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“—but that doesn’t change the facts. The Shadowland exists for trade. The proprietors have a vested interest in keeping some kind of order—”
“Yeah. I’ve felt really secure so far!”
“Most people are not being chased by an irate demon lord when they come here,” Pritkin said dryly. “The council finds it a useful meeting place because of its being neutral ground. But they’re a very small part of local life. I am not saying the place is without its dangers, but they can be navigated, even by humans. Mages come here fairly often to buy potion supplies, for example—”
“No sane ones!”
“Jonas gets most of his here—”
“You’re not helping your case,” Caleb muttered.
“—and Cassie is easily more powerful than him. If Jonas can navigate these streets on a semiregular basis, bargain for supplies, and get back out again safely, I think she can manage to go to the bathroom by herself!”
For some reason, Caleb was looking at him as if he’d lost his mind. His voice sounded like it, too. “Cassie is more powerful than Jonas,” he repeated.
Pritkin frowned. “Of course. She’s Pythia.”
“She’s—” Caleb seemed momentarily at a loss for words, so I seized the opportunity.
“I couldn’t shift before, because Mother was rerouting most of my power for . . . well, whatever she did in there. But I feel better now—”
“Yeah, you look it!”
“I didn’t say I’m a hundred percent,” I told him impatiently. “But I can defend myself—”
“Good. But it’s my job to see that you don’t have to.”
“If Agnes had told you to stay here, you’d stay here,” I said angrily.
“Lady Phemonoe wouldn’t be here! She’d be at court, surrounded by a crack security team! Meeting with dignitaries and mediating disputes and—and doing anything but running around almost getting herself blown up!”
“Did you ever meet Agnes?” I asked, but Caleb wasn’t listening.
“Did you see her today?” he asked John. “Those witches were right; she doesn’t even have shields, and I couldn’t reach her and all she had for protection was a damned vampire—”
“Hey, fuc’ you, too, buddy,” Casanova slurred, from behind us.
“—and she almost got killed! I almost let her get—” Caleb broke off, fuming.
“You didn’t let me do anything,” I told him. “We got in trouble, but it wasn’t your fault—”
“I can see me explaining that to the old man,” Caleb snapped. “See, sir, she ended up incinerated, but it wasn’t my fault!”
“It wasn’t! I wanted to come here—”
“Yeah, and I should have had the sense to say no. Just like I should have the other day!”
“You should have said no?” I repeated. “I thought war mages did what the Pythia wanted.”
“Pythias don’t want this!” Caleb said, suddenly furious. “Pythias don’t do this! They don’t invade hell and fight demons and battle gods—”
“They also didn’t live in these times,” Pritkin said, cutting in. “They didn’t have to face anything remotely like this. Do you think Lady Phemonoe could have done what Cassie did today? What she did yesterday? Do you think she would have dared?”
“I think she’d have found another way!” Caleb said, like a man who had been standing by that pillar for the last two hours, thinking. And coming to the conclusion that maybe Casanova’s drunken ramblings hadn’t been so far off the mark. And panicking, after all, because he’d had all this dumped in his lap at one time, literally overnight. And he didn’t know what to do with it.
And I didn’t think he’d felt like that too often in his life.
“I had no idea—” He looked at me accusingly. “You made it sound like we were just going to sneak into some palace. Just grab John and hightail it out—”
