Peace Talks (The Dresden Files 16)

I looked around. “Late night?”

“Your people and the svartalves aren’t the only ones I’m practicing diplomacy with,” she replied. “And it’s always a good idea to eat a large meal before one expects difficulty.”

Murphy leaned on her cane. “You prepare for trouble by having sex?”

“I’m a vampire, Ms. Murphy,” Lara said calmly. “I have certain physiological needs. So yes. It is also often necessary for celebrating a victory. Or recovering from a defeat.”

“I’m sensing a pattern,” Murphy said in a very dry voice.

Lara laughed. It was just a laugh, with none of the supernatural comehither in her voice I’d heard before. “Our information suggested you’d be in the casts for another week.”

“Four days,” Murphy corrected her. “And I got bored. But this isn’t really a social call.”

“Oh, how unprofessional of me,” Lara said.

I peered around and said, “Someone bugged your office, didn’t they?” Lara lifted her little cup to me in a salute. “And they say you’re a mindless thug.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Even if I felt like sharing my”—she fluttered her lashes—“intimate details with you, Harry, what makes you think it would be wise to do so?”

“Just asking,” I said. “One professional to another.”

“I know you meant that to be flattery,” Lara said, her tone wry. “So I’m going to take your intention into consideration.” She visibly considered it for a moment before saying, “I’m not sure. But too many leaks have happened in the past few weeks. I’m secure against strictly technical means of doing it. And I’ve never had issues with my people betraying me.”

“Not even in the Raith Deeps?” I asked.

She waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, that was just everyday treachery. That’s different.”

“How?”

“It was kept mostly in-house,” she said. “It benefits all of the White Court to have the strongest and most capable leadership possible. Challenging that leadership for control of our people’s aims is good for everyone.”

I sputtered. “I almost died. So did you.”

“Don’t be a whiner, Harry,” Lara said. “Neither of us did. When my people turn on me, we keep it mainly between us. This information has been falling into outside hands. I work with consultants in such matters, of course, but they haven’t been able to find any magical surveillance, either. My working theory is that it would take one of your people to manage a spell they couldn’t detect.”

I frowned. The White Council tended to wage information-based warfare whenever it could, right up until it was time to start ripping satellites out of orbit and triggering volcanic eruptions, on the theory that with enough knowledge, leverage would be far more effective, obviating the necessity for open war. It was an obnoxious, arrogant stance to take on such matters—and it worked.

Mostly.

That didn’t mean being the target of a full-court press on surveillance was fun. I hadn’t much liked it when they’d been monitoring me more closely, earlier in my career.

Wizards could be really annoying sometimes.

“Would either of you care for coffee?” she asked.

We did. Freydis set us up, her eyes always looking at nothing specific, as if she was trying to take in everything around us at once.

“So,” Lara said. “Why are you here?”

“It’s about tonight,” I said.

She gave me a sharp look and then glanced at Murphy.

“You demanded my help,” I said. “You’re getting it. My way.”

Something that very nearly resembled anger changed the shape of her face, made it look remote and cold. It was gone again after a breath. “I see.” Her eyes went to Murphy. “I apologize that you were dragged into the matter.”

“Then why’d you do it?” Murphy asked.

I shifted my weight a little so that my hip pressed against Murphy’s. Well. It pressed against her upper arm.

Lara took that in for a moment and nodded slowly. “I see. I trust that you can keep this matter a professional one?”

“Try to stab us in the back or feed on either one of us, and I’ll make holes in your skull,” Murphy said. “Play it straight with us and we’ll all be fine. I like your brother.”

“Did you just threaten me in my own garden?” Lara asked.

“I just explained our stance to you,” Murphy said.

Lara glanced at me.

I shrugged. “Better to have it out in the open than under the table.”

She smiled and shook her head. “I suppose we are all here for Thomas, are we not?”

“Which is why we’ve come,” I said. “This can’t be a smash-and-grab run.”

Lara frowned. “Given the security around him, I don’t see any option.”

“Do you want a war with Svartalfheim? What happened to avoiding open conflict?”

She gave me a pained glower and looked abruptly away. “The equation changed when they moved my brother. I’ll be facing considerable in-house trouble if my own sibling is put to death. My enemies within the Court will use it as a justification to rally against me. If I can’t protect my own family, how can I protect them, et cetera.” She shook her head. “Allies outside the Court will also be watching. A quick conflict and a brokered peace could make my position stronger than it currently is.”

“So this is all about power,” Murphy noted.

“It is also about power,” Lara corrected her. “For people in positions like mine, power concerns are a constant. But Thomas is my only brother. He’s frequently vexing, but …” She shrugged. “I like him. Family isn’t something one discards lightly.”

I thought of the old man. “No, it isn’t,” I said quietly. “So what if I told you I thought we could get Thomas out clean, no bloodshed.”

“To what advantage?” she asked. “Etri’s people would track him and kill him. The Accorded nations will, theoretically, be honor bound to help.”

“I think I can keep him hidden,” I said. “From all of them.”

“Even your own people?”

“Especially those assholes,” I said.

Lara’s eyebrows climbed.

“If we do it smoothly enough,” Murphy said, “we can do this without violence and it will be a fait accompli. He’ll be out of their hands and unreachable. You’ll have time to talk things down. And since you’ll have done it without shedding more blood, there will be pressure from the Accorded nations for Etri to restore peace and resolve the matter via weregild.”

“A very steep weregild,” Lara noted.

“Still cheaper than slugging it out with the svartalves,” I said, “or slapping down another rebellion among your own people.”

Lara frowned, narrowing her eyes in thought for a full minute. Her chin bobbed up and down very slightly. “I take it Mab is fine with this?”

“Mab can be very creative about what she notices or doesn’t,” I said. “Particularly if the forms are observed correctly. The lack of bloodshed at what amounts to her party will go a long way toward pacifying her.”