Reap the Wind (Cassandra Palmer 7)

“Move?”

“—temporary quarters until we can determine—”

“I’m not going anywhere!”

“—where would be best for . . .” Jonas stopped, and his pink cheeks suddenly became a little pinker. “I beg your pardon?”

“Marco is right,” I told him, furious. “You had guards on the court in London. Guards we found dead when we arrived! They didn’t keep anybody safe—”

“When you arrived?” Jonas asked archly.

But I was in no mood to play games. “You know what happened! You’ve figured it out, or you wouldn’t be here—”

“It was not too difficult to figure out. And the coven leaders you chose to take with you were happy to inform me in any case. Any excuse to deride the ability of the Circle to protect—”

“With reason! Your guards didn’t protect anybody!”

“There were no more than a handful on duty,” Jonas said, frowning. “And most were nearing retirement. The post was a sinecure, an easy assignment for those wounded in battle or with failing magic—”

“Failing?”

The frown grew. “They were there as a courtesy, Cassie. An honor guard. The court wasn’t in danger—”

“The court was just blown up!”

The frown was edging into scowl territory. “A court is useless without a Pythia,” he told me sharply, “and you were not there. Without you, there was no earthly reason to believe that anyone would wish to imperil the lives of a group of little girls—”

“No earthly reason,” I said, trembling, but not with cold. “But there was an unearthly one, wasn’t there? And you didn’t tell me.”

“You knew what we are facing; I briefed you on it myself—”

“You told me the old gods were trying to return. You told me I was in danger from them. You didn’t tell me my court was!”

“They shouldn’t have been!” Jonas snapped, suddenly angry. “Those girls were not in jeopardy—until they became bait in a trap for you. Something that would not have been the case had all of you been in our custody from the start!”

“Your custody?” The trembling was worse now. “Your custody? The Circle was trying to kill me for most of the last three months!”

“Under my predecessor. One of many lapses in judgment on his part, which is why he was removed. And afterward, I felt some . . . consideration . . . was due you, in light of your initial introduction to us. That you should be given time to understand that there are reasons why we are the traditional defenders of the Pythian—”

“The Pythian Court is defended by the Pythia!” Rhea said, rushing into the kitchen with a child in her arms. She looked at me wildly. “Lady—”

“What’s going on?”

“They’re coming in!”

“Who’s coming in?” Marco asked, face darkening.

And then one of the vamps cursed, and suddenly, Rhea and I were alone in the kitchen.

“The Circle,” she breathed. “They wanted to take us before. I should have told you, but you were so tired, but I should have told you—”

“And I should have expected it,” I said, and ran to the living room.

Chapter Seven

The door to the foyer was open, and the doorway was full of men in leather dusters that made them look like action movie heroes. Which wasn’t that far from the truth. The coats, ridiculous as they were in August, were needed to conceal the metric ton of weaponry that the Circle’s powerhouses carried around. None of which could be used tonight, because there were children in this damned apartment.

I pushed my way into the crowd of vampires, half of whom had guns out. “Put them away,” I said harshly. Rico, one of Mircea’s Italian masters, hesitated, then holstered his weapon so fast it looked like it had simply disappeared. It was a subtle indication to our guests of how fast it could be back in his hand.