Ascanio trusted me. He trusted me and I had let him come with me. He had no fear, because he was young and he thought he was immortal and because he counted on me keeping him alive. I couldn’t lose him. “If you’re done, chain me next to him, and I’ll keep chanting.”
The medmage turned to me. “I didn’t say I was giving up. I’m just telling you that there’s no light at the end of this tunnel. You have a couple of hours to come to terms with it.”
Doolittle would’ve ripped a new hole somewhere in him for his bedside manner. If he hadn’t been holding Ascanio’s life in his hands, I’d have told him exactly what I thought about it.
“We don’t have a couple of hours,” Robert said, his eyes still closed. “D’Ambray is coming.”
And soon, too. We’d been inside the chapterhouse for about fifteen minutes. Everything I had read about the wendigo said they regenerated in anywhere from five minutes to half an hour, depending on the magnitude of the magic wave. We hadn’t had the time to cut it into little pieces and then burn them. As soon as his wendigo got on its feet, Hugh would come. I had taunted him, and my ward had kicked his ass. He wouldn’t let it go.
“D’Ambray would be an idiot to attack the Order,” Diana said.
“We’ve got backup coming in,” Mauro said. “I’ve talked to the knight-protector. Ted reached out to the Paranormal Activity Division and the National Guard.”
Neither the PAD nor the National Guard would get here in time.
“We’ve fought one of them before,” Mauro said. “It was me, Kate, and Nash, and we all lived through it.”
We had lived through it, because I was one of “them.” Pointing that out wasn’t in my best interests. “Let me out. I’ll fight with you.”
“Sorry, Kate.” Mauro grimaced. “Orders are orders.”
“Kate,” Maxine’s voice said in my head.
“Yes?”
“I’m being evacuated out of the office. I’m instructed to stay within my range so I can make a full report of what happens.”
Ted was expecting trouble.
“Thank you for your help,” I whispered. “I truly appreciate it.”
“I know, dear. I’m very sorry you left. It hasn’t been the same without you and Andrea.”
Heavy steps came down the stairs and Ted Moynohan walked into the room. The knight-protector had aged since I last saw him. He’d been in his early fifties when we met. Now he seemed closer to sixty. He was built thick and had gotten thicker. The layer of fat was deceiving—there was hard, powerful muscle underneath—and Ted didn’t look soft. He looked like a heavyweight fighter who had let himself go a bit. He wore blue jeans, a gray shirt, cowboy boots, and a belt with a buckle that had illusions of grandeur. A black cowboy hat sat on his head, and if it got real hot, he could shelter a gaggle of street orphans in its shade.
Ted stopped by my cage and peered at me, his square jaw locked. I looked back. He would do me no favors and I expected none.
“Here you are in a cage, Daniels. I always knew you’d end up in one.”
I didn’t answer. If he got it all off his chest, I’d have a better chance of making him understand what was coming.
“You put the Consort of the Pack in a cage,” Robert said.
“I don’t see a consort. I see the same smart-mouthed merc with a sharp sword, except she’s dressed better now. Mercs have no loyalty and this one has no brains. She’ll get you killed just like that kid over there. You should’ve found yourself someone smarter to follow.”
“D’Ambray is coming,” I said. “He has a detachment of Iron Dogs and at least one wendigo with him. He also has access to the entirety of the People’s stable of vampires. He wants to bring down the Pack and he has decided that killing me is the way to do it.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but close enough. “He’s pissed off. If you let me go, d’Ambray will follow me.”
“Mm-hm,” Ted said.
“He has superior numbers and he’s very determined. You don’t have the manpower to oppose him. Let me out.” I just needed them to keep Ascanio, Derek, and Desandra safe. That’s all. Robert and I could go and draw Hugh off with us.
Ted shook his head. “No. This is a human fight and you’ve picked the wrong side. Live with your choices.”
Stubborn bastard. “You have no authority to detain me.”
“Yes, I do. When you petitioned the Order for protection, they gave us sweeping power to guard you in the way we see fit. Enjoy being guarded, Daniels.”
Argh. Listen to me, you dense asshole. “They will breach your defenses. You’re throwing your people away. Hugh isn’t some Joe Blow off the street, he’s the preceptor of the Order of Iron Dogs. He has Uath with him. She likes to skin people alive.”
Ted smiled.
He wanted it.
The crazy sonovabitch actually wanted a shot at Hugh d’Ambray. As long as the Order held us, there was a chance that Hugh would pick a fight, and everything I had just said only confirmed Ted’s decision to keep us here. My mind wrestled with it and I clamped my mouth shut.
Why? What could he possibly gain by this? My aunt had left this building a smoking wreck, and she hadn’t even done it in person. She’d used a flesh golem to do it. Ted was a bigot, but he wasn’t an idiot. He had to know there was a chance Hugh would break through the Order’s defenses. The Iron Dogs were the elite of the elite, and according to Mauro, his knights, who’d be outnumbered two to one, weren’t exactly the Order’s cream of the crop.
Why risk his people? Was it some sort of last-minute attempt at some glory before he died?
I had to change my strategy and fast. I scraped my brain for the contents of the Order’s Charter. I learned slowly, but once I managed to chisel information into my brain, it stayed there.
“Under article one point seven, a petition is valid only when it’s been signed by the petitioner after the terms and conditions of the petition have been explained to said petitioner. Show me that signature.”
Ted took a paper off the desk and raised it. Robert Lonesco. Got you.
Robert shrugged. “It was that or they wouldn’t let us in.”
“Article one point twelve, a group petition may be filed by an individual, provided said individual has been selected by the group to act as its representative. Robert, have you been selected to act as our representative?”