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Jace looked like he wanted to fight her. “Listen here, you.”
“Young man,” Magnus cut Jace off before he got started, sending a look to Ox to quell her as well, “I am fully aware that you have a long-overdue reunion ahead of you. I have no wish to prevent you from rejoining the bosom of your family. But you are not the child that left them. Most of the time. You are a man, one who holds an important role in the diplomatic mission in front of us. Furthermore, you are still serving your time as a servant in my household for crimes committed in the city, in the very palace where we will all be guests for the next few days. This is not the time to let your sentiments and emotions run away with you.”
I winced at Magnus’s dressing-down, even though it was for Jace and not me. Even Ox looked impressed and backed off. I half expected the telling off to make Jace even angrier, possibly to the point of mutinying against Magnus, but was surprised when Jace merely lowered his head sullenly.
“They are my family, Magnus,” he said in a flat voice, trying to stand with his shoulders squared and his chin up. It was clear he respected Magnus and was trying not to be intimidated by him. “The last time I saw them was under the very worst of circumstances. You have to allow that I have a heart, one that has beat for my family for three long and trying years.”
“I do allow for that,” Magnus said with a nod. “Which is why I wish for you to spend as much time with them as possible during this negotiation.”
I raised my eyebrows a bit. Magnus, Peter, and I had discussed almost every aspect of the meeting that was about to take place, but Magnus had been vague on what Jace’s part in the whole thing would be. I suspected that was because he didn’t know what to do with Jace—honestly, Magnus never knew what to do with Jace—but it seemed like he’d decided now.
I sent a quick look to Peter, but he didn’t seem to know anything more than I did. In fact, he looked at me like I might have the answers.
“What do you mean, you wish me to spend as much time as possible with my family?” Jace asked, his frown taking on a more curious nature. He shifted his weight to one hip and crossed his arms, staring at Magnus as though he were demanding an answer.
“Just that,” Magnus said. “Once we reach the palace, I want you to take time with your family.”
“Instead of attending the negotiations?” Gennadi asked.
I blinked at the astuteness of the question a second before Magnus revealed his plan.
“We need to learn as much as possible about the situation in Hedeon and the rest of the Kostya Kingdom,” he said, glancing not just to Jace, but to the rest of us as well. “We have a limited number of days to gather as much intelligence on the state of the Kostya Kingdom and to glean whatever they know about the rest of the frontier that we don’t. The only way we’re going to be able to do that is if we divide our efforts.”
He focused on Jace and Gennadi again. “I need the two of you to assess the situation and the attitudes held by common city-dwellers. Jace, your family are far from being ordinary citizens of the Kostya Kingdom, but they will likely know how things are. I want you to discover as much as you can from them.”
Jace’s scowl was back in an instant. “You want me to play spy with my own family?”
“Do you mean you aren’t interested in learning what the people of your home city and the kingdom it now belongs to think and feel now?” Magnus snapped back at him.
Jace huffed out a breath and dropped his arms. “Yes,” he admitted. “I do want to know what’s going on, where people stand these days.”
“Then your part of this mission should be entirely agreeable to you,” Magnus said, back to smiling again, as though he and Jace had had a full argument and he’d won.
He moved right on, glancing to the rest of us.
“Ox and Katrina. I want the two of you to spend the duration of this meeting wandering through Hedeon and talking to as many people as possible. Blend in. Speak to the common people. I don’t think Sai will find it strange that you aren’t in the official meetings with us.”
“Whatever you need, Magnus,” Katrina said with a nod.
“We already know from Sebald’s letter that Jorgen Iceblade and his paramour, Hati, will be in attendance at this meeting,” Magnus went on, likely explaining what most of us knew already for Olympus’s benefit. It would save everyone time later if Olympus didn’t interrupt with questions. “In spite of Sebald’s feelings that he has committed some sort of error in accidentally inviting Jorgen to join the fun, I couldn’t be happier. I am not satisfied with the way things were left with Jorgen and Hati after the Grand Summit last year. I should have done more to learn Jorgen’s opinions and to secure his allyship.”
“Do you want Jorgen and Hati and their packs to join the Wolf River Kingdom?” Peter asked, confused. At least he didn’t have that lust-hazed look in his eyes that he’d had when he’d first met Jorgen and Hati at the Grand Summit. That in itself was a testament to how much Peter had grown and matured in the last year.
Magnus shook his head. “I doubt anyone from the north will join the Wolf River Kingdom now. I still have my reservations about Avraam and Gerald, but so far, they have followed through on their intent to join us. From what I understand, Jorgen and Hati have already more or less taken over Inverhaus and every pack to the north. What I would like now is for them to ally themselves with the Wolf River Kingdom.
“What I would actually like is for them to ally themselves with a confederation involving the Wolf River Kingdom, the Kostya Kingdom, and Good Port,” Magnus went on.
“Does Good Port get to be a kingdom in this confederation you are suggesting?” Olympus asked with a grin. “Or are we just a lowly trading partner?”
Magnus burst into an unexpected smile. “The Kingdom of Good Port. I like it. And why not? The more magnificence we give ourselves, the more we are likely to be taken seriously as a force on the frontier.”
I nearly laughed. That could be taken as Magnus’s entire philosophy of living—pretend you are who you want to be and no one will question whether you actually are or not.
Olympus seemed to catch on as well. “So let me guess. My and Lefric’s part in this meeting is to woo this Jorgen Iceblade and his northern kingdom to our alliance by offering them a chance to share in what Good Port has.”
Magnus’s brow went up as though he thought that were a brilliant idea, but before he could say anything, Lefric gasped, “Don’t tell me you’re going to throw me into Jorgen Iceblade’s bed instead of Peter this time.”
Magnus laughed out loud at the idea. I exchanged a look with Peter, uncertain whether to laugh at the absurdity or to plead and argue with Magnus not to try that tactic again. Peter was clearly dead-set against it.
