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“Raven?” he asked in a low voice when the call connected, making sure to use Sorin’s field name in case they happened to be overheard. “Please, tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. I’m not in danger. We haven’t been detected and no one has been captured.”
“Then what’s going on?”
“The council has discovered the secret behind how to make omegas lay eggs.” Sorin’s voice shook, and his words were strained and painful. “From what the intelligence team has gathered, they intend to use what they know to force omegas from the Pedigree into birthing clutches for them. We need to act now to put an end to their plans before it’s too late.”
Bertram’s head spun. He stared absently at the Topaz table, where Joshua and Peter Brand were bandying on about their net worth while Ian Brand—perhaps the least insufferable of the bunch—stared despondently into his mimosa and said nothing.
“I haven’t heard of any such plan,” Bertram said uneasily. “I would have been told if something so monumental was underway. How did the intelligence team learn about this?”
“They hacked into some of Magpie’s files.” Sorin sounded like he was caught somewhere between anger and desperation. “Amongst them was an official decree from the council detailing this so-called ‘mating experiment.’ I don’t know how he got his hands on it, but it’s real. I swear. I saw it with my own eyes. It was branded with the council’s official sigil. You must believe me. There is no time to waste on disbelief. We need to act, and we need to act now.”
“Give me a second.”
Bertram took his wallet from his pocket and slipped a hundred-dollar bill onto the table. He took one last, lingering look at the sons of the Topaz clan head, then left the restaurant and joined the throngs walking the Sunset Strip.
“I can talk freely now,” he said once he was a safe distance from Topaz ears. “How do you propose we go about stopping the experiment? The Vanguard operates from the shadows, but this isn’t something we would be able to dismantle with any degree of stealth. Not with the entire council involved.”
“You’re right.” Sorin took a shaking breath, as though trying to calm himself. “The Vanguard won’t be able to do anything, which is why we need you to handle this, Bertram. You need to find a way to convince the council to stop the experiment before it begins.”
A prickling kind of dread spread through Bertram’s stomach. “You know I have no sway when it comes to the council.”
“You may not, but your father does.”
“And he does not listen to me. He listens to no dragon but himself.”
“Then don’t speak to him as a dragon—speak to him as his son.”
Sorin didn’t say it with any degree of venom, but the words poisoned Bertram all the same. His heart, already taxed from hearing Sorin in such poor condition, gave a painful pang. “My father sees me more as a pawn than as a son,” he said despondently. “I begged him to spare Piers, but he brought him on as an agent all the same. He did not listen to me then, not even when it was in regard to my own son, and I know he will not listen to me now.”
“You can’t know that for sure. He might.”
There came a contentious silence. Bertram simmered in it, and he felt Sorin doing the same.
It was Sorin who finally spoke. “You asked him to spare Piers hundreds of years ago,” he said. “So many things have changed since then. If you reason with him, perhaps he will hear you. It’s the only way we can resolve this peacefully, because I can promise you—he won’t listen to me.”
“And if I’m right, and he doesn’t listen?”
Silence.
Then, in a pained voice, Sorin said, “I think you know as well as I do what I’ll be forced to do.”
The call disconnected. Cursing, Bertram took the phone from his ear and called his father.
“A mating experiment?” he asked when Grimbold answered.
Grimbold grunted—an aural shrug. “You needn’t worry. I’ve selected Reynard as the Amethyst candidate.”
“You misunderstand.” Bertram followed the crowd across the street, then turned the corner and kept going. Palm trees lined the way, and the light that made it through their fronds danced upon his face. “I’m unconcerned with who was chosen,” he said. “What bothers me is that I was not informed. Why would you keep this a secret from me? Surely, all agents must be made aware for the safety and security of any potential clutches produced. I am likely not the only one who has found out through the grapevine about what is going on, you know. If I am to keep us safe, you need to be transparent with me. I need details. What, exactly, does this experiment entail?”
“I haven’t time for a conversation now,” Grimbold said. “The council is meeting shortly, and tensions are high enough as it is—I shan’t make things worse by being late.”
“When will you recess?”
“Tonight.” Grimbold paused—Bertram imagined he was checking his watch. “I’ll call you no later than nine o’clock central time. Until then, I trust you’ll continue to monitor the situation at hand.”
“Aye. You have my word.”
