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“Hmm.” Salem nodded thoughtfully as he leaned forward on his desk, his elbows resting on the mahogany, his hands entwined on the desk in a seemingly casual hold until you noticed the white knuckles and realised there was no casual relaxedness in the Principal Elder.
Bryce looked at Tegan, and again his eyes flicked to Marcus to determine his reaction. “Why did Cord come here?”
Tegan stood straight, her shoulders back, her hands behind her back with her gaze staring straight ahead. “Council Elder Alexander was not to be found at home.”
“Oh.” Bryce’s face showed his surprise. “I assumed his Solitude would be carried out there.” He didn’t miss the short huff of displeasure from Salem. “Am I missing something else?”
“Crimson Castor Lebedev has asked Elite Sentinel TeganHoltto form a low-key search and rescue for the Council Elder.” Salem’s glare at his fists was hard.
“Salem…I don’t understand,” Bryce admitted.
“Cord went to the Council Elder’s home to break his Solitude,” Marcus informed him brusquely. “When he arrived there, he met Cornelius Ivanov instead, they exchanged words.” Marcus’s gaze flicked to Tegan, who remained stoic throughout. “We do not know what was said, but Cord entered the Council Elder’s room of Solitude and found him to be missing, if indeed he had ever been there at all.” Marcus let the information sink in. “The Castor believes the Council Elder has been taken and that Cornelius knows why and who.”
Commander Bryce looked over at Tegan again. “Why you?”
Tegan turned her head slowly to look at him. “Why not?”
“You are under my leadership, Elite Sentinel, my orders.”
“Which is why the Principal Elder has asked you here. You need to release me from my duty for the moment in order for me to fulfil theMarkof Velvore’s request.” Tegan’s head snapped back to staring straight ahead.
Bryce looked between his Elite Sentinel and his Principal Elder, finally picking up on the tension in the room. His eyes met Marcus’s, who was also tight-lipped.
“Elite Sentinel Tegan, your watch starts in ten minutes. Elite Sentinel Jasper is waiting for you at the main door to begin your rotation, I will find you.” Commander Bryce watched her struggle with her indecision to leave the room, but with a short jerk of her head, she turned and left the study. “Salem?” he asked when the door was firmly closed behind her.
“He portalled into her room, told her that he had tried tobreakSolitude, a Council Elder’s Solitude no less, and when he realised that Alexander was not there, that she had to carry out a mission to find him as well as question Cornelius! Heruncle.” Salem’s eyes flashed with fury. “In the time that he was in her room, he acknowledged and admitted to the intent of the breaking of an oath, spouted unfounded allegations against aTerritory Elderand gave her an order she cannot fulfil as she is nothisto command.”
Commander Bryce looked once again to his Principal Elder’s Second, who stood at the window, his gaze cast outwards. Bryce sighed internally, there was no assistance coming from Marcus. “Salem, I don’t know what you want me to do,” Bryce began hesitantly. “He is the Mark of Velvore, acknowledged and accepted by the Three.”
“He isnother Commander!” Salem roared as he got to his feet in rage. “He is a wilful, arrogant,dangerousmale who thinks he is above the rules and has thought so long before he was graced with any Mark.”
“I don’t think I can overrule him,” Commander Bryce said quietly. “If you cannot do it as her Principal Elder, I don’t think I can either.”
“I cannot interfere as I am her father,” Salem snapped. “No matter that she calls another by that name,Iam her father. If I allow it, it makes it look like the Northern Headquarters are declaring war on House Ivanov.” He stalked around the edge of the desk to stand in front of the Commander. “You are her Commander, it is in your Guard she is enrolled. Bryce, youcannotlet her go.”
“Did he actuallyorderher, or merely suggest?” Marcus pondered as he watched Elite Sentinel Tegan walk down the driveway to begin her night’s watch.
“She said he ordered her,” Salem bit out angrily.
“Your daughter is clever and quick-witted.” Marcus continued to watch her as she disappeared into the surrounding treeline. “She knows the power a simple word holds. It may be that Cordaskedher or suggested it, and she has merely played upon words to suit.”
“You think she lied?” Salem asked bemusedly; he couldn’t imagine Tegan wilfully lying.
“I think she is a talented hunter, whose father is trapped in a Court where she has been told he has fallen. Cord came to her with a problem, tying both his stepfather and a Council Elder together in a plot where one is his own personal villain and the other is the only Vampyre who may be able to help him find Tegan’s father. He may have merely asked her to look into the Council Elder, and she has purposefully misused his words in order to carry out an order.” Marcus scratched his jaw as he thought. “She would know that history shows the Mark’s word as almost law.” Marcus turned to the other two males in the room. “I do not think she haslied, but I think she knew exactly what phraseology to use when she relayed the conversation to us.”
“We could ask Cord?” Bryce suggested.
“No,” Salem answered sharply. “He is too clever, he will know what she has done and go along with it.”
“I agree,” Marcus said as he crossed the room. “We need to ask her therightquestions. Teganisa good Sentinel, and Leonid abhors liars, so she will have it deeply instilled within her to be honest. We need to press her.”
“You mean my question when I asked her if she was in her right mind was not therightquestion?” Salem muttered as he poured three glasses of brandy.
“That and perhaps your mention she was too young and that it was too dangerous,” Marcus said ruefully as he accepted his tumbler.
“Yeah, not my proudest moment.”
“The plan then?” Bryce asked quietly.
