‘So then what?’
‘Then I’ll stay on as interim Junior Council member while new ones get nominated and the Senior Council decides who’s getting the seat.’
‘Hm,’ Luna said. ‘Could they just have you stay?’
‘It’s possible.’
‘How possible?’
‘A few months ago, I would have said no chance,’ I said. ‘But a few things have changed since then. For one thing, I’ve got more influence than I used to. For another, the Council are right about to get into a war. Some of them have realised that, even if not all of them have. There’s a chance that they won’t want to deal with the internal disruption of throwing me out on top of everything else.’
‘Or Levistus could take the opportunity to get rid of you while everyone’s scared enough to listen to him,’ Luna pointed out.
‘That too,’ I admitted. ‘Still, I don’t think he’d be able to get a death sentence passed any more.’
A large-to-medium-sized fox trotted in through the door and approached the sofa. ‘Hi, Hermes,’ I said, and offered a hand for him to sniff. ‘There’s more. So when Onyx did that raid last night? Turns out one of the things he stole from the Southampton facility was a certain statue that used to be on display at the British Museum.’
‘At the— Wait. That one? The one we used to reach the fateweaver?’
‘Yup.’
‘You think that was what he was after?’
‘I doubt it,’ I said. ‘It was originally in the Vault; they only moved it there a month or so ago as part of the Vault upgrade. More likely he saw the thing after smashing his way in, recognised it, and decided to grab it while he had the chance.’
‘You don’t think he’s figured out some way to get inside, do you?’ Luna said. ‘I mean, Onyx is pretty dangerous already. If he got hold of that fateweaver …’
‘The Council spent a ton of effort trying to get into that thing and failed,’ I said. ‘Onyx doesn’t have anywhere near the resources that they do. If it had been Richard who’d stolen it, I’d be worrying. I’m not so concerned about Onyx.’
‘But they did figure out a way in,’ Luna said. ‘The cube.’
‘Which is why I’m bringing it up,’ I said. ‘I figure that Onyx is going to spend a while trying and failing to brute-force a way in, then when that doesn’t work he’ll go looking for the thing that worked last time. Let’s make sure that we have that cube really well hidden by then.’
‘Okay.’
‘I figure that somewhere overseas should work. A stasis field would probably be best – that’d mess up any kind of sympathetic tracking spells he might try using the gate focus as a link.’
‘Okay.’
‘Anyway, it’s not something we have to do right this minute. The Hollow’s wards ought to hold against any basic spell. But there’s no point taking chances.’
‘Okay.’
I cocked my head. ‘What’s wrong?’
Hermes padded over to Luna’s chair, looking up at her expectantly. Luna reached down to scratch the fox’s head, the silver mist of her curse pulling back from her fingers as she did. ‘What were you doing with Deleo?’
‘You mean last night?’
‘Yeah. I know you were buying time. But that wasn’t all of it.’
‘No,’ I admitted.
‘Because whatever it was, I don’t think it worked,’ Luna said. ‘Usually when I see you get into these kinds of sparring matches, you give as good as you get. This time you were weirdly … defensive, I guess?’
‘Remember how I told you that I went to see the dragon beneath Arachne’s lair? It told me that if I wanted to get results with Rachel, I should listen to her.’
‘It didn’t sound as though you were listening,’ Luna said. ‘More like you were arguing and losing.’
‘Thanks.’
‘So what did you learn?’
I grimaced. ‘Nothing good. I suppose now I’ve got a better idea of why Rachel hates me so much. I’ve just got no freaking idea how it’s supposed to help.’
‘Why would you expect it to?’ Luna said. ‘Okay, so there’s a reason I’m bringing this up. Vari and I were having an argument a couple of weeks ago. Landis and Vari were on a job and ran into someone, there was trouble, the other guy attacked them and they fought back. I was saying it might not have been the other guy’s fault, he could have had reasons to be suspicious of a couple of Keepers. Vari’s answer was that everyone has a reason. And when I thought about it, he was right. It’s not like anyone just wakes up one morning and thinks, “Hey, you know what, I feel like being a bad guy today.” Everyone’s got some way to justify what they do. They’ll say that the other guy’s an arsehole, or they don’t have any choice, or it’s not like it matters, or it’s just the way the world works, whatever. The point is, knowing why someone’s after you doesn’t really help. I mean, look at Deleo. She wears a freaking domino mask and acts like two different people depending on whether it’s on or off and she’s got a disembodied piece of the best friend she murdered riding around in her head carrying on conversations with her. She is literally insane. What are you expecting to get out of talking to her?’
‘Shireen told me that I needed to help Rachel and redeem her,’ I said. ‘That was years ago and I’m getting the feeling I’m running out of time. I’m at the point where I’m willing to try most things.’
‘Is giving up one of those things?’ Luna said. ‘Look, I haven’t said anything until now, because I know you still feel bad about what happened to Shireen and you want to help her. But maybe it’s time to admit that it’s not going to happen. I mean, you remember what else happened around then, right? First Deleo tried to kill you, then you found out her secret and she tried to kill you even harder, then you found out that she’d been spending the last decade tracking down everyone who showed up at Richard’s mansion and killing them. How big a murder spree does she have to rack up before you start considering that this “redemption” thing isn’t all that likely?’
‘I don’t exactly have a choice,’ I said. ‘If I don’t turn Rachel, I’ve had it.’
‘How do you know?’
‘It’s a dragon prophecy. They don’t get things wrong.’
‘Did Arachne’s dragon tell you the same thing?’ Luna said. ‘As in, did you ask what would happen if redeeming Rachel didn’t work?’
‘Not exactly, no.’
‘Then how do you know it is a dragon prophecy?’
‘Because Shireen told me,’ I said. I could see where Luna was going with this.
‘And how do you know she’s telling the truth?’
‘I suppose I don’t,’ I said reluctantly. ‘But she’s been honest with me in the past.’
‘From how I understand it, she’s been trapped inside Rachel’s head for years,’ Luna said. ‘If I were stuck in a position like that then I’d probably be willing to stretch the truth a bit too.’
‘There’s no proof of that,’ I said. ‘Besides, is this really about you not trusting her, or is it that you just think Rachel’s a lost cause?’
‘A bit of both. And don’t you think it’s time to stop calling her that?’
‘What?’
‘Rachel,’ Luna said. ‘When you’re talking to other mages, you call her Deleo. When you’re talking to her, you call her Deleo. But when you’re talking to us, you call her Rachel. It’s because that’s how you still think of her, isn’t it?’