Antoine answered first. “He has the numbers to spare. Plus, something has alarmed Tobias.”
“True.” Noah made a note on his tablet. “We could use more thralls of our own.”
Antoine grimaced at his reflection. “Eighteen is enough.”
“Eighteen isnotenough,” Belle retorted.
Noah scratched at his neck with the end of his stylus. “Perhaps we could replace those who were lost fighting Minh?”
“I have no desire to make more.”And Cally wouldn’t want me to.
“Six here, three at Nico’s, four at Roberto’s. That leaves only five for the whole of our territory.”
“His territory,” Belle said sharply. “Not yours.”
Antoine replied as if she hadn’t spoken. “We don’t need six here. You and Zoey, Tom and Joseph. That’ll do.”
“Only four here?” Noah’s tone conveyed his disapproval. “What about asking Gabe?”
“No chance.”
“You don’t trust him?” Belle asked with amusement.
Antoine let out a slow breath. “I do, but this isn’t his fight.”
Noah cleared his throat. “He would help anyway.”
“I said no.”
Noah made a point of scrubbing out a line with his stylus. “Got it. Undermanned and with the house insufficiently protected, because you won’t recruit or ask your friends for help.”
Belle made a noise. “I wouldn’t let him speak to me like that.”
“I asked him to be candid,” Antoine told her. “I don’t want a yes-man.” He braced his fists against the desk, and addressed Noah. “But we’re not trying to match their thralls, we’re taking on—”
He broke off as quiet footsteps sounded outside the room, and a moment later Cally walked in, hair tousled from sleep, barefoot in a short white robe. Antoine checked the time, surprised to see it was only half past midnight.
“Are you all right? Couldn’t sleep?”
She paused when she saw Belle, then came around the desk and pressed herself to his side. “I missed you.” Noah studiously averted his gaze, while Belle watched openly. “What are you doing?”
“Just making plans.”
“Oh? What kind of plans?” Her gaze fell to the map of Boston on the desk, Tobias, Nico, and Roberto’s houses ringed with a black circle.
“Thrall movements, equipment, things like that,” Antoine said lightly.
Cally slipped from his side to better look at the map. “This is the Curia house.” She pointed to the estate in Weston. “And this is Nico’s.” She frowned, turning to him, her tone guarded. “Antoine?”
“She is fun, this one,” Belle commented from her corner, wiggling her toes on the sofa.
Antoine ignored her, focusing on Cally. “We did discuss this.”
“I know,” she said sharply. She swallowed, glanced at Belle, then dropped her voice. “But I thought we agreed you would include me.”
“You are usually asleep,ma chérie. I did not wish to disturb you.”
She crossed her arms, her chin coming up. “Then wake me up, Antoine,” she said, her voice cooler. “This is too important.”
