on foreign property purchases.
&
nbsp; “It went well, but the fae managing the venture turned out to be both doing deals on the side, using our resources without including our fee, and skimming off the top when doing deals openly.
“Two months ago, this was uncovered and he fled. We have established the total loss and it can be borne by the joint venture. That, as far as we are concerned, is the end of the situation beyond continuing to locate Vadim Argyll.”
I was impressed. She’d managed to sum up the situation in under two minutes and done so firmly enough that the Seelie hadn’t managed to interrupt her. I’d been expecting to have to shut the other party up to let her finish.
“Okay.” I pointed at the older Seelie Gentry. “And what part of this is the Seelie Court up in arms about, again?”
“What Ms. Ornat Clarkson is not mentioning,” the Seelie told me, “is that Vadim Argyll is an Unseelie Noble. Her summary of the basic events is fundamentally correct, but we have grounds to believe that Argyll was working with the full knowledge and support of the Unseelie Court, and that the money he stole was being funneled back to Lord Sherburn.”
Of course. Why blame one person when you can blame an entire Court, after all?
“Since the Unseelie Court was involved in Argyll’s theft, Lady Belrose believes that Sherburn’s Court should compensate us for our portion of the losses incurred.”
“And as my Lord has told your Court, Ocean Woodrow, that is unacceptable,” the hag snarled. “We are equally wronged here, and you would have us be wounded twice!”
I raised a hand to stave off the argument before it could continue. Once again, they listened to my silent command and calmed down. Or, well, at least quieted down.
Sooner or later, I might get used to that. Maybe.
“I have reviewed the files you both sent,” I pointed out. “It’s an interesting tangle. Despite being an Unseelie, Argyll was recommended by Lady Belrose to lead the joint venture. That is correct, yes?”
Woodrow nodded sharply.
“We were the ones driving the setup, but we needed the Unseelie’s people and money,” he admitted. “By recommending an Unseelie chief officer, we knew we’d get Lord Sherburn on side. We didn’t expect him to rob us!”
Noble's Honor (Changeling Blood Book 3) Page 3
