Page 42 of What Fools These Immortals Be
“He did,” I agree, my voice sounding flat and absent. Oh, this is bad. I certainly should not allow Njáll to help. The Huntsman will be furious; at best, he will revoke my blessing and take my magic, but at worst—
“Let me help,” Njáll says. His voice is softer, this time almost pleading. “I need todosomething. Something that will help my clan. This city.”
“That is your entire job.”
“Yes, but I… YouknowI’m no good at it, and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the clan figures it out, too. Let me help them this way. You don’t know London that well, and I might not know about the fae, but I can help when it comes to the city.”
This is a bad idea. The worst.
And yet… I’m swayed. Vlad is always willing to help, of course, but I suspect his urge to keep Grant out of danger is stronger than mine when it comes to Njáll, and I suspect, too, that Vlad has a trickier time of it. The Huntsman may not come back here for decades. He may never have to know.
“All right,” I say, and Njáll’s expression is far too surprised; he expected me to argue some more. “But there will be rules, and you will follow them. We will not have a repeat of what happened tonight.”
“Yes, of course.”
I get to my feet, brushing imaginary lint from my trousers as I do. “Come on. We’ve done enough for tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll visit another of the fae on Vlad’s list.”
We walk back to the clan house, taking a side door back inside, and when I pause at Njáll’s office door, he looks at me expectantly. “Are you…?”
“No. I need to call Vlad and tell him about Reijo.” I need more information for tomorrow, too. We’re not going in without it. “You’ll stay here all night?”
Njáll smiles. It lights up his face, and something in my chest squeezes because it’s the first true smile I’ve seen from him in days. “I will,” he says, then, more solemnly, “I promise.”
“You shouldn’t promise the fae anything, you know.”
“You’re not fae.”
“Blessed by one.” I raise an eyebrow. “Make sure you keep that in mind.”
His smile doesn’t fade. If anything, it only widens, and his voice is lower when he says, “Oh, I certainly will.”
I falter. I don’t know what it is—his smile, his voice, the way he’s leaning in the doorway to his office as though he feels at home here. My mouth goes dry and if Njáll notices, he says nothing about it.
“See you tomorrow night, Maurice.”
“Yes, I—” I swallow, shake my head. “See you tomorrow.”
I stride away before he closes the door, hating the heat I feel in my cheeks. A moment of weakness.Anothermoment of weakness.
I cannot afford any more of them. No. As long as Njáll and I are working together on this, as long as I am protecting him, then he is off-limits. Off-limits to everyone—that’s the point—but especially to me.
Chapter Twelve
Njáll
Ispendtherestofthe night and some of the morning in my office. Despite Reijo’s attack—that I truly believe was only out of desperation—I feel oddly energised, though no closer to solving the problems that have arisen within the clan.
Augustine is the most urgent of them, of course. I have to convince Deacon to allowsomething. Some small act of contrition, something that I can use to show Augustine that we are taking this seriously.
I am taking it seriously. I understand where he is coming from, even if I have never lost a partner in such a way. He wants justice.
Or maybe just revenge.
I grimace and lean back in my chair. The Hunters’ Council imprisoned the worst of Tamesis’ followers after all was said and done. Well, they imprisoned everyone who’d fought with him, at first. It took weeks for them to sort through everyone, to get the magic users to help figure out who had truly been manipulated and who regretted nothing at all.
There are still a handful of wolves and vampires in their cells, those who truly followed Tamesis but did not commit crimes severe enough to warrant execution. We can do nothing else with them as long as they are a danger. What else is there to be done, when we live as long as we do? But that is Alwynn’s problem, not mine.
Would Augustine have us lock Quinn up? That has to be better than the alternative because I believe he is out for more than just blood, and I do not want to particularly endanger the young wolf either.
