"Why should I?" he asked. "You know you'll let me in, so why bother with outdated niceties?"
"And that is one of the reasons we're no longer together," I said, exasperated.
"We were together last night, and you had no complaints, I noticed." He turned to Morio. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Trillian. Camille's lover."
"Stop right there! I may have slipped and slept with you again, but I'm not your lover. Not anymore." I sighed. "You're boorish and arrogant. And terribly rude."
"And your point is… ?" he asked, eyeing me with a speculative look. Irritated, I turned away as he continued. "The OIA can't intervene directly because the Queen has her head so far up her ass that she can't see what's going on. And the generals are sitting tight and cozy in their fancy homes with their stashes of opium and their feasts and orgies. Even if they figure out what the hell's happening, the troops aren't equipped to do battle. I hate to tell you this, but that ragtag army couldn't fight their way out of a box. The only hope is subterfuge, because by the time the royals figure out something's wrong, Shadow Wing will have discovered the spirit seals and it will all be too late!"
He leaned back, his gaze flickering around the room.
"Did Father tell you all that?" If that's what my father was saying, we were in real trouble.
"Your father isn't alone in his assessment. There's trouble on the wind for the Queen. Old enemies just don't fade away, even after a thousand years. She needs to remember those she's crossed in the past." After a moment, Trillian looked over at Morio. "So the old hag sent you? A wolf cub to do a man's work? Well, I suppose you're better than nothing."
"Yokai-kitsune, thank you." Morio bristled, and his pupils narrowed. "I know what you are. I've seen your kind in the northern mountains before. Don't push me, Svartan."
Great, a testosterone match. Just what we needed. "Chill out, both of you. Morio, I welcome your help, and my sisters will too. Trillian, back off."
Trillian arched his eyebrows and gave me a slow, sensuous grin. "Do you welcome my help, too? You did last night."
His eyes were gleaming. Uh-oh. I caught my breath, forcing myself to shake my head. The next moment, Trillian had slid in beside me, his fingers running up my arm.
"Stop it!"
"Your feelings are transparent—" he started to say, but before he could get the rest of his words out, Morio's hand latched on to my other wrist, dragging me out of Trillian's grasp.
"Leave her alone. It's obvious the lady doesn't want your attention." Morio pushed me behind him as he glared at Trillian.
"Cub, you've just overstepped your boundaries. You'd better keep your nose out of situations that don't concern you." Trillian was standing, hands on hips, at the ready.
I knew that he carried a long knife in his boot, and I had the feeling he'd upgraded to more modern weaponry since coming Earthside. The last thing I needed was for him to take a potshot at Morio with some purloined handgun.
"Enough!" Thoroughly irritated, I squeezed between them and glared at them until they both backed away. "Take it down a notch, boys. I mean it."
When they were sitting again, albeit grumpy and eyeing each other like hostile dogs, I headed toward the kitchen. "I need to check on Maggie. If either of you starts up again, I'm going to come in here and blast you both. And you know you can't count on the side effects of my spells—you could end up a couple of puffballs, for all I care!"
Trillian's gaze burned into me, and he gave me a sly smile, then returned to staring down Morio. I paused to make sure they were really in truce mode, then slipped into the kitchen.
Maggie was snuggled in her box, curled up asleep on an old blanket. My irritation evaporated as I looked down at the beautiful swirls of orange and black and white downy fur covering her little body. Gargoyles were small when born, and they aged so slowly that it would be years before she grew to adulthood. I knelt beside the box and gently stroked her fur. She snuffled in her sleep.
While I'd wanted a cat—a black one who stayed a cat and didn't turn into a person—felines didn't like being around Menolly. And Delilah would have been jealous and territorial. So Maggie was a perfect compromise. She wouldn't be afraid of vampires unless she'd already been treated badly by one, and she wouldn't threaten Delilah's seniority. The last thing we needed was a litter box dispute. Maggie turned, blinked once, then closed her eyes and fell back asleep.
I made sure there was water in her bowl and then chopped up a few ounces of steak and added some bread and milk. As I set the saucer down next to the box, Maggie's eyes opened, and she peeked over the edge. She let out a little mooph, then yawned as I lifted her over the edge. She lapped up the water and the food.
When she'd finished, I rubbed her belly, then carried her outside and set her on the ground. She dribbled a few pellets and a puddle on the grass near the steps, and I picked her up again and carried her back inside. It would be a long time before her wings were big enough or strong enough to carry her weight, and I didn't want her crawling around by herself outside.
. After I put her back in the box, I poured myself a glass of wine and returned to the living room, hoping that Trillian and Morio had been able to restrain themselves. Apparently, my absence had been too taxing. They'd started talking to fill the silence.
"The Queen will never understand how much danger there really is," Trillian was saying. "She's too caught up in her opium dreams to pay attention. The General Commander is trying to whip things into shape, but he's getting a fight every step of the way. The last meeting of the ruling council was a farce. Men are leaving the Guard in droves because of poor management and lack of organization. And the OIA is divided in its loyalties."
"What's this?" I asked. "How in the world did you find that out?"
"I don't just talk to your father," he said, snorting. "I have my spies. One of the Council members is a good friend of mine. I'm serious, Camille. Don't expect help from the Crown and Court—they've become so corrupt over the years that there isn't a person there who has the authority to change matters. Not yet."
I jerked my head up to stare at him. Not yet? Trillian never said anything without reason, but until I knew what was going on, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I still didn't know Morio well enough to trust that he might not repeat what he heard. And if word got back to the Queen that her competence was being questioned, we were all so much dead meat—or would wish we were. Lethesanar was an expert at persuading her prisoners that they'd be better off dead. A number of them took that route—using whatever method they could find to kill themselves before her next round of amusements.
"So you're saying OIA is on its own?"