The compound where the Ancients were held was a half-hour away. The drive was conducted in complete silence. Estelle considered and decided against conversation openers such as the weather, what it was like to be a lithu and why the hell Agata had agreed to come here in the first place. As the quiet dragged on, Estelle clenched her teeth to avoid chattering away. If this was a power play, she wasn’t going to lose.
After another ten minutes, she turned on the radio, feeling she’d given ground but not much. The Top 40 music took some of the tension off. Agata sat upright against the seat, not a hair out of place and hands on her lap. She stared straight ahead and Estelle wasn’t totally sure she blinked.
The lithu must be fun at parties.
Estelle tried to fight back the discomfort Agata’s self-contained confidence raised in her. Her deputy was obviously smart and appeared more than competent. She’d been able to deal with the vampires at last night’s ceremony and come out on top. How would Estelle have coped if she was in the same situation with the lithu?
Not as well.
Another ten minutes passed and not a word.
Fine. I will be the bigger person here. Wavena trusted the lithu enough to make this peach Estelle’s deputy and Estelle would follow her lead. Stephan was right when he said she was biased. What did she actually know of Agata’s people? Perhaps if she shared more about herself, Agata would reciprocate. Wasn’t that the social contract? Quid pro quo?
Start small. Business. She cleared her throat. “Did Wavena detail your new role?”
“Yes.”
“Let me go over it again. We enforce Wavena’s word, law and decisions. All our enforcement bodies report to us. We make the military decisions. Think of us as commanders in chief.”
Commanders in chief with a lot of paperwork. Despite the late night with Stephan, she’d spent the first two hours of the day dealing with the everyday administration. Thank God she had assistants.
“She told me this,” Agata said dismissively.
Solider on. Estelle’s monologue about Wavena’s forces, challenges and expectations lasted through the remainder of the drive. They passed Brother Road, and it reminded her of Felix. Her mother had already called twice today and she’d let both go to voicemail to deal with later. “Tell me about what you know of the Dawning. What have they done among your people?”
“We’re investigating.”
Quid pro quo, Estelle chanted inwardly. “We’ve had people taken and so have the masquerada.”
“As have we.”
“We suspect we have some traitors, well-funded ones.”
“As do we.”
“I want them identified.” Estelle pulled into a road marked Private. They were close now.
This piqued Agata’s attention. “Will you kill them?”
Estelle considered this. “It depends how useful they are. I may have some followed and use others to spread misinformation. If they are of no use to me, I may imprison them until I’m sure they are irrelevant. I may kill them eventually.”
Her deputy tilted her head slightly to the side. “I would do the same.”
They were getting somewhere. Finally. “Almost here.”
Agata assessed the small building in front of them. “There is no security here.” She sounded disapproving.
“None that you’ve seen, but every vehicle is monitored and there are heat sensors to catch foot traffic. A security team works out of a nearby bunker.”
“What will happen when we arrive?”
Estelle decided to feel pleased Agata showed an interest in what was coming and ignore the demanding tone. Agata didn’t even know her well enough to dislike her. Her distaste was for Estelle as a vampire. That was all. It would be easier to cope if that’s what she let herself believe.
She doesn’t respect you. Why would she? Look at her and look at you, trying so hard to not mess up. No wonder Wavena wanted her as deputy. She’s like Cressida. Confident.
Estelle did her best to not bang her head against the steering wheel to block out the negativity looping through her mind. She started talking to try to focus herself.
“Ceremony is probably an exaggeration of what’s going to happen.” Estelle parked and the two women climbed out of the car. “It’s a check that everything is as it should be and so you can familiarize yourself with the place.”
“They are monitored. Shouldn’t you know?”
Estelle tossed her car keys in her bag. “We monitor their physical bodies including brainwaves but we also do physical checks.”
“Adding redundancy in the system.”
“Yes.”
“Do they communicate?”
Only by general creepiness. “No.”
“I’m sure the redundancy can be set up remotely as well. Too many visits to this location will raise suspicions.”
“You’re free to get that set up in your role as deputy,” said Estelle. Ha. Take that.
“I will.”
“Good. Remember not to raise the pull off the electrical grids or increase the amount of data we use. That would be like painting a big arrow right to them.”
Agata sniffed but said nothing.
Estelle tapped in her code then did it again to show Agata. The lithu barely glanced at her fingers, but Estelle knew she’d committed it to memory. At least Agata was intelligent. To have to deal with this attitude plus stupidity would have sent her over the edge.
She paused on the threshold, willing herself to be strong, especially in front of Agata.
Then, with a deep breath, she walked into the Ancients’ lair.
* * * *
Wavena had made it clear she and Eric considered the visit over by telling Stephan that he’d been booked on an afternoon flight back to Canada. The suspicious part of him wondered if the queen knew what had happened between him and Estelle—he had to avoid thinking about it in public because of the effect the memories had on him—and wanted to put some distance between the two of them.
The car dropped him off at the residence and he quietly changed his flight to the next day. No way was he leaving Florida without saying goodbye to Estelle. Not after last night.
He sent her a quick text and then headed to the library. His luck was in and Raoul met him at the entrance, a book tucked under his arm.
“A good time last night, ambassador?” Raoul’s smirk put a dirty spin on the words but Stephan didn’t bite.
“Excellent. Lady Nadia was most amusing.”
“I can honestly say I have never heard those words together.”
“It was a lie.”
Raoul snorted. “Of course it was. My aunt is quite a character and she enjoys playing the bitter old crone.”
“Not an attitude unusual among the party last night.”
“You mean about Agata.”
Stephan smiled. Raoul moved away to sort through some tattered books that lay on his desk. “I think we might be of help to each other,” the librarian said.
“How so?” He wasn’t taken in by the vampire’s new attitude.
“You need information. I want something from Eric.”
“I can get information about the lithu from Estelle.” Stephan yawned.
Raoul gave him a shrewd look. “That’s not what you want to know,” he said. “You want to know about the Dawning.”
“What do you want from Eric?” Stephan picked up a paperweight on the corner of Raoul’s desk and examined it closely. “I didn’t think Victoriana was your style.”
“Because you don’t know me.” Raoul plucked the paperweight from his hand and set it firmly on the desk. “It’s about the Ancients. I’ve been doing some research.”
“I’m listening.”
“Your Yangzei. I want to know more about him.”
“Why?”
“I’m looking for parallels with our own Ancients.”
“This sounds like something you can go to Wavena for.”
Raoul wrinkled his nose delicately. “Wavena’s not really a scholar.”
“Then ask Estelle.”
“Same deal. Brilliant and street-smart but not into the research.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“Access to your archives and to the head of the Pharos Council,” he said. “She had direct experience with Yangzei.”
Miaoling wouldn’t appreciate Stephan answering on her behalf. “I can put in the request but no guarantees it’ll be granted.”
“That works,” Raoul said promptly.
Stephan thought about this. “What can you tell me about the Dawning?” he asked, without committing himself.
“Not much.” Raoul’s eyes ticked away from Stephan’s gaze.
“How about you tell me who you and Felix met the other night and I get you the access you want.”
Raoul licked his lower lip. “The other night?”
“We know you met the Dawning.” Stephan took his phone out and found the photos.
“Ah, that.” Raoul’s laugh was more of a choking wheeze. He sighed, paused and smoothed down his hair. “You win.”
“It’s not a game. Who were they?”
Raoul moved forward so he sat on the edge of his chair and tucked his hands under his chin. “I don’t know.”
“Seriously? You expect me to believe that? Also, this makes for a pretty shitty deal.”
“The contact went through Felix, and you’ve met Felix. He likes power and prestige and money. They promised all of that.”
Now they were going places. “Tell me all of it.”
“I didn’t know Felix had been in touch with the Dawning,” said Raoul slowly. “He said they first contacted him about a month ago.”
“How?”
“Apparently came up to him and started talking. It was slow, like they were feeling him out. They dropped a couple of potentially treasonous pro-Dawning comments and found he responded well.”
Classic recruitment. “Do you know why him in particular?”
“I assumed the money and the contacts. Felix has both as a result of Estelle’s position and his own as heir to the LaMarche hotel business. After they were sure of him they offered the kind of role he thought deserved but would never get with Wavena.”
“Sounds like a deal he’d go for.”
“He only told me when we were on our way after dinner the other night. They weren’t surprised to see me, but I don’t know if it was because Felix told them or they didn’t want to show their hand.”
“Did you get names?”
“Levi and Delia. They weren’t vampires. Lithu.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Stephan wasn’t sure if it was meaningful but it was good to have confirmed. They knew the lithu were involved. He gestured Raoul to continue.
“They didn’t say anything overt. The conversation alluded to the Dawning but they never said it.”
“What exactly did they say?”
“That their organization was looking for arcana like us, who held similar values to their own. They didn’t say what. That there were opportunities for us. It was flattering but vague enough they couldn’t be held to any specific promise.”
“Did they sound like they were preparing for war?”
“They said their numbers had been growing and they needed more commanders.”
Shit. “They didn’t give any details?”
“No. I didn’t want to be there. I don’t like humans but the Dawning’s message doesn’t appeal to me.”
“How did it end?”
Raoul’s eyes narrowed. “Felix said we’d think about it and would be in touch.” He sniffed. “He had the nerve to speak for me.”
“You know Felix is missing,” said Stephan.
“What?” Raoul’s entire body stilled.
“He’s gone.”
“With the Dawning?”
“What do you think?” Stephan was honestly curious. Would Felix have left without Raoul, his partner in crime, and what did Raoul think of that?
Raoul chewed his lip. “I…no. I don’t think he would have gone. Not now, anyway. He’d want more wooing. He’d want them to beg him a bit, make him feel important. They weren’t doing that the other night—it was more offering information.”
“He hasn’t been in touch?”
“Not with me.” Raoul hesitated. “He wasn’t happy when we left. For all of his issues, Felix is extraordinarily good at reading people and he didn’t like those two. It’s his ego that gets in the way of acting in a way that benefits him, not his understanding.”
“I can see that.” Felix had managed to needle Estelle like a virtuoso the other day.
“I heard others have gone missing.”
Stephan eyed Raoul. “Why are you being friendly all of a sudden? The other day you could barely handle me being inside your sacred library.”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“Right.”
Raoul pursed his lips. “Fine. If you must know, I need help and I’ll even take it from a masquerada.”
This was more reasonable. “Others have gone missing,” he confirmed. There was no reason to lie about this; it was well-known by their security and through general gossip.
The librarian nodded. “Then I suggest you get me that meeting as soon as you can. Whatever they’re using those people for, it can’t be good.”