I nodded. “That’s an understatement. But it’s also kind of perfect.”
I made myself wait a beat, gave him an opportunity to take a drink, before asking him. “What did Lakshmi say? What is the GP demanding of the House?”
He took another drink, set the bottle on the table. “The GP believes, as we have killed one of their vampires, they have a right to the same.”
My blood chilled. “They want to kill a member of Cadogan House?” The GP had made ignorant and thoughtless moves before, but none as heartless as that. None that were as conniving or, frankly, stupid.
“They’re bluffing,” I said, and Ethan smiled back faintly.
“Bluffing or not, that was their offer, delivered here by Lakshmi Rao. I understand you’re well acquainted.”
I kept my expression as neutral as possible, but I was sure he saw the hitch in my eyes. “Oh?” I innocently asked.
He gave me a dubious look. “She is supportive of the idea of challenging Darius for the GP. She suggested I should do it.”
“Hmm. And are you?” I realized my hands had begun to shake, and I tucked them between my knees. Even if I accepted the notion that Ethan loved me unconditionally, that didn’t mean I wouldn’t fear for his safety if he decided to challenge Darius.
He looked at me for a long, quiet moment, took my hand. “I believe, Sentinel, that I am.”
I felt like I’d been pushed off a cliff, suddenly dizzy, suddenly worried. “And the House? Chicago?”
“Will be protected,” he said. “There is a long road before the leadership of the GP is settled. A potentially dangerous road,” he admitted. “But a long road nonetheless. All things can be worked out.”
“And London?” I asked. “Can it be worked out?”
“Come here,” Ethan murmured, and before I could move, my hand was in his, and we were moving. He led me up and out of the cafeteria, down the hallway, and up the stairs.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we rounded the third-floor landing and headed down the hallway to a room I knew was empty except for the pull-down ladder that led to the attic and the House’s widow’s walk.
“I’m showing you something,” Ethan said, pulling down the ladder. He gestured toward it. “You first.”
I knew when to obey without sarcasm. I climbed up and into the attic, which wasn’t much to see. Mostly rafters and insulation. The window that led to the roof was closed. I unlatched it and pushed it open, assuming that was what Ethan had intended me to do. As he climbed the ladder behind me, I stepped outside.
The widow’s walk was a narrow ledge around this part of the roof, marked by a short wrought-iron barrier. Lake Michigan was a dark stain to the east, and downtown Chicago shined to the north.
The roof creaked as Ethan stepped beside me. He put one hand around my waist and used the other to point at the blinking lights of the city.
“There,” he said. “If I take power, that is the new seat of the Greenwich Presidium.”
It took me a moment to understand what he’d said, the scope of the change he’d just proposed. “You want to move the GP to Chicago?”
“I will move the GP to Chicago,” Ethan said, filling those words with every bit of pretention and egoism I knew him capable of.
He tilted my chin to meet his gaze. “You are my soul, Merit. But vampires are my body. To be whole, I must respect both. And the GP has held court too far from the American Houses for far too long. It’s time the GP came home to roost.”
“They’ll fight to keep the seat in Europe,” I said. “Danica and the others won’t let you move it.”
“If they do not control the GP, they will have no choice.” He touched a fingertip to my lips. “I made my choice, Merit, many months ago. There is no turning back. Not now.”
His lips so soft, yet so stern, he pressed his mouth to mine.
“I will have both of you,” he said. “My Sentinel and my city. And the GP will learn exactly how stubborn we both can be.”
Acknowledgments
Thanks, as always, to the usual crew of fantastic Novitiates who assist in the development of these books, including my editor, Jessica Wade, my agent, Lucienne Diver, and my continuity editor and assistant, Krista McNamara.
Very special thanks to Jesse Feldman, who offered valuable editing advice, and to Penguin’s fantastic publicity and marketing staff, including Jessica Butler and Jodi Rosoff, without whom no one would know these books existed.
Keely Buesing and Debi Murray provided very helpful advice on medical matters, and Nicole Peeler taught me an outlining trick that kept this book miraculously on track.
To the other fantastic romance and fantasy authors I’ve had the good fortune to meet at conferences over the last year, it has been an absolute pleasure, and I look forward to future shenanigans.
The heartiest of thanks to SHB, who has the unfortunate job of putting up with me when I’m days away from a deadline or sweating the small stuff. You’re the best.