Covenant's End - Ari Marmell Page 0,63
the lack of those soldiers on patrol that's forced the Houses to step in.”
“Precisely!” Shins spun so quickly her hair made a hail-like pitter-patter across the wall beside the hearth. “So in other words, Lisette—who already runs the criminal underworld in Davillon—is poised to see Houses and priests, who are presumably loyal to her, rise to become the predominant legal powers in the city. And she has enough influence to keep the Guard too busy to do anything about it, if not actually make them assist.
“Government. Commerce. Church. Law. Underworld. She told me the whole city would be hers, but…I thought she was just taunting me. I don't think so anymore.”
“Gods,” Igraine marveled. “It's absolutely insane, and it's enough of a twisted web to make a spider dizzy, but…she really just might do it. Lisette may be on the verge of ruling Davillon!”
Faustine, however, was shaking her head. “For how long, though? A city in that much chaos, and possibly with the fae running free? How long could she possibly maintain that?”
“I don't think she cares about anything that far ahead,” Shins said. “I think as long as she gets her reign as queen of the heap, nothing else matters.”
“There is no way,” Evrard declared, leaning so far forward in his seat that his grip on the armrests was all that kept him in it, “that either the Church or the Galicien throne would allow someone to just step in and take over a major city!”
“What would they do about it?” Renard countered. “The military and the Church are both occupied at the border. All they know is that there's some social chaos happening here, and that's no different than half a dozen other cities. Lisette could have the situation stabilized, with nobody the wiser, long before any official eyes turn this way.”
“And even if the throne did find out,” Igraine added, “if Lisette's smart enough to play along, pay taxes, do everything the nation expects a city government to do…the cost in money and lives to take Davillon by force might not even seem worth it.”
“Politics,” Robin all but spat.
“Could we maybe tell people?” Shins asked without much confidence. “Stir up the rest of the city against her? Her control's nowhere near absolute, yet.”
“How would we prove any of it, dear Shins?” Renard asked. “We certainly won't get the Guard to turn against the orders of their commandant without overwhelming evidence, and trying to get all the major Houses to do anything together is rather akin to neatly stacking live eels.”
“No!” Robin sat bolt upright, fists clenched, visibly startling the hell out of Faustine. “None of this crap! No negotiations, no schemes, just kill the bitch!”
Shins shuddered. Her dear friend was the last person in the world from whom she wanted to hear that level of vitriol. Even Olgun blanched. “Robin,” she began, “we can't. She's too—”
“What about Bishop Sicard's ritual?” Evrard interrupted. Then, at Faustine's puzzled expression, “His Eminence dabbles a bit in magics beyond the priesthood's norm. Last year, when we battled Iruoch, he was able to link us, in pairs, allowing us each to draw on the other's strength and skill.”
“And potentially killing both if one were badly injured,” Igraine reminded him.
“It's not a bad idea,” Shins said, “except…I don't think it'll work. I saw how fast Lisette moved, how unnaturally—worse than Iruoch, in some ways. And her allies can manifest around her. I don't think we could take her even with the ritual, and that's assuming the Gloaming Court couldn't just sever the hopping link.”
“That's very possible,” Renard confirmed. “We had protective wards on the Shrouded Lord's office. They never even triggered; she just walked right through them.” He smiled, then, at Widdershins's double-take. “What, you thought you knew everything there was to know about the Guild?”
“It does make sense,” she whispered at Olgun's protest. “They'd be very well hidden. Even you might have missed them.”
The tiny god managed to convey the distinct impression of crossing his arms and slumping to his seat in a huff.
“You're both right, though,” Shins said thoughtfully. “We need to be stronger, and we need to be more direct. Igraine?”
“Hmm?”
“You said something the other night about the heads of the major Houses still attending Church services, yes? In order to keep up appearances during this whole mess?”
“I did. And I already hate this plan.”
“You don't even know what it is yet!”
“I've heard enough to know I hate it.”
“You haven't,” Shins insisted. “Wait until I've gone through the whole thing,” she