Page 52 of What Fools These Immortals Be
Maurice approaches my desk with some hesitance. He frowns when I look up at him.
“Is that how you intended to handle things?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“No.” Maurice shrugs. His light shirt tonight is pale green, which should clash with his copper hair, but instead offsets the grey of his eyes. “That’s not what I asked.”
“I’m not sure I knew how to handle it before he became agitated,” I say. Our conversation is stilted in a way it wasn’t even the first night he was here. “There really is little I can dofor him. If the wolves close ranks, they’ll kill him before he gets anywhere near Quinn.”
Maurice hums. I don’t know what to do with him—or the fact that I spent the entire day resting fitfully, unable to think of much more than our kiss—so I pick up my phone instead.
I could use some counsel, after all.
Maurice wanders back over to the sofa as I call Afsaneh. “Crai,” she says, a smile in her voice. “How can I help?”
“Augustine came by tonight,” I say. “I am not sure if there was another way to handle the situation.”
“You want advice?” She sounds surprised.
“Please.” I keep my eyes trained on the top of my desk, unwilling to look up and see what Maurice thinks of me. It cannot be anything good. “I think this is beyond my scope.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Afsaneh says with a mild scoff. “But I will come by all the same. Have you spoken to the Council?”
“Alwynn is aware that Augustine is here. I would not be surprised if Deacon has spoken to her, too.”
“I’ll be there in an hour or so.”
I frown. She probably has work to do, and I am asking her to come here for what? To help me deal with a problem I should be able to manage?
“If you are busy, then do not—”
“I am not as busy as all that,” Afsaneh says, cutting me off. “You can entrust more to us if you need to, crai. Kayode and me especially.”
“You’ve spoken about this?”
“Naturally. Briar is not overwhelmed, but she is working most closely with Elle, and unless we add another chieftain, I believe they will both be busy for a while yet. But Kayode and I have been chieftains for a long time—you know this. We have the ability to help you, and no one in our districts would begrudge us that.”
“I don’t want to take you from more important matters when there are things I could handle alone.”
“Njáll,” she says, her tone terribly fond. “Wewantto help you. Neither of us could imagine being in your position—and though we may not fully understand all the stresses you are under now, we certainly understand the position you were in before. Let us take some of that burden from you. It will surely be better shared.”
She’s not wrong. I tap a finger against the top of my desk as I think.
“We’ll talk about it when you arrive,” I say. It is not a no. It is only… Vasile never had any of this help. He had us as his chieftains because he appreciated that with such a wide territory, he could better keep an eye on it by having a dedicated vampire in each space.
And not only that. He knew he had to keep us close. Me, Afsaneh, Kayode, Briar, Lazarus… We were the most powerful vampires who remained in the city. We had accepted him as our crai, sure, because the hunters had said it was necessary for the treaty to be upheld, but that did not mean we trusted him. Not then.
He needed to monitor a threat. I do not. Not from them.
“One hour, Njáll,” Afsaneh says before she hangs up.
I sigh and lean back in my chair, still determinedly not looking at Maurice, although I can feel the burn of his gaze on my face.
“You’re thinking awfully hard over there,” Maurice says.
He has the same tone in his voice as Afsaneh did when she said my name. The same fondness. I expect it even less from him than I do from her and it has me looking over at him in surprise.
“Come sit here,” he says, patting the sofa cushion next to him.
