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Creon turned to Agenor, eyebrow raised in a wordless challenge.

‘Ah.’ At least my father had the good grace to look a little embarrassed as he cleared his throat. ‘You might have to blame me for that particular incident. Not that that will mollify anyone, I suppose.’

I thought for a moment Naxi would bite him. Valeska bitterly said, ‘But at leastyoudidn’t show up to chop up her fingers and then the rest of her.’

Thank the gods Creon had learned to shut out my emotions, because I wouldn’t have wanted him to feel the cold shiver that ran through me. Cas seemed about to throw up. Beyla and Tared’s faces were similar masks of cold alf fury, mirrored in the icy gleam in Nenya’s eyes.

Chop the poor queen in question to pieces. What had it cost him to take that pain?

‘Well, whoever is to blame, we’ll have to do something about this situation,’ Lyn said firmly, an obvious attempt at distraction before anyone could elaborate on nymph fingers. ‘We don’t stand a chance if all our potential allies decide they’d rather suffer the treatment of the empire for the rest of time than take the risk of joining our efforts. Should we ask Gish to go have a word with Bakaru, or—’

‘Please don’t ask Gish,’ Nenya said brusquely. ‘I suspect he’s Bakaru’s main source on the Underground. Don’t give him more ammunition if you can avoid it.’

Agenor muttered a curse. ‘We’re talking about Gishkim, I presume? Shouldn’t we do something about him, if he’s feeding Bakaru information we don’t want him to have?’

A reasonable question, I thought; disappointingly, Lyn pulled a sour face. ‘Gish has always been loyal to our side. It just so happens he’s also loyal to the vampire side, but that’s hardly a reason to kick him out. We’re an allegiance, not a kingdom.’

‘Which does sound impractical to me,’ Agenor said, raising an eyebrow.

‘The alternative sounds unethical to me,’ she shot back. ‘Make your choice.’

He wisely shut up.

‘I’ll go,’ Nenya said, jaw clenched so tight that the scars over her face drew taut. ‘Don’t worry about Gish. Bakaru will want to see me anyway, if he knows I’m involved with all of this – there’s no sense in delaying it.’

The glance Lyn and Tared exchanged suggested they saw a lot of sense in delaying that visit, preferably forever. But before they could object, Cas mumbled, ‘And the phoenixes? Drusa has been asking for you, Lyn. Perhaps you could—’

‘Drusa,’ Lyn said, paling a fraction, ‘can go fuck herself.’

I realised in that moment that I had not the faintest idea of her history – that even after months in the same household, I didn’t know how she had ever ended up with the Alliance, why she had moved into this buried place and for all intents and purposes joined an alf family from the other side of the archipelago. Apparently, I was the only one who didn’t know; even Agenor’s joyless smile showed a hint of understanding. ‘If there are no objections I’m overlooking’ – he was clearly not expecting to be overlooking anything – ‘I might be able to help out?’

Cas blinked. ‘You?’

Agenor gave a shrug, ignoring Oleander’s unamused glare. ‘I’ve met with Drusa a handful of times. She may not be fond of me, but I think she knows that, with all due respect, I wouldn’t join any attempts to get Creon on a throne.’

Is that what we call respect these days?Creon scribbled in his notebook.

‘Do I need to remind you,’ Tared said sharply, ‘that we’d be in a lot less trouble right now if not for that reputation you so enthusiastically cultivated, Hytherion?’

I scoffed. ‘You’d be in far more trouble if he’d refused to execute the Mother’s orders and died a century ago. Are you going to blame me for surviving as a witless little human, too?’

‘Oh, stop it!’ Lyn burst out, flinging up her small hands. ‘This isn’t getting us anywhere, for hell’s sake. I think Drusa respects you well enough, Agenor, so if you’re willing to suffer their endless blathering for a good cause, try your luck. As for the nymphs …’ She met Valeska’s gaze and grimaced. ‘We’ll probably have to think of a better solution than throwing more fae at them.’

‘Why doesn’t Em go have a word with them?’ Beyla suggested, her voice as eerily light as her eyes and her silver-blonde hair. ‘She’s pretty good at looking clever. Might be the easiest way to convince them she’s not under any fae thumbs at all.’

My heart skipped a beat. Oh, Zera help me. They weren’t going to send me on some diplomatic visitnow, were they? ‘Well—’

‘That does sound like a solid idea, actually,’ Lyn said, her eyes brightening. ‘Would that work for you, Em? If Naxi or Valeska is coming with you?’

‘Oh, don’t count on me,’ Naxi said cheerfully. ‘They don’t trust me any farther than they can throw me. And their arm muscles aren’t—’

‘Look,’ I interrupted, chest tightening in alarm, ‘I understand this is all very urgent and of course I’d love to help out, but I’ve been looking into a couple of issues myself and I think …’ I sucked in a breath. Here it was, then. All or nothing, for all it was worth. ‘I may have more important things to do at the moment. If you don’t mind.’

That smothered all suggestions of diplomatic missions for a heartbeat or two.

‘Ah,’ Tared said, a spark of amusement in his voice as he combed a hand through his blond locks and leaned back in his seat. ‘Are we finally getting to hear why you tried to skip training twice this week?’

‘Only once,’ I said indignantly. ‘And that was more because you tore my biceps to shreds the day before than because I was so desperate to read my books. But yes – it’s about the bindings.’