“That matters?”
“I could leave a message for Leo, if I were calling as Lu Nuncio. If Isen did, it would send the wrong signal. As if their status were equal.”
Lupi status games made her head hurt. “You think he’ll call back, though. Even though he must suspect it has to do with Hank. He has to wonder if he’s in a lot of trouble.”
“Leo is sometimes foolish, but he’s Rho. His clan is potentially at risk. He’ll call.” Rule sank onto the long sofa that faced the fireplace. He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees.
Lily settled next to him. She could hear Isen talking to Carl—a dispute over which of them would make the coffee. Isen might be Rho, but the kitchen was Carl’s territory. She turned her head to look at Rule.
He was weary. Weary and worn and barely aware of where he was, and that wasn’t like him. Sure, it was past midnight, but Rule was a regular Energizer Bunny. He never needed much sleep. So whatever was eating at him, it wasn’t physical…which left plenty of other possibilities. It might fall to him to carry out whatever sentence Isen passed on the Laban Rho.
But what she saw on his face didn’t look like dread of an ugly duty. It looked more like bewilderment.
She was missing something.
“You suspected Laban all along, didn’t you?” he asked abruptly.
“If money was the motive, yeah. They fit.”
“But Vochi’s the one who cares about money.”
“No, Vochi understands money.” How to put it? “Subordinate clans have to re-up every time they have a new Rho, right? And Vochi’s Rhos have been doing that for hundreds of years. Same decision, over and over. They must like things the way they are. Why would they risk losing that? They’ve got money. They know what it can do and what it can’t. While Laban…” She shook her head. “They’ve been subordinate to Nokolai for less than three decades. Not long in your eyes, maybe, but plenty long enough to see that having money has helped Nokolai. That money can mean strength. They may not understand finance, but they understand strength. They had a lot more motivation than Vochi.”
Carl emerged from the kitchen. He was wearing pajama bottoms. It was the first time Lily had had any inkling there was a lupi anywhere who owned pajama bottoms. “Eat,” he said with his customary brevity, and handed Rule a plate with two thick sandwiches. He looked at Lily. “Need anything?”
“Ah—no. No, I’m good.” She hadn’t Changed twice the way Rule had. Lupi needed fuel after Changing. She should have thought of that…but so should Rule.
Carl headed back toward the kitchen. His room was off it. Isen passed him, bearing thick pottery mugs.
Lily frowned at him. “What’s going to happen to the Laban Rho?”
“Undetermined.” He handed her one fragrant mug. “Until I speak with Leo, I won’t make that decision. Though I know part of it. He will attend Brenda’s seco.”
That was fair. Leo ought to witness the consequences of his actions. “That won’t be all, though.”
“No.” Isen set another mug on the floor by Rule, who was working his way through the sandwiches—not as if he wanted or even tasted them, but as a chore he needed to finish quickly. Isen took his own coffee to the armchair set at right angles to the couch. “I can require his death, of course. That would be simplest and possibly best.”
“You seldom settle for simple.”
“I won’t discuss this with you, Lily.”
His voice was as pleasant as it was implacable. She believed him. She sipped coffee and thought. After a short silence she said, “Do I get to question Leo?”
Isen’s eyebrows lifted. “Of course you would ask that. I should have expected it. I am not at my best tonight. Things keep happening that I didn’t anticipate, but should have.”
Rule set his empty plate on the floor and picked up his mug. “You anticipated better than I did. So did Lily.” He glanced sideways at her. “You guessed, didn’t you? That’s why you assured me I wouldn’t have to kill anyone tonight. You knew what Isen was doing.”
“I hoped I did, and yes, that was part of it.” Women had to be protected. That was the lupi code. In spite of that, Isen had convinced them—even his son—that this offense was grave enough and he was angry enough to order death. But maybe only the lupi had feared this. Brenda hadn’t been afraid for her life, had she? Hank had. He’d confessed to protect her.
Rule was watching her. “You were going to arrest people, weren’t you? Me?”
“I was thinking more of protective custody. If Isen decided someone needed to be dead, I’d take her in custody. That was a last resort, though. It would’ve been tricky to pull off without Isen feeling forced to go all Rho on me.”
“Tricky?” Isen smiled faintly. “That’s one word for it.”
Rule looked at his father. “You expected Lily to do something along those lines, though. That’s why you kept her nearby—so I’d realize you weren’t going to order an execution right away. I didn’t get the message, though. I wasn’t…I don’t understand why I didn’t see it.”
“You were distracted,” Isen said. “That is my fault. I didn’t think about what calling on the Leidolf Rho in such a situation might do.”
Lily frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You couldn’t have guessed,” Rule said. “I didn’t understand what was happening myself at first.”
Isen shook his head. “I should have seen the possibility.”
“I still don’t,” Lily said pointedly.
Isen sighed. “Rule has spoken to me about a certain frustration he’s felt about being Rho to Leidolf. He experienced the mantle, but not the clan.”
She gave Rule a quick glance. “Yeah. He’s mentioned that.” Not the way Isen put it, but he’d talked about frustration. Rule had been raised Nokolai. That clan had his heart, while Leidolf had been his enemy until that mantle was forced on him. As Rho, Rule meant to do right by Leidolf, but he wanted that more with his head than his heart. “It bugs him that he doesn’t feel connected to Leidolf the way he thinks he should.”
“Not a problem anymore,” Rule said dryly.
“No, clearly it isn’t.” Isen paused, sipping from his mug. “I didn’t expect you to hold your heartbeat separate. I should have. You couldn’t allow Leidolf to be mastered by Nokolai.”
“No.” Rule’s expression turned inward. What he found there wasn’t giving him joy.
Lily looked back and forth between the two men. “I don’t understand.”
Isen rubbed his beard. “Perhaps you didn’t know that a Rho can control his clan’s heart rate. I was keeping Nokolai’s elevated—a somewhat risky option, but I have the experience to handle it. This made Nokolai viscerally aware of my anger and created expectations…they knew something would be required of them. Something drastic. Our guests would have been aware of the massed heartbeat of Nokolai, increasing their sense of isolation and risk.”
“I get it.” Lily nodded. “Brenda didn’t think she was at risk—not physically, anyway. I had my doubts about that, too, but all the lupi seemed to think you might order her killed. The heartbeat trick made them believe it.”
Isen nodded and sipped. “Unfortunately, I was genuinely angry. I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I believed. I didn’t realize Rule could hold his heartbeat separate from my calling. To do so, he had to be Leidolf.”
“Um…that’s a problem?”
Isen tipped his head to look at Rule. “How much of a problem do we have?”