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I smiled back, but only because I felt like I should. I wasn’t really happy about what he was saying. I felt horrible for him.
“Vera will come around in no time,” Jace went on, taking a breath as if to clear away his thoughts. “And I think once she does, she’ll be able to convince Taisiya. But I think my mother represents the biggest problem Magnus and Jorgen and anyone not part of the Kostya Kingdom has right now. City-dwellers hate wolves. They always have. And if they can’t get over it, if we can’t find a way to work together, it’s going to leave the frontier as a whole vulnerable against whatever the Old Realm is up to. Not to mention that more people will starve and die this winter.”
“Do you think the Old Realm wants to reconquer the frontier?” I asked the question that had been simmering in me all day.
Jace nodded. “Yes, I do. It hadn’t really crossed my mind until today, but now that the idea is there, I’m sure of it. I don’t know their reasons why, mind you, since I don’t think they have the men or materials to invade and conquer.”
“Maybe that is the reason,” I said. “Maybe they know the frontier has vast resources.” An even worse thought occurred to me. “Maybe they want to take men from the frontier, city-dwellers and wolves, and force them into their army so that they can continue whatever war they were fighting against the nations across the eastern sea. They didn’t actually lose the war, did they? It was a stalemate. They could easily start it up again using frontier soldiers as cannon fodder.”
Jace winced, as if that thought hadn’t occurred to him until just now either, but as if it made sense. “I kind of hate the fact that Conrad is in the Old Realm right now. I’m a little worried about what might happen to him,” he said.
“I’m worried too,” I said with a slow nod. “But Conrad is one of the smartest of us. As long as he can still get letters back to Dushka, it might actually be a good thing he’s over there. Hadrian might be the Old Realm’s spy in the Kostya Kingdom, but Conrad is more or less our spy in the Old Realm.”
“Don’t let Peter hear you say that,” Jace laughed. “He’ll move heaven and earth to bring Conrad back to the frontier if he thinks Conrad might be more important than him.”
I laughed too. “Peter isn’t really jealous of Conrad. I mean, he was when he thought there might be something between Conrad and Neil, but we all could have told him that was a ridiculous notion.”
Jace nodded in agreement, then we were both silent for a bit as our thoughts consumed us. I couldn’t tell if Gennadi had fallen asleep on Jace or not, but I could feel Avenel was still awake, even though he was resting against me. It was cozy, peaceful…and a little weird, considering we were all still naked. I had to admit that I had no problem looking at Jace’s naked body, though. He and I both had committed lovers now, but that didn’t stop me from admiring everything there was to see. Jace certainly had the build to be a soldier, if that’s what the Old Realm was after.
A sudden thought occurred to me, and I sat a bit straighter.
“I wonder if Hadrian has any information about what the Old Realm is planning,” I spoke my thought aloud. “Sai trusts him because he was Sai’s commander in the army, but that could also mean he would know how to assess the condition of the men of the forest, both in terms of who might make good soldiers in the Old Realm’s army and in terms of us forming an army to fight against them.”
Jace held his breath for a moment. The fact that Gennadi raised his head to look at him made me think Jace had probably tensed at the thought. When Jace let out a breath, he said, “I need to talk to my brother. I need to find out why he trusts this Hadrian person, and maybe convince him to get rid of the man.”
If it had been anyone else, I would have assumed Jace meant send Hadrian back to the Old Realm, but Jace had killed Gomez. My back prickled with the uneasy feeling that getting rid of Hadrian to Jace meant getting rid of him permanently.
But if Hadrian was a threat to everything we held dear, if we were already at war with the Old Realm without anyone knowing it yet, it might be better for everyone if Hadrian disappeared, like so many noblemen had disappeared.
I just hoped I wouldn’t have to be the one to do it, or to make the decision to do it.
“I think it’s time I take Genny back over to Magnus’s cottage,” Jace said after another silence, sitting slowly and giving Gennadi time to sit up too. “I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be just as full as today, if not more so.”
I sighed and nudged Avenel. “I think you’re right. And honestly, I just want to take Avenel up to bed right now.”
Avenel grinned shyly up at me as if that meant something more. I hadn’t intended it to, but when he gave me sweet looks like that, I couldn’t resist fucking him.
Jace stood and moved to gather up his and Gennadi’s clothing. He just threw it over his arm, though, before collecting Gennadi and heading for the back door. I had a feeling he didn’t have any qualms at all about walking around Magnus’s house naked. It probably happened all the time in Gravlock.
“See you tomorrow,” he said as he and Gennadi stepped out to the back garden.
“See you then,” I said, raising a hand.
I turned to Avenel with a tired sigh, then tugged him toward the stairs.
“Well,” I said with a weary grin, “that wasn’t exactly a typical meeting of the Sons of the Cities.”
“It wasn’t?” Avenel asked, following me dutifully.
I laughed and shook my head. “Maybe. We do tend to argue sometimes. But Peter was really intense tonight.” I glanced over my shoulder to Avenel as we reached the top of the stairs. “Sorry about that. He really doesn’t understand what being a pup means to you, or to Gennadi.”
“From what you and Jace were talking about, I think maybe he does, he just wishes he didn’t understand,” Avenel said.
My heart warmed at Avenel’s wise words, and as soon as we were in our room, I pulled him into my arms.
“You are so much cleverer than anyone has ever given you credit for,” I said, smiling as I ran my hands over his back and sides. I let them slip down to his ass and leaned in to kiss him for a moment, then said, “I’m so glad you’re mine.”
From the smile Avenel gave me, you would have thought I’d handed him a precious treasure. Maybe to him, I had.
