ground outside your region, others are waiting on them. Have you learned anything new, anything that might help us further develop a plan against this?”
I considered my board, frowning. I thought about Nakul and knew Hasan would want to know this was in some way personal for me now, but I still didn’t know if I could trust him.
The best way to find out is to test it. Maybe he’ll say something to ease my nerves. I’ll give him a little, and maybe that will give me some leeway to break the rules without getting fired or killed myself. He’s a member of the Tribunal, and I don’t know how deep this goes.
“Some of them tried to kill me, remember? I’m going to assume they aren’t going to be passive and disappear just to make my night a little easier. I have a little evidence toward that. I’m in for a fight, I bet.” I couldn’t tell him exactly where that had come from, but I could back up my claims later when anyone came asking.
“Kaliya, I’m going to make a recommendation. Stop pissing off people enough to create schemes to kill you.” He didn’t sound amused, but something about the advice made me want to laugh.
“I’ve never needed to piss off anyone to get them to want to kill me. It’s a natural-born talent,” I retorted. “People have been trying since I was a kid, and I don’t see it stopping if I start behaving myself now. Honestly, it’s why I began misbehaving. Might as well give them a legitimate reason.”
“I’m beginning to tell,” he muttered. “Because I know my son, and you were trained by him, I’m going to make an assumption.”
“Go for it.” I wanted to hear this.
“You don’t want us to send in help, do you?”
I considered it, looking at the board. Aimlessly and still not answering Hasan, I wrote the Tribunal down on a notecard, then each of their names. Callahan, the male werewolf of the Tribunal, had asked Tarak to get the review done if I remembered correctly. Not that I could ask now. Oisin wasn’t happy with my current arrangement and hated me. Alvina was unavailable, like every other fae. Perfect timing with that. I had no idea where the witches stood, but I knew the local vampires still didn’t like me. The connection between them and the vampires on the Tribunal was too close for comfort.
“No.” Now was the time to ask for the world. I needed a longer leash and permission to do things they wouldn’t give me under other circumstances. Hopefully, I could phrase it right and get what I wanted. “I would prefer if I was given leave to defend myself from the escapees and perform a personal investigation into the matter. They’re trying to kill me. If that gets back to the Tribunal, and I feel your safety is at risk, I’ll let you know, but right now, I don’t need a lot of people I’ve never worked with running around the city. The risk of injury is too high, and as you said, other Executioners and Investigators don’t know the area.”
“Do you understand that nothing you find can be used until it’s verified by an Investigator? I’m more than willing to give you the freedom to act on your own, considering the situation. Since one of your loudest detractors isn’t currently available to vote on the manner, I’m certain the rest of the Tribunal will agree with me. Due to extenuating circumstances, without Lord Cassius available to do the investigation and the safety risks involved with sending others your way at this time…”
“Exactly. Can we do that? Are you sure?”
“I’ll pass it along and make it happen,” he confirmed. “You’ll hear back from me in an hour with a final answer. Wait until then, and don’t act on your own.”
I knew I liked this werecat, even if I didn’t trust him yet. Part of me wanted to tell him about Nakul and get his viewpoint on the entire matter. Since I had met him, he’d done nothing but stir up shit, but he was reasonable. Just like his son, it seemed like he had a very straightforward way of doing things, and he saw no reason to lie, cheat, or steal.
Well, someone must have had to teach Hisao that. I guess this would be the guy.
We said a few more pleasantries, then he hung up before I could.