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How very Lifetime.
She looked at me, giving me a brief appraisal. "You must be Merit."
I had no idea of the etiquette. What was I supposed to call a member of the GP now? Without a better answer, I opted for a simple "I am."
She smiled gently. "It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry it's under such unfortunate circumstances."
"Were you followed?" Jonah asked.
"I seriously doubt it. And if I was, I'll lose them on the way back to the hotel. Unfortunately, I don't have much time. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to help."
In a moment, my hopes were shattered. "Nothing? What do you mean, nothing? They're going to take away our House."
"Inside voice," Jonah murmured, casting a glance at the cashier, but he was still counting away.
"I am only one member of the organization, Merit, and I am by no means in the majority. Darius's punishment is much too dire, but I do not have the power to challenge him. I'm sorry."
"He's going to incite a war," I said.
"Only if Cadogan fights back, and we all know Ethan won't allow that. Not if it would bring harm to his vampires . . . or to you."
I suppose word about my relationship with Ethan had traveled among the GP members. "We cannot lose the House. It would be an insult to Peter Cadogan, to Ethan, to every other House that's tried to do its best since Celina forced us out of the closet."
Lakshmi looked at Jonah, who nodded at her. "Merit," she said, "please believe me . . . I have asked questions - surreptitiously, of course - but there's simply no way to steer Darius from his present course."
There was obvious regret in her eyes, which made me feel only minimally better.
"I'm sorry. But it's impossible. I don't have the power to override him."
"What about the dragon's egg?"
Lakshmi paused. "What about it?"
"I assume Darius hasn't given it to the fairies yet and won't until he's sure they'll do what they've agreed to. Do you know where it is?"
She watched me carefully for a moment. "I do not know exactly."
"I will give you a boon," I said. "A promise, a favor, whatever you want. I will beg you, if that's what you want. Please, please don't let him take my House, Lakshmi. It is my home. For the first time in my life, it's really my home."
That thought - and the realization - brought tears to my eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said again. "I know only that it was hidden in a location of high regard."
I looked away, wiping back an errant tear that had slipped down my cheek. I didn't want to cry in front of my partner and the GP member. Maybe, like Darius said of Ethan, I was also too human.
"I should go," Lakshmi said. "And I wish you luck." She cast a lingering look at Jonah. "It was nice to see you again. I'm sorry it was under these circumstances."
Then she disappeared out the door and into the darkness.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to sit down and weep or, better yet, bury my sorrows in three or four dozen of the donut holes the cashier was so meticulously cataloguing.
"Let's go outside," Jonah said, gently steering me out the door. The cold air was refreshing, as was the numbing rumble of the El train above us.
We walked to the corner of the street, not far from where I'd parked, and stood in the darkness for a moment.
"She's in love with you," I said.
He cleared his throat nervously. "I know."
"That's why she agreed to the meeting, isn't it?" I looked at him. "That's how you got her to show up?"
He nodded, just once.
"This is just a clusterfuck. I suppose it would be wrong of me to suggest you offer to play Seven Minutes in Heaven with her so that she might give us the egg?"
He looked at me askance. "You want me to offer to make out with her so she'll save your House?"
I smiled a little. "Yeah, could you?"
"No. And you should get back. They'll be wondering where you are."
I wasn't so sure about that.
* * *
Feeling utterly defeated, I drove home again. Ethan's office door was open, so I took a chance and peeked inside, assuming Michael Donovan was in the room and heavy brainstorming and contract reading were under way.
But Michael was nowhere to be found; nor were Paige or the librarian.
Ethan and Lacey were alone, with a piano concerto on the radio and a bottle of wine on the table. They sat beside each other on the couch in the sitting area. Ethan, one leg crossed genteelly over the other, reviewed long documents on legal-sized paper. Lacey sat next to him, her boots on the floor, her feet tucked beneath her, scanning something on a tablet computer.
They looked utterly comfortable. Cozy, even, in a way that made my stomach drop and brought every teenage insecurity in my possession right to the surface.
But those weren't the only feelings in the chamber. I'd just begged a GP member to save this House - cried in front of that GP member - and I returned to this? Ethan may have been angry, but so was I.
Perhaps sensing the magical tsunami that accompanied me into the room, Ethan looked up.
"Yes?" he asked. His tone was flat; he was still angry.
That made two of us, since I'd walked in on a forthcoming chapter in Lacey's diary entitled, "The Cozy Night I Spent with Ethan Sullivan and a Bottle of Merlot."
I truly, truly did not like her.
"Could I speak to you, please, Liege?"
Ethan watched me for a moment before putting down his paper. "Lacey, would you excuse us?"
She glanced up and gave me a snotty smile he didn't see, then unfolded her legs and rose gracefully from the couch. "Of course. I could use a bit of fresh air." She walked toward the door, leaving her boots beside the couch, a clear indication she meant to return.
Of course she did.
"Time is ticking down, Sentinel. What did you want to talk about?"
I actually didn't have anything specific to tell him; I'd just wanted her out of the room, and perhaps a chance to clear the air.
But his tone was tight, and it took me a moment to gather words that weren't snarky, that didn't challenge her very presence in his office and her obvious intent to get her mitts on Ethan and not let go.
"Have you made any progress?" I asked.
"Not especially. The lawyers have prepared an emergency motion to halt the GP's actions, but, as we suspected, we're having a difficult time convincing a judge they have jurisdiction over this particular debate. None of the acquaintances from my very long life have any material worth GP blackmail, and Michael has determined that Claudia's tower is particularly well fortified right now, so there'll be no begging the fairies." His jaw was tight. He was obviously concerned, not that I could blame him.
