“We will,” Yuki said as she met my eyes. “But we will tell them in a way that makes Davis’s after-action report difficult to file.”
“Difficult.”
“Unusable, ideally. I am willing to accept irritating.”
“That sounds like you already have a method.”
“I do.” Her hands folded in front of her. “Ashenmere will offer you a public liaison position under clan-sovereign diplomatic authority. On the record. Sealed under the Bern Compact. Witnessed by the U.S. ambassador.”
I stared at her.
Yuki continued. “Mr.Davis may attempt to call many things a hostage situation. He will have a more difficult time doing so when the alleged hostage has accepted a treaty-recognized diplomatic appointment in his presence.”
I understood it then.
“You’re putting me somewhere he has to acknowledge I chose.”
“Yes.”
“And somewhere Martin Solberg cannot frame as clan custody.”
“Also yes.”
“The United States cannot move without creating an incident larger than the one they are trying to prevent.”
Yuki inclined her head.
I looked at her for a long second. “That is…”
“Legally creative,” she said.
“I was going to say aggressive.”
“That too.” Yuki gave a small smile.
“Cael,” she said, “I will handle separately. Ambassador Harrow being in the building for it does the United States no favors, given the position it already puts them in.”
I looked at Rhain. He had been watching Yuki with rapt attention and respect.
“You knew this last night,” he said to Yuki.
“This was determined just hours after Dominic flagged Cael in the corridor on Wednesday morning.”
“You didn’t tell us.”
“You needed last night more than you needed the briefing.”
Rhain held the look a beat longer than he needed to. Then he inclined his head. “Thank you, Yuki.”
“You’re welcome, Lord Solberg.”
She didn’t call himRhain.The formal use of his title was deliberate. Today the council session would record the nameLord Solbergagainst decisions that would carry into the rest of his political life.
She turned to me again. “Miss Cordero.”
“Yes.”
“The liaison position is real. It isn’t a fiction we’re constructing for the diplomat. It’s a position that has existed for forty-six years and which hasn’t, until today, been offered to a human. You’ll be the first.”
