I blew out a resigned breath, rose, cast a baleful glance at Luc. “A ball? Seriously.”
“Complete with theme.”
I felt my lip curl. “Which is?”
Luc grinned. “That, Sentinel, is a mystery you’ll have to solve on your own.”
* * *
I left them to their work, reached the basement stairs when my phone began to ring. It was Jonah, who I still hadn’t taken the time to call. I was glad he’d thought to do it.
“Hey,” I said. “Sorry I haven’t checked in.”
“So Ethan’s long-dead Master is alive.”
“Hello to you, too,” I said, bristling a little at his tone, which was snarky, but not in a good way. “And yes, that’s what it seems. Have you seen him?”
“Only on television. You think he’ll come here? What’s his play?”
I gave him the overview and our analysis.
“I know you’re probably busy with the AAM, but you’ll want to keep an eye out for him. He’s dangerous.”
“So I sensed. This is going to make it even more crucial that we monitor Ethan.”
I stopped on the stairs. “Wait. What?”
“I was going to talk to you tonight. We want you to install a camera, with audio, in Ethan’s office.”
Jonah was lucky he couldn’t see my face. “Excuse me?”
“Ethan’s part of the AAM. He’s in a position of authority, and it’s our job to monitor people in those positions. It’s exactly what you signed up for.”
In fact, I’d signed up for the RG when Ethan was gone. But that wasn’t the point.
“I won’t help you spy on him.”
“Balthasar is alive, Merit, and apparently strong enough to call Ethan. He’s dangerous.”
“I don’t disagree. But Ethan won’t let Balthasar control him.”
“You’re assuming he’ll have a choice.”
“Balthasar isn’t that powerful.” I hoped. “Besides, there’s an entire House of people who’d stop Ethan if we thought he was becoming someone’s minion, including me. You sure know I wouldn’t let him become a dictator.”
“You have an obligation.”
“So do you. Do you have a camera in Scott’s office?”
“No.”
“Are you going to?”
“No, but that’s not relevant.”
“How is it not relevant?” Realization dawned when he didn’t answer. My anger rose, lifted like a hot cloud, and I dropped my voice to keep from screaming at him in the stairway.
“You cannot actually think I’d ignore Ethan becoming a dictator because I’m sleeping with him. I thought the RG was past that.” Another RG member, Horace, had raised the issue before, and I’d believed we’d resolved it.