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I winced at Peter. I got what he was saying and why, but he wasn’t doing himself any favors by blurting out things like that.
Evidently, Magnus agreed. He reached out and took Peter’s hand. “I think we’ve all been given quite enough to chew on for one evening,” he said. His eyes were on Peter at first, but he glanced across to Jorgen and Hati, then me and Olympus a moment later. “I know I invited you to dine with us initially, but I think we all have a great deal to talk about with our own people. If we linger here, if the servants that are coming from the palace with our supper find us all engaged in a new meeting without Sai, we will hear about it in the morning.”
Hati snorted. “King Sai is a pup himself. The man knows less about leadership and strategy than Olympus’s pup.”
I expected Peter to speak up again, but it was Jace who snapped, “That’s my brother you’re insulting, and he’s doing the best he can with hardly any help.”
Hati laughed. “Do you think your brother is ruling his kingdom effectively?” he asked. “I am shocked by the disintegration of the cities that I’ve seen, both at Yakutsk and here.”
“Much of that was Gomez’s doing, not Sai’s,” Magnus said, coming to Sai’s defense.
“Which could just mean that the Old Realm believes the casualties it has inflicted on the frontier are devastating to the point that retaking the cities will be easy,” I said, speaking without thinking.
“I’m not certain the Old Realm accounted for the strength of the wolves, then,” Sebald spoke up. Now he was the center of attention. He shrugged. “I’ve been living in Hedeon for two months now. The culture of the cities hasn’t changed. Most people still think wolves are unorganized savages, in spite of evidence to the contrary. Why would people think differently in the Old Realm?”
“Why indeed,” Magnus said, then went straight into, “But I really must insist that we end our conversation for the time being. We all know that nothing effective will be accomplished within the walls of the palace, but nothing effective will be decided on here tonight either. We need rest to organize our minds so that we can proceed tomorrow.”
“We all know that this is a meeting of three kingdoms, not four, you mean,” Jorgen said with a laugh. “And that we all need to recalculate our strategies now what we’re certain of that.”
“Yes,” Magnus said honestly. “But we cannot let Sai know that.” He glanced to Jace.
Jace held up his hands, which meant letting go of Gennadi for a moment, and said, “I don’t plan on telling him anything. I saw what Sebald sees within five minutes of reuniting with my mother and sisters. Hedeon is not my home anymore and Kostya is not my kingdom. My loyalty is to Magnus.”
Magnus’s eyes went wide with mock surprise. “Good God,” he said. “The world truly has been tipped on its axis if Jace is expressing his loyalty to me.”
That simple comment lightened the mood of the room. It made me laugh, and even Peter cracked a smile. It was also the signal we all needed to break up the meeting it was clear we all wanted to have.
“Bring your pups by early tomorrow morning,” Magnus told Jorgen and Hati, crossing the room to shake their hands. “We’ll speak before the meeting and set our own agenda for the day. And we’ll come up with a likely excuse for a deeper meeting, possibly tomorrow night.”
“Agreed,” Jorgen said.
Jorgen and Magnus shook hands, which led to a round of goodbyes. Once Jorgen and Hati left, the rest of us started to move as well.
“Are we still having a Sons meeting this evening?” I asked as Magnus, Peter, and Neil headed toward the door to Sebald’s back garden.
“Yes,” Peter said, glancing across to Sebald with narrowed eyes. “We most definitely are.”
He walked out to the garden a moment later. Neil sent Sebald an apologetic look, then followed him.
“I will have a word with him,” Magnus said before going out as well, “but this is your problem to resolve.”
He meant that for all of the Sons, and we all knew it.
“Don’t worry,” Jace said, grasping Gennadi’s hand and heading for the door as well. “I plan on taking your side in the argument.”
“I think we’ll probably end up with more than one argument on our hands and more than two sides,” I said, crossing the room with Olympus. “But as long as we do it naked and sweaty, the Sons can argue all night and I won’t care.”
