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“So, is it the fact that we’re men landing in bed with other men that bothers you or the fact that we’re nobles?” I asked, growing impatient with the hypocrisy in front of me. “Would you care less if it was the sons of farmers or craftsmen? Because I have some friends who are pups that started out as farmers’ sons. I also have friends in Good Port whose parents sold them to a brothel for the money he needed to buy a boat,” I added in a hurry, sensing that it wasn’t actually helpful to bring up men like Orel in this particular discussion. Not that it would help to mention Billi and Hayk. “Which is worse?” I asked on. “A nobleman’s son who ends up as the husband of a king by his own choice or a son and daughter of a fishermen who end up as whores for the sake of a boat?”
None of Sai’s councilors had an answer to that, which gave me a deeply satisfied feeling. That feeling grew when Olympus placed his hand on my thigh under the table and squeezed it in a show of pride.
“I can see that slavery in all of its guises is too thorny an issue for us to consider here and now,” Sai said, rubbing his forehead. He was backing down when things got prickly, which I could tell Magnus didn’t approve of. “Seeing as the Kostya Kingdom is the only entity at this table that does not practice some form of slavery, perhaps we should leave that particular issue for another time. I am most concerned with ensuring that we don’t have another dying winter.”
“If it’s guarantees you’re after, then the Kostya Kingdom should demand a guarantee that the wolves will not turn their backs on us and watch us die again because of their stubborn inaction,” Markus huffed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
I leaned back in my chair as well. I couldn’t believe Markus and Yegor, and most of the rest of Sai’s councilors, were so thick that they didn’t realize they were in the worst position of anyone at the table. The cities always had thought too highly of themselves, but blaming the wolves for the Dying Winter was a horrible idea.
But if they were determined to think that way, I couldn’t do anything about it. No one could. It just meant that we’d all dragged ourselves out of our homes and all the way to Hedeon for no good reason.
I glanced sideways to Olympus and saw similar thoughts painted in his expression. These meetings were pointless. We were wasting time including Sai and the cities in our discussions of how to keep everyone safe, fed, and protected through the winter. We could be building up our own alliance, or figuring out how to find a place for the wolves in the eastern forest in our new order. Or we could even reach out to the Old Realm ourselves. King Julius was Magnus’s brother, for heaven’s sake.
I glanced over at Magnus…and my pulse sped up. Magnus hadn’t said anything through the entire debate. I’d assumed it was because he was amused watching Sai’s councilors make asses of themselves by discussing something they didn’t understand. Or perhaps he was keeping quiet out of respect for Peter’s unsettled feelings. He was holding Peter’s hand and playing with his fingers, after all.
There was a different sort of look in Magnus’s eyes, though, and he wasn’t looking at Yegor or Markus, or even Sai. He was looking straight at Hadrian with narrowed eyes. It was like he was trying to see through Hadrian’s skin to gauge what he was thinking and who he was loyal to, if he was the spy.
No, I was reasonably sure Magnus knew Hadrian was a spy now. We all did. Yegor’s casual mention that Hadrian had tried to turn Sai’s councilors against the wolves, using the Sons of the Cities, for all intents and purposes, as his reason was proof. I wondered if Hadrian was behind the whispers throughout the Kostya Kingdom that the Dying Winter was the wolves’ fault. Either way, the look Magnus fixed on Hadrian now was the look of a man trying to figure out how best to murder someone without creating a major diplomatic incident.
Hadrian didn’t see Magnus’s death stare. He was too busy watching Jorgen and Hati. I hadn’t realized the two of them had continued talking while I quickly assessed the mood at the table. Then again, I hadn’t exactly done a good job of paying attention to any of the negotiations since we’d started. The negotiations were boring. Everything else going on in the room was far more interesting.
I peeked at Olympus to see what he thought. His hand was still on my thigh, which I thought was a little strange, but I liked it, so I didn’t complain. He was paying close attention to whatever Jorgen was saying to Sai—something about faires, apparently. I would be happy to have faires back again. But that wasn’t what kept me focused on Olympus and the frown he wore.
It dawned on me all of a sudden. The look Olympus wore and the stiff way he sat were almost identical to the look Sai wore and the tension that radiated from him. Olympus was scrambling to figure out what was going on every bit as much as Sai was, but unlike Sai, he didn’t have a crown on his head to give him authority. Olympus had been forced to all but admit that he didn’t carry any authority at all with him. Vikhrov had sent us off with Magnus to keep us out of the investigation into Gregorius’s death, not to make alliances or speak on behalf of the council in Good Port.
As Yegor went off on some new point of nonsense, I leaned close to Olympus and whispered, “Is everything alright? You’re looking a bit anxious.”
Olympus turned to me and widened his eyes as if I’d offended him. “I’m not anxious, what makes you think I’m anxious? I’m just trying to pay attention and figure out—”
He was interrupted as the council room door banged open and a red and panting Nikandr appeared, followed by two of the guards who had been set to watch the meeting room doors.
Hati immediately stood, a look of deep concern in his eyes that proved to me, at least, that he really cared about his pup, and said, “Nikandr, what is wrong?”
“It’s….” Nikandr caught his breath and swallowed, searching around the table until he spotted Sebald. “That man, Barthold, arrived at your house. He’s looking for his wife.”
Sebald jumped to his feet so fast his chair made a loud noise as it scraped against the floor. Jorgen and Jace leapt up too, and everyone else was instantly on alert.
“Has he hurt anyone?” Sebald asked as he walked swiftly around the table toward the door. “Is everyone safe? Is Avenel alright? Are Premila and the baby safe?”
“If he’s hurt Genny, I’ll tear him limb from limb,” Jace growled, following half a step behind Sebald.
Hati sat closer to the door. He reached Nikandr before Sebald and Jace did. He pulled the young man into his arms and kissed his forehead, then his lips briefly.
“Ox and Katrina took Premila and the baby over to their house first thing after you all left,” Nikandr went on. “They were going to fetch a healer. I don’t think Barthold knows anyone is even in that house. He was too busy searching Sebald and Avenel’s cottage.”
“This is too much,” Sebald said, dashing out the door. “If he hurts them—”
He drifted out of earshot as Jace and Jorgen followed him.
Hati kissed Nikandr again. “You’ve done well, pup,” he said, then steered him out of the room as well.
The last we all saw was Nikandr’s look of pure adoration for Hati before they were gone as well.
I couldn’t help myself. “Do you still have questions about whether the wolves love and care for their pups?” I asked Sai’s councilors. “You’ve just watched some of the most powerful men on the frontier abandon a meeting with kings because their pups have been threatened. What a terrible, cruel life they must lead,” I finished sarcastically, shaking my head.
Everyone was silent for a moment, still stunned by the turn of events.
Magnus rose slowly, glancing to Peter, then Neil, then staring across the table at Sai. “I believe this would be a good time to pause our negotiations and regroup,” he said.
