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“Thosebastards,” she spat out. “They could have killed him. They could have killedyou. They were probably hoping they would. They’re just not going to be satisfied, are they? Not until they destroy everything— No. If they dare set foot anywhere near here again—”
She halted, her hands clenching at her sides and a light so fierce it unnerved me coming into her eyes. “There is someone here we can get answers from, isn’t there?” she said. “Let’s take everything he can give us.”
She swiveled toward the door.
“What are you talking about, Rose?” I said. “What are you going to do?”
“My father thinks it’s worthwhile consulting with Master Courtland,” she said. Fury radiated from her taut voice. “I think it’s time I had a talk with him too.”
I wasn’t letting her go there alone, not in that state. “Let me drive,” I said quickly. “You can concentrate on what you’re going to ask him, the best approach to take.”
“Oh, I know what approach I’m taking,” she muttered, but she nodded before she stalked out.
“If he knows something about what happened to my dad, I want to be there,” Seth said.
“Same,” Kyler put in, even though his eyes were nervously wide.
Damon cracked his knuckles. “I’m not missing this.”
Jin gave the rest of us a tightly bemused smile. “Rather than squeeze myself into the party, maybe I’d better stay here. Hold down the house. So I can let you know if they launch some kind of direct attack.”
Rose was already halfway to the garage. I squeezed Jin’s shoulder. “Good thinking. Tell Rose’s guests to stay in the house too, all right?”
He gave me a quick salute.
I hurried across the front yard to get the Buick that was Rose’s favorite ride. She dropped into the passenger seat next to me, and the other guys piled into the back. “Are you sure he’s even home right now?” I said. If she had time to cool off a little before this confrontation, maybe it’d go better.
“If he’s not, we’ll just come back later,” she said, leaning back in the seat with her arms crossed tight in front of her. “But he’ll probably be there.”
I wished the drive to Courtland’s house took more than a few minutes. Far too soon, I had to pull up outside the little country house that was much less imposing than Rose’s manor.
Rose was pushing open the car door in an instant, striding past the wooden gate and up to the front door. By the time the rest of us had clambered out, she was already knocking on it a second time.
Courtland’s thick voice carried from the other side. “All right, all right, I’m com—” He froze the second he opened the door wide enough to see Rose.
Rose didn’t even try to talk. With a jerk of her elbow and a twist of her hand, she shoved him backward into his house with a burst of magical energy. My throat closed up. I dashed after her.
When we reached the front hall, she had Courtland on the floor in the kitchen. “You can talk to my dad, you can talk to me,” she said, looming over him, her hand braced at her side ready to cast another spell. Power crackled through the air, so potent it raised the hairs on my arms. “I think you owe me plenty. What are the Frankfords and the rest of them planning? Who are they going to come after next?”
“I don’t know,” Courtland said, his voice wavering. He’d flung his arm across his face protectively. What didhethink she was going to do? “They don’t discuss those plans with me. I’m not officially aligned with anyone.”
“You were aligned enough with my father to help him figure out how to turn me into a slave,” Rose snapped.
“I’m telling you, I don’t—”
She wrenched her hand to the side, and his voice cut off with a flinch and a choked sound. My stomach lurched. She’d hurt him.
Rose’s hair lifted from her shoulders as if stirred by a private wind. “I’m done hearing excuses,” she said. “Their people come after mine, I come after theirs. And you’re theirs enough to count. What do you know about the security on the Frankford properties? Who else has evidence of what you all have been doing?”
“Nothing,” Courtland said around a gasp. “And I don’t know.”
She flicked her fingers again, and he groaned, but that didn’t change his answer.
“Rose,” I said, and her other hand shot up in a gesture that clearly said to back off. Next to me, Damon was grinning sharply, but the twins were staring. Seth looked almost as sick as I felt.
“I should drag you into the Assembly,” Rose said, leaning closer to Courtland. “Forceyou to tell them everything you’d seen, everything you’ve heard.”
He lowered his hand enough to glare defiantly back at her. “They’d arrest you for illegal mind magic before you got one word out of me that would count as testimony.”
