Turned out he’d come to the meeting commando-style. And he was proportional everywhere.
He sank to his knees, then prostrated himself fully on the floor. His buttocks were a work of art. Michelangelo’s David would weep with envy. He spoke slowly and gravely, his voice slightly muffled by the carpet. “Laban subiciit Nokolai, plene et simpliciter.”
Rule’s eyebrows flew up. “Tony—it is acceptable to Nokolai to renew our previous pledges—”
The dark head moved once in a negative. “Plene et simpliciter.”
“As you will, then. Nokolai accipit Laban subiiciuntur.”
Tony sighed deeply as if relieved it was done and rose to his feet in one smooth motion. “Thank you. Fred?” He glanced to his right, and Lily finally noticed the other man new to her—a short, dark guy with a thick mustache. Both his hair and the mustache were grizzled more gray than black.
Fred sighed. “I witnessed my Rho’s submission plene et simpliciter and will so state to any who ask.” He bent and retrieved the discarded jeans. “Here.”
“Thank you,” Tony said again. He stood on one leg to begin pulling his jeans back on.
“What just happened?” Lily asked. “I know he submitted, but something about it surprised you.”
“Laban submitted plene et simplicite—that means fully and completely, nothing held back. Such language is unusual. It’s sometimes used when one clan defeats another in battle, but even then there are often terms applied to the submission.”
“Like how long it will last?”
“Among others, yes. Tony, this is my Chosen, Lily Yu. Lily, this is Tony Romano.”
He was back on both feet now and zipping his jeans. “Miss Yu.” He gave her a nod, but his attention returned to Rule immediately. “I submitted fully. It was the right thing to do. Laban lost honor through my father’s actions. I needed to acknowledge that wrong. He meant well, but he was wrong.” His brows drew down. “I told him so, but he doesn’t listen to me.”
“He’ll have to now, won’t he?” Rule said.
“It will take time for him to learn how to do that. Isen didn’t let my father change his heir back to my brother before passing the mantle. He must have wanted me to be Rho. Why me instead of James?”
“He didn’t tell me. It may be that he trusts you more than he does James.”
The young man thought that over, then nodded. “James thought Father’s scheme to sell information was clever. I thought it was wrong. Maybe Isen guessed that. Or maybe Fred is right. Fred thinks that Isen preferred me because I would be easy to manipulate because I’m not very smart.”
“Tony!” the short man exclaimed. “I didn’t say—”
“No.” For the first time he smiled, a singularly sweet expression turned briefly on his counselor. “You didn’t call me stupid. You never do. But I am slow in my thinking. I’m an odd choice for Rho. My father never meant me to be Rho. I was his way of telling James to shape up. But now I am Rho, and so I submitted plene et simplicit. Now Isen won’t feel he has to manipulate me because he has all the control, and we can be comfortable together.”
A single sharp crack of laughter burst from Rule. “And so you prove that thinking slowly is not the same as being stupid. You may have just gotten the best of my father, Tony, and there are very few who can say that.”
Lily was confused. Her expression must have shown that, because Rule turned to her with a half smile. “This makes Isen more fully involved in Laban’s welfare, you see. Increasing his authority increases his responsibility to them.”
“Isen is sneaky,” Tony said, “and very clever, so it would do me no good to try to outthink him. He is also very much a Rho. He will deal honorably with us.”
Fred didn’t seem as sure of that as his new Rho. He sighed faintly. Lily thought Tony was right, though. Isen was both clever and sneaky, but he was also as dominant as they came…the lupi version of dominant, that is, which was as much about taking care of those in your charge as it was about taking charge.
“Who did you name Lu Nuncio for Laban?” Rule asked.
“My cousin Charlie.”
Rule’s eyebrows rose. “I’d expected you to name your father.”
Tony’s sigh was long and windy. “So did he. He’d be a safe choice, but he was Rho too long to make a good Lu Nuncio, and he doesn’t listen to me. Charlie is very dominant and thinks he’d make a better Rho than I will, but he listens. He’s not jumpy the way James is. He won’t try to kill me. Not right away, anyway. He’ll give me a chance.”
“You have much to do within your clan,” Rule said. “I stand ready to help, if I can.”
“Thank you. First, though, I must do as Isen said. He wants me to help you investigate the theft. How can I help?”
“For now, by answering some questions,” Lily said.
“Okay,” he said, but barely glanced at her before looking back at Rule with doubt writ large on his face.
“Lily is in charge of the investigation,” Rule said. “She’s an FBI agent.”
“I think I knew that, but I’d forgotten.” For the first time he really looked at her…and kept looking for a disconcertingly long time. Finally he nodded. “I’m not used to women being in charge. I know they are sometimes, but not in the clans, and I don’t see many women on my job.”
“What do you do?”
“Underwater and hyperbaric welding.”
“Ah…that’s a very specialized skill.”
“I like it. I’m good at it, too, and the pay’s good, but I won’t be able to do it anymore. There’s a lot of travel involved.”
Rule spoke. “Tony works for an underwater fabrication and repair firm. They work on ships, drilling platforms, and underwater installations of all kinds. He’s been all over the world.”
Lily exchanged a glance with Rule. There was more to this slow-speaking new Rho than met the eye. “I need to ask you some questions. Do you have a problem with a woman having authority?” she asked Tony.
He thought that over a moment. “I don’t think so. I’ll need to study on it awhile, I expect, since I’m not used to it. If your questions are about who paid my father to betray Nokolai, I know some things that may help.”
“Good. Have a seat,” she said, gesturing at the round table and chairs near the window. She glanced at Rule. “Maybe we could have a few less bodies in the room…and some coffee?”
TWENTY-TWO
LILY, Rule noted with amusement, was sublimely unaware that she’d shocked some of their company. Those who hadn’t been around her much weren’t used to seeing someone casually ask a Rho to get her some coffee, and these were Leidolf. Leidolf tended to cherish women in the abstract while devaluing them as individuals.
It was good for them to see that Lily was his partner, not his subordinate, and that she possessed her own authority that didn’t devolve from his, even if they didn’t really understand. Yet. Rule emphasized the point by ordering the coffee himself, then asked her, “Do you need me?”
“Always, but not immediately. Why?”
He gave her a quick kiss to show how much her response pleased him and told her he needed to tend to a few security matters. While she questioned Tony, Rule conferred with Scott. They needed to rotate the guards, with some sleeping, some present but in the other suite, and some in the second-floor gym. Confining a number of lupi in a relatively small space for long periods of time created problems. Burning off some of their energy would help. He also wanted to change the guard rotation on Beth. They’d been handling it with three guards—Murray, who was in charge, plus two Laban men—with each taking an eight-hour shift. Rule wanted two men on her at all times, starting immediately. For now they’d have to take twelve-hour shifts. After a brief discussion with Scott, he sent Patrick McCausey. Patrick was a steady sort with excellent control, unlikely to offend the notoriously prickly Laban.