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“Ran off with your whore today while I had to fight for my life at the cemetery,” he sneered.
“You got out of there before we did,” Wylder answered calmly. “I saw you driving away before I’d even gotten into my car. I’m not sure what you expected me to do after that. And you don’t call Mercy a whore.”
Ezra’s lip curled with a sneer. “I’ll call whoever I want whatever I want.”
“No. Not with her.” Wylder took a few steps until he was standing right in front of Ezra’s desk. Something had changed in him. I could feel that, and maybe Ezra felt that too. He fell silent, staring up at his son.
Wylder seemed to take his silence as an opening. He sat down in one of the chairs opposite his dad, and I took the one next to him.
“I had an interesting meeting earlier today,” Wylder said. “Have you ever heard of the Long Night?”
I studied Ezra’s expression carefully. He knit his brow, looking only puzzled. It didn’t appear to be a show. Maybe he really hadn’t had any idea that there were powers calling the shots over his head.
“The long night?” he repeated. “What’s that?”
“It’s a who,” Wylder said. “That’s the name he goes by.”
“And who is this ‘he’?”
“A very powerful man who brought me, my men, and Mercy in to talk to us about the war in Paradise Bend.”
Ezra considered his son for a long moment. “Go on.”
Wylder quickly recounted the story of the darts and how we’d woken up in the immense mansion, the explanation the Long Night had given us about the organization he and the Storm were part of, and the proposal he’d given us.
“But he’s only given us a week, starting tonight,” he finished. “He wants this dealt with quickly, or he’s threatened that he’ll put all his own men to the job and wipe the whole county clean so there’s no one left who answers to anyone but himself.”
Ezra’s jaw worked as if he were chewing on the idea. “I’m supposed to believe that some lunatic who named himself after a full moon has been manipulating our business pursuits without me having the slightest idea—”
“You don’t need to believe it,” I broke in, with a hitch of my pulse that I ignored. Arguing with Ezra Noble rarely went well for those who dared to. “You know I deal only in facts, Mr. Noble. The fact is that what we saw out there was clearly the domain of a man with far more resources than even you possess. He’s given us some of those resources as they relate to the Storm, information we had no hope of getting on our own.” I held up my tablet. “I can show—”
Ezra cut me off just like I’d done to him, his gaze snapping back to Wylder. “Andyou’rethe one he offered this deal to?” His tone had gone icy cold.
Wylder’s expression hardened. Apparently he’d given up on trying to be tactful after his dad’s earlier reception. “Maybe that isn’t so surprising considering that Mercy and I have been the ones out there in the Bend trying to fix this problem while you’ve spent most of the past couple of months denying there even is one.”
Ezra stiffened in his seat. “I still rule the Nobles, as you’d better remember.”
“Of course you do,” Wylder retorted. “But who the hell cares who’s sitting on the throne if in a week there’ll be no Nobles at all. Can you set that crap aside for long enough to save our hides, for fuck’s sake?”
Ezra’s eyes flared. Before he could speak, I jumped in, keeping my tone carefully even. “We have plenty of intel, and we’re already making plans. But we need all of the Nobles on our side, fighting with us, if we’re going to have any hope of reclaiming Paradise Bend in the timeline we’ve been given. With enough manpower and the information the Storm can’t imagine that we have, we can strike quickly and decisively and maybe have a real chance.”
“Or else we’ll all end up like Roland in a week’s time,” Wylder added.
Ezra scoffed lightly. “Maybe you should have thought twice before agreeing to a devil’s deal. The Nobles won’t be taken down that easily.” But I saw the way his knuckles had whitened where he’d clasped his hands together. Between the two of us, we were managing to convince him of the gravity of the situation.
“He didn’t give us much of a choice,” Wylder said. “It was either this or have him start the slaughter immediately if we said no. And I’d rather not take my chances against twice as many enemies. We need the Storm’s people gone from Paradise Bend anyway. You know what a menace they’ve been.”
“You have the Claws on your side courtesy of your plaything, don’t you?”
Wylder took a few deep breaths to calm himself, but I could feel the anger radiating off him. “Think about it, Dad. If the Long Night makes good on his promise, it’s game over for all of us. Is it really worth risking that on the assumption that there couldn’t be anyone more powerful than you? Let’s clean up the Bend once and for all—you, me, and the rest of the Nobles, together.”
Ezra was silent for a few beats. Then, with a long suffering sigh, he said, “Fine. The deal’s been made without my input, and there’s nothing I can do about that now. And we do need the Storm’s forces cleared out. But anything that happens, it’s on you. You can call on any of the Nobles when you need to, but I want to be kept informed if and when that happens.”
“Shall I send you a file or would you like notes over dinner?” Wylder said dryly. There it was again, that edge in his voice. My relief was quickly swallowed by the tension stretching taut between them.
“That’s alright,” I said hastily. “I can fill Ezra in.”
Both father and son turned to look at me. I swallowed hard. “I mean I can act as the go-between, keep you both appraised of what’s going on and any new developments. It’s better this way since my job is staying behind the scenes anyway.” Anything to reduce the chances of a blow up between the two reigning Nobles. My efforts might not be enough, but at least I was contributing something.
And it terrified me less than the thought of confronting Xavier face to face another time. I’d take Ezra Noble over that monster any day.
“I find that satisfactory,” Ezra said. “Now get out of my office. You got what you came for.”
Wylder stood stiffly, and I followed him out the door. Taking in his rigid posture, I couldn’t help thinking that Ezra had been totally wrong. Wylder hadn’t gotten what he really wanted out of his father at all.
But I wasn’t sure he’d ever get the respect I knew he craved, not while Ezra could still dangle it over his head like a carrot on a stick.
