Page 25 of Quiet Burn

“Zavvie, how did the rest of the day go?”

My kitsune looks up from where he’s collating data for the meeting, his eyes bright under his glasses. I have to suppress a smile when his tails swish happily in response. “Mythology could have been better, but it wasn’t too bad. You know how Weapons went, and because you asked me to skip to do this, I’m not sure how Law went.”

I sigh, pondering whether I want to call my second in to ask before we all convene. “That’s better than yesterday, I suppose. Were you able to make in-roads with our newest member?”

He ducks his head, looking away as he shuffles some more papers. I arch a brow, knowing whatthatreaction means. Zavida likes the shrimp and whatever progress he made today pleases him. “Okay, I guess. I think he’s waiting for me to prove I’m not going to…”

“Zav, if you stopped talking because you were going to say ‘sell him out for me’, or some version of it—I’m not stupid.” I run my hand through my hair, pacing back and forth in front of my couch. “Perhaps I was pushing you too hard before.”

Before I can say another word, he’s rushed forward to wrap his arms around me and bury his face against my chest. I blink, surprised as fuck to find him hugging me like this. “What… what the hell?”

His voice is muffled in my shirt, but I make it out. “Youneveradmit you’re wrong, Jas. Sometimes, you reassess, but this is the closest I’ve ever heard you come.”

Mother of ghouls, have I really been that much like dear old Dad? Fuck.

Resting my hand on his head lightly, I clear my throat as emotions zing through me. I can’t parse them all and it makes my dragon angry, so I huff a few smoke rings to calm myself. This fucking kid is making the entire world topsy-turvy, even my meek lover, and he obviously doesn’t have the slightest clue what he’s doing. I chew on my lip ring for a moment, my brain warring between fury and confusion as I decide what to say.

“Don’t get used to it,” I say gruffly. “I’m very rarely wrong, you know.”

Zavida chuckles and lifts his head, his lips curved up as he eyes me. “Obviously, my Prince. But I’m still glad you’re reversing your opinion on Kit—even if it’s slow. I think he’s good for the caliphate.”

That’s questionable, but I’m not going to burst his bubble.

Lettinggo ofhim, I jerk my chin to his doom piles. “What have you put together in the past couple hours, then?”

The kitsune frowns, walking over to grab his research. “I shifted from Kit because you said I could. Instead, I dug into the lore around the Games prior to our parents’ participation. Everyone knows it’s the first time any team bargained with others to secure a victory. I wanted to see how they ran before that so we know whatcouldbe coming if Darkstar and his supporters are planning to use them for a coup.”

“That's the worst case scenario,” I mutter as I head for the bar to pour myself a drink. “We’d better hope he’s not planning an actual onslaught during the Games; it will lead to a full-on war. We can kiss keeping ourselves out of the royal shit good-bye forever if that happens.”

His tails flick nervously as he nods. “Agreed. But I don’t know if he’s really had time to prepare that kind of thing. I’m leaning towards using them to cull the strong loyalists and royalsbeforehe makes a move.”

It’s a smart play, so someone other than Lucian came up with it. But who?

“He has to have been working on this for a long time. You know the King banned the damn competition after he and the rest of your folks ascended to the thrones.” Scratching my chin, I frown, my brain whirling as I spin the chessboard to figure out what vantage point I’m missing.

“Oh, definitely,” Zavvie says as he pulls a bunch of print outs from the stack and hands it to me. “See here? This is the decree that outlawed them and the laws binding it. Someone had to comb this shit for a loophole to even bring it before the courts.”

“So he has a legally savvy demon of high repute on his side—probably a crossroads demon because they’re naturally good with contracts.” The names of every high ranking bargain maker fly through my mind and I growl in frustration.

Too many options and not enough time.

“Maybe a full or hybrid Fae, too,” my lover says. “I know he despises hybrids, but he could be convinced to use one for their talents, and dispose of them afterward with little effort. He sees other supes and mixed breeds like us as tools to be used and thrown away.”

Snarling, I give him a sharp look. “That’s a disgusting opinion and it should have blacklisted him from the position of Headmaster. There are more hybrids than pure lines in Hell now. He’s a sad relic and my father should have sent him to the pits.”

Which makes me wonder what the fuck Lucian Darkstar has on the King—he wouldn’t allow him to be here, otherwise.

“Obviously, I agree, but you know I’m correct in my assumptions. Unless he has continuous use for the being who assisted him in this interpretation, he likely terminatedtheir association permanently to prevent leaks. It’s boilerplate megalomaniac behavior.”

Zav’s right, unfortunately. My father definitely eliminates any possible squealers in his nefarious deeds as soon as they’ve outlived their usefulness. You don’t wrest control of Hell and stay in that position for millennia without getting your hands dirty—though his are soaked in blood in ways that even I admit outweigh practicality.

“So he’s got alliances built over… centuries… amongst various factions in Hell and maybe in other supe species as well,” I murmur as I stroke my chin. “Again, not unexpected, but maybe more vast than I anticipated at this juncture. The question is… why now? What makesthisthe prime time for his moves versus any other time in the past or future?”

He shrugs, wrinkling his nose. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we’re all coming of age? But I doubt even Lucian believes our parents will cede control when we graduate, so that might be incidental.”

Frowning, I consider the board again, spinning it in my mind for a moment. “Maybe he’s gotten a whiff of our plans?”

“No way, Jas. None of us would dare to leave even a minute trail to our work on that project.” Zavida shakes his head, his expression serious. “You know we’re all in and we’ll be killed if anyone even suspects.”

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