Dani stepped past Rowena and joined me. “And I’m going with her.”
I looked at her, my lips rounded on “no,” then I caught myself. What rights had I just argued for? Dani was old enough to choose. In my book, old enough to kill is old enough to choose. I think hell has a special place for hypocrites.
Kat stepped forward from the crowd. Of all the sidhe-seers I’d met, the quietly persistent gray-eyed brunette who had led the small group in the attack on me at Barrons Books and Baubles (BB&B) the day I’d inadvertently killed Moira seemed the most levelheaded, open-minded, and firmly fixed on the long-term goal of ridding our world of the Fae. She and I had met several times, attempting a tentative partnership. I was still open to one if she was. In her mid-twenties, she had the unassuming quiet confidence of someone much older. I knew she had influence over the others, and I was interested to hear what she had to say. “She’s a tool, Grand Mistress. And, like it or not, she may be our most useful yet.”
“You no longer blame her for spiking the Orb?”
“She can stay and help us get rid of the blimey fecks if she’s so innocent.”
“Language,” Rowena said sharply.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud, Rowena. It’s a war, not a congeniality contest.”
Somebody snickered.
“Wars need rules!”
“Wars need to be won!” I fired back, to a satisfying chorus of murmured assents.
“What say you to a vote?” Kat proposed.
“Fine,” Rowena and I both snapped in unison, and looked at each other with distaste. I could tell that she didn’t believe for a moment I might win, or she wouldn’t have agreed to it. I wasn’t sure I would, either, but I figured high emotions and years of dissatisfaction with her rule gave me nearly even odds. Kat had a large following among the sidhe-seers, and she was arguing for me. Even if I lost, at least I’d know who I could count on my side.
Kat turned to face the hall, crammed to overflowing with sidhe-seers in the doorways. “It’s being left up to us, so think it through well and call it: Does she stay, or does she go? If you’re after her staying, raise your right hand and hold it high while I take your tally.”
It was a tight vote.
I won by a narrow margin.
I committed to memory the face of every woman who voted against me.
“What the feck is V’lane doing here?” I demanded, the moment Dani and I were alone.
It was hours before we were. Rowena had decided to push me a little in front of the other sidhe-seers after I’d won the vote, to see if I’d bend. She instructed me to clear no less than a dozen Shades from the abbey before I ate or slept, in order to earn my keep.
I’d bent for her this time.
Not only did I enjoy tracking the Shades and driving them out into the late-afternoon light—I’d been watching them long enough as my neighbors at the bookstore that I knew all the places they liked to hide—but I’ve learned to choose my battles. I understood the importance of throwing a few of the smaller fights, to keep my competition off balance, underestimating me. Rowena would believe I was fully cooperative, right up to the moment her ranks rebelled and overthrew her. I had no intention of staying in the abbey long. I was here for my spear, answers, and to incite riot among the Grand Mistress’s followers. Wake them up to their calling. Get them to ditch the old woman and become all they could be.
“He showed up the day Barrons took you,” Dani said. “You shoulda seen it! When he heard you were gone, he went ballistic.”
“The Fae don’t go ballistic, Dani.” Impassive, they rarely showed emotion. Not even V’lane’s recently acquired reactions could be construed as “ballistic.”
Her eyes got big. “Dude, he iced Rowena.”
“You mean turned her into a block of it?” Dani was so full of slang it was hard to know what she meant sometimes. Since Rowena was alive, I figured she had to be speaking literally.
Dani nodded. “From the neck down. Left her head un-iced so she could talk. Then threatened to flick her with his fingernail so she could watch herself shatter. It was wicked cool.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “He was überpissed that Ro let you go. I told him nothing coulda stopped Barrons, but that just seemed to piss him off more. Said he’d been stuck guarding the queen and couldn’t get to you. I think he planned to do what Barrons did, and when he learned Barrons beat him to it by a few hours, he totally melted down. I thought he’d ice us all.”