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I also noticed that Gennadi held his hand with white knuckles and leaned all the way over to one side in his chair to be closer to Jace. So much so that he could have slipped to his knees and taken up a position very similar to Avenel’s in the blink of an eye.
“This isn’t right,” Peter went on, though there was more desperation than anger in his voice now. “Pupdom is wrong. It’s evil. I have been doing everything in my power to put an end to the practice. For you to turn around and stab me in the back like this?” His face pinched, almost as though he would cry. He shook his head, then opened his eyes and stared at me with something bordering on hatred. “We are Sons of the Cities. It is our duty to protect and support each other and to fight for the rights of every man who has been enslaved as a pup.”
“We pledged to fight for the rights of pups,” Neil said quietly, his gaze unfocused, as if he were thinking. “But what does that mean if the pups don’t want their freedom?” He directed the question to Magnus.
Everyone was silent as we waited for Magnus’s answer.
Magnus, being Magnus, took his sweet time to answer. He nodded in careful consideration, swirled the last bit of tea around his teacup, then drank it and set his cup down.
“This is an extraordinarily important issue,” he began in a soft voice that I just knew was designed to make all of us stay quiet and lean forward so that we could hear him. “It might be one of the most vital issues on the table in the Wolf River Kingdom. But it has nothing at all to do with the Kostya Kingdom, nothing to do with trade agreements with Good Port, nothing to do with the influence of the North, or of possible aggression coming from the east and the Old Realm.” He met Peter’s eyes. “This is not the time to worry about pups one way or another.”
“Magnus!” Peter shouted, pushing himself to stand. Neil stood with him, his eyes wide with fright, but Peter pushed him away when he tried to grab hold and steady him. “How can you say that? You know how much this means to me. You know how important this issue is. Do you really want another situation to develop like the one Gennadi found himself in? Like I almost found myself in with Bela?”
“Peter! Sit down! Now!” Magnus snapped.
I was tempted to lean back as far as I could to avoid what looked like it might develop into a fight between lovers.
“I will not sit down,” Peter roared. “I cannot believe you are taking Sebald’s side. It’s like you’re taking Yuri and Bela’s side too.”
“I am not and you know it,” Magnus said. “The issue is far more complicated than you make it out to be. It is more complex than you understand.”
“So I’m an idiot then?” Peter shouted, gesticulating wildly, his voice so high it was nearing a squeak. I’d never seen Peter so upset. By the pale look on Neil’s face, he’d never seen it either.
“My love, you are deliberately misunderstanding me because you are hurt,” Magnus said, trying to remain calm on the outside, but it was obvious to everyone he was getting worked up as well.
And it was all my fault.
“We need to discuss this,” I said, desperately uneasy about getting between Peter and Magnus when they were fighting. “I won’t deny that. It is important, and I understand your viewpoint, Peter.” Peter whipped to face me and looked like he had something to say, but I rushed on with, “Magnus is right. We don’t have time to get into a debate about pupdom when we all need to be up at the palace in an hour, maybe less, to discuss ways to keep everyone on the frontier—pup, wolf, city-dweller, Good Port citizen, everyone—safe and alive through the winter that is on its way.”
“He’s right,” Jace said, surprising me again by taking my side. “We’ll get together tonight, after the day’s meetings, as Sons of the Cities, and battle it out then.”
As much as the prospect of holding a Sons meeting to fight over pupdom terrified me, it also relieved me to know when the discussion would happen and to be able to prepare for it.
“I think that is a wise course of action,” Magnus said, his voice flat, still staring at Peter. The two of them were clearly having some sort of private dialog that didn’t involve the rest of us. “Right now, I need to know what I am about to face when I sit down across the table from Sai, Jorgen, and Hati this afternoon.”
“I need to know those things as well,” Olympus said. He was a brave man for stepping into the middle of the fray. Or maybe he just didn’t know Magnus and Peter well enough to know what he was stepping in. “I know the least of anyone who is here for this meeting. I’m not certain I even understand what the stakes are.”
The air crackled as though lightning was about to strike in the silence that followed.
Finally, because I couldn’t stand the tension any longer, I drew a breath and said, “The biggest problem you’re going to face with the Kostya Kingdom is that the culture of the city-dwellers hasn’t changed, even though their circumstances have.”
It was as though all of us let out a collective breath as the anxiety of the moment passed.
Or, at least, it would have been relief if Peter hadn’t hissed a curse under his breath and stomped off toward the cottage where he, Magnus, and Neil had chosen to stay. Neil exchanged an anguished look with Magnus, then followed after him.
Magnus glanced to me with a brief look of apology, then said, “Could you be more specific about the finer points of this culture?”
I glanced to Peter’s retreating back for a moment, then sat back in my chair, feeling like I’d walked through a storm. Avenel lay his head on my thigh, breathing out heavily, and I stroked a hand over his head and neck.
“Many city-dwellers are still suspicious of wolves,” I said. My thoughts were still scattered and my nerves raw from fighting with Peter, but the more I spoke, the clearer my thoughts became. “Too many people still cling to the idea that the wolves are shiftless savages, like the wolves in the eastern forest. It’s going to make it difficult for them to accept whatever alliances and deals you and Jorgen negotiate with Sai.”
“I expected as much after observing the reactions of the noblemen Sai brought with him to the coronation,” Magnus said with a sigh, sinking back in his chair as well and rubbing a hand over his face. It was clear to me his reaction was for Peter, not over the things that were being said.
“There’s more than that,” I went on. “Sai is popular, but the mood of the people of the Kostya Kingdom is volatile. If he makes a wrong move, there could be calls for his removal.”
“Who would take his place?” Lefric asked. “Someone like my father?” He laughed as though that were ridiculous.
I took it seriously. “Possibly. From what I’ve been able to gather, only a third of the nobility made it through Gomez’s reign and the Dying Winter, but a lot of people crave the nobility as a connection to the past and a way to feel grounded. Only, Gomez killed most of the competent nobles.”
