“It is an ongoing problem,” Mircea agreed. “Made more so now without MAGIC’s extensive ward system.”

“And by her refusal to go into hiding,” Sal said, looking approving.

Mircea rubbed his eyes. I was beginning to know that gesture. “Yes, and while that has allowed us to identify several traitors, it is . . . nerve-wracking.”

“She can’t cower in the dark,” Sal pointed out. “She’s a symbol. People take their courage from her.”

“That is also her opinion. Kit swears she is giving him ulcers.”

Sal frowned and leaned forward, suddenly intense. “She understands that you can’t just sit by and hope things work out! That you have to make things happen—”

“I thought he liked stubborn, powerful, complicated types,” Alphonse interrupted.

“He likes them alive,” Mircea said pointedly.

I pretended not to notice.

“How could one of the Consul’s cars have a bomb?” I asked. “Aren’t they cared for by her servants?”

“Yes.” Mircea looked grim. “It would appear that we have another traitor.”

“How many did that damn girl corrupt?” Alphonse asked angrily.

“That damn girl” was Myra, Agnes’ former ward, who had joined Apollo’s side. She’d figured out how to weaken the bonds between master vampires and their servants by using her abilities to go back in time and poison soon-to-be vampires. Vamps who were ill or dying when changed were never as strongly bound to their master’s will. Horatiu, for example, had been on his deathbed when Mircea changed him, but the most he did with his greater freedom was to speak his mind.

Others had found more dangerous pastimes.

“There cannot be many more,” Mircea said, looking like he really wanted to believe that. “Myra was targeting the leading servants of Senate members, weakening their bonds so that they could be persuaded to betray or kill their masters. That narrows the number of suspects to a relatively small group. And at the rate we’re going, they will all have rebelled before long!”

“Wouldn’t it be wise to isolate them or something?” I suggested. “At least until things calm down?” I didn’t like the thought of one of those hard-eyed masters stabbing him in the back. Or anywhere else.

Mircea shook his head. “Unfortunately, the very ones under suspicion are also those of the most value to us. And at the moment, we need our strength.”

“Yes, but if they’re dangerous—”

“It would be more dangerous to deprive ourselves of their support,” he said firmly. “And we may already know who the traitor is. An old adherent of my house tried to assassinate someone dear to me recently. He failed and was killed. But for months before that, he was on my staff at MAGIC. He would have had ample opportunity to set a trap for the Consul.”

And so would a lot of other people, I thought but didn’t say. If I knew Marlowe, he wasn’t likely to leave any stone unturned in the investigation. Someone had almost assassinated his leader right under his nose. That had to sting.

“What would happen to the war if the Consul died?” I asked, pretty sure that I already knew the answer.

“Our participation would be severely curtailed while a replacement was determined. That could take months, as our laws allow anyone to contend for the position who has reached first-level status. That includes masters from other courts. And many of them are of the opinion that we need nothing from humans other than their blood.”

“So there goes the alliance with the Circle,” I said blankly. And possibly the war. I drained my glass, appreciating the warmth it sent coursing through me. My skin had suddenly gone cold.

At Mircea’s request, I spent the next fifteen minutes bringing everyone up to speed about my day. He didn’t interrupt, but he didn’t look happy. And he actually drank the amber liquid in his glass instead of just swirling it around as usual.

“I will have someone examine your ward,” he said when I’d finished. “I don’t like the idea of your being without it.”

“Yeah. Especially with the Circle still after me.”

“Yes, about that,” Mircea said, accepting a refill from Sal. “The Lord Protector called me this afternoon to ask about you.”

“How kind of him.” I stabbed a tomato with my fork.

Something that wasn’t a smile lifted the corner of Mircea’s mouth. “He assured me that Mage Richardson acted completely without his knowledge or consent, out of a spirit of revenge.”

“So what’s his excuse for the last month?”

“He asked me to convey his personal regrets to you . . . and to arrange another meeting as soon as possible.”

I smiled. I’d been waiting for a chance to use one of Pritkin’s more colorful swear words. And if ever there was a moment . . .

Mircea’s lips quirked. “That is what I thought you’d say. Which is why I agreed to the meeting on your behalf.”

“What?”

“Tradition states that the new Pythia’s reign does not officially begin until she is confirmed at a ceremony by the Lord Protector of the Circle,” he said mildly.

“I don’t care about tradition!”

“But the magical community does. To be accepted as Pythia, you need the legitimacy such a ceremony would provide.”

“That wasn’t your view this morning!”

“It was, in fact. But that meeting was deemed inadvisable because of safety concerns. Kit had heard rumors that there might be trouble.”

“Something you might have shared with me.”

Mircea raised one of those expressive brows. “Would you really have chosen to miss such an opportunity?”

“I don’t know. But it would have been nice to have the choice!”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Sure he would. When he ran out of handcuffs. “I’m still not meeting with the Circle,” I told him flatly. “And I don’t need or want their blessing. Feel free to quote me.”

“The Senate will guarantee your safety.”

“You can’t. You can’t trust anything they tell you!”

“We don’t. Which is why we have set the meeting to take place during the reception for the visiting consuls.” Mircea paused, and for the first time that night his eyes glinted with the usual fire. “All six of them.”

“Six?” Alphonse choked on his whiskey while the rest of us just stared.

“The first convocation of six consuls in history is meeting in two days’ time,” Mircea confirmed. His voice was steady, but there was definite color in his cheeks. It took a lot to make a first-level master lose control, even to that degree. But news like that would just about do it. The Consul might even have blinked.

“You work fast,” I said. “This morning you could only get two.”

“It seems that today’s tragedy convinced the senates that this war is unlike any we have seen.”

“And scared ’em shitless,” Alphonse guessed. “Not that they’ll admit it.”

Mircea smiled slightly. “They have had a shock—something unusual for them. Their courts are also built on or near ley lines.”

“They’re afraid that what happened once can happen again,” I reasoned.

He didn’t look too concerned. “There is always a chance, of course. But the lines have been in use for millennia and there has never been a similar catastrophe. Our best guess at the moment is that it was a tragic accident.”

“An accident that just happened to take place over MAGIC?”

“If the line was unstable, a rift could have occurred anywhere. But it appears that the battle was the trigger and it took place there. We will know more in a few days, when the turbulence within the line diminishes enough for an investigation.”

“So, if there’s no danger, why are the consuls meeting?”

“They may be under the impression that the threat is more serious than perhaps is the case,” he said blandly.

“And you don’t think they’re going to be a little upset when they find out otherwise?”

“Early reports are often misleading. And by the time a conclusive answer can be obtained, the meeting will have already taken place.”

It sounded like Mircea was gambling that, given the opportunity to talk to them face-to-face, he could bring them around. And maybe he could. But I wouldn’t have liked to look at that group and say, Sorry, just joking!

“Pritkin thinks someone sabotaged the line,” I told him.

Mircea frowned. Since that was his usual response to any mention of John Pritkin, I ignored it. “To engineer such a breach would require a fantastic amount of energy. More than any known magical alliance possesses. Our experts are convinced that a naturally occurring phenomenon was to blame.”

“Let’s hope so,” I said fervently.

“Where are the consuls meeting now that MAGIC is gone?” Sal asked.

“Here. Casanova is arranging lodging as we speak, and the wards are being reinforced.” He looked at me. “That should not go beyond this room, by the way.”

“I don’t gossip!”

Mircea smiled. “That goes for everyone.”

Yeah, but he’d looked at me.

Horatiu entered, leading a vampire in hospital scrubs. The nurse, I assumed. He looked at us nervously and gave a quick bow before ducking his head and scurrying past. And for the first time that night, I felt myself relax. A vamp medic should know how to care for Rafe.

Mircea was on his feet when I turned around again. That seemed to signal the breakup of the party because, within a moment, everyone had disappeared. For once, even Marco found somewhere else to be.

Leaving me alone with Mircea.

I started for the door, but a hand snagged the back of my shirt. “A moment,” Mircea said quietly. I sighed but didn’t fight it; we needed to talk.