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I shook my head. “I don’t know. And it doesn’t matter now. We’re at war. They’re not going to change anything just because I want it.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
I’d gone back to pacing and was facing away from him, over by the door, but at that I turned around. “What?”
“Who is ‘they’?” he repeated.
“I—the Circle, for one—”
“The Circle doesn’t control the Pythia.”
“Well, Jonas thinks he does! At least, he acts that way most of the time.”
Pritkin shrugged. “He can act however he likes. As can anyone else. But the fact remains that there is no ‘they’ when it comes to the Pythian Court. There is only you. So, what do you want, Cassie?”
I stopped pacing, and for the first time, I thought about it. Not about what I had, which was a mess, but what I’d like. “Girls would still come to the court,” I said slowly. “To protect them and give them basic instruction in how to control their gifts. Doing anything else would leave them open to predators of all kinds.”
“And?” Pritkin prompted, after a moment.
But I shook my head. “There is no ‘and.’ That’s it. That’s all I want.”
He frowned. “They have to be able to protect themselves—”
“I have to protect them! That’s my job! Their job is running and playing and learning and just being.”
“Ideally, yes. But you know that’s not how the world works, especially now.”
“That’s how the Corps works,” I pointed out. “You just said so. Magically gifted children don’t join the Corps. They grow up, then make that decision. The initiates should have the same chance. And when they’re older, it would be their choice if they took advanced training or not. Not their parents’, not the Circle’s, not anybody else’s. Theirs.
“That’s what I want.”
And it was. I just hadn’t realized it until now.
“All right,” Pritkin said. “How do you get there?”
I almost laughed, although not with humor. “Good question.”
“You do have an acolyte, though, do you not?” Pritkin asked, his forehead wrinkling. “Ms. von Brandt?”
“She’s also almost two hundred years old,” I reminded him. “Every time you use the Pythian power, it takes a toll. It’s not so bad when you’re young, but she’s not, whether she realizes it or not. Every time she shifts, I’m afraid she’s going to have a heart attack—”
“But that’s her decision, isn’t it?” he murmured.
“—and Rhea can’t even shift at all—”
“Rhea?”
“The dark-haired girl you saw the other night.” God, I forgot how much he’d missed out on! “The one paired off with Rico in the eating contest?”
“Ah.”
“She joined the court while you were away. I’ve been trying to teach her; Hilde has, too. But it hasn’t been working. Maybe that’s why they do it this way, I don’t know.”
Imminent death provided a hell of an incentive.
“Perhaps she doesn’t have the skill,” he pointed out. “Not all do. Most, in fact—”
“Oh, she’s got the skill, and then some. Considering who her parents are—”
