they knew something was afoot. “My apologies,” he said in a careful voice, “but I fear we will need to postpone this audience.” He started to rise out of courtesy and felt the hand move from his neck as he did. “My Gypsy Scouts will return you to your quarters, and we will continue our conversation at a later time. I’m very interested to learn of these . . . prophecies.” The word felt distasteful in his mouth, but he smiled around it anyway.
Already, his hands were moving. Keep them under close watch. He looked to Jin Li Tam. “I would speak with you, Lady, when we are alone.”
He watched the scouts as they escorted their guests from the room. He watched Seamus and Winters as they followed, and last, he watched Aedric pause at the door. “Is all well, General?” he asked.
Rudolfo inclined his head. “It is, Aedric. But stay nearby.”
After the door closed, he expelled held breath and let slip some of the anger that had coiled around his spine. “You come into my house under magicks? You insert yourself into the affairs of the Ninefold Forest?” He felt his voice shaking from it, though he was careful not to raise it. “You have much explaining to do.”
Jin Li Tam looked at him, her mouth slack. “What—?”
But another voice cut her off. “You have my deepest apologies, Lord Rudolfo, for this deception.” There was a brief pause. “It was necessary that I travel quickly and quietly.”
The woman’s voice sounded familiar, despite being thickly muffled by the magicks, but Rudolfo could not place it. Still, he felt the anger prickling his scalp as he white-knuckled the arms of his chair. “What you deem necessary is your own concern. You’ve violated my territories—my very home. This is unprecedented.”
“We live,” the woman said slowly, “in unprecedented times.”
And in that moment, he placed the voice and looked up to lock eyes with Jin Li Tam. Her own face, he saw, had gone pale. Jakob gurgled in his sleep and waved a tiny hand.
“You are a long way from the Marshlands, Ria,” he said.
“I am far from the Machtvolk Territories,” she conceded. “But the news I bear merited personal and prompt attention. You and your family are in grave danger.”
His eyes narrowed, and he willed the pounding to slow behind his temples. “Go on.”
Now, her voice was from another corner of the room. “We’ve word of a growing threat against your household.”
“And how exactly have you come by this word?” he asked, tipping his head slightly as if he might somehow hear her move.
She did not answer at first. When she did, the words were carefully chosen. “As you no doubt have surmised, we have an active network in place.”
And, he remembered, the ability to somehow divert their birds and decode their messages. For the last six months, Isaak and his mechoservitors had been busy scripting new codes nearly as fast as they were broken. He paused, uncertain, and then took a risk. “We also know you have access to our birds and codes.”
She hesitated, then answered. “Yes. We do.”
Honesty, then. How refreshing. Rudolfo sighed. “Continue.”
“There are spies in your house, Rudolfo, and there are enemies in your forest.” She paused. “And I can assure you, they are not my overzealous evangelists. Though I will deal with them once you’ve concluded your own audience with them.”
Spies in my house. “I want specific details.”
“When I have them,” she said, “you will have them.” He sensed more hesitation in her next pause. “Meanwhile, I wish to extend aid to you. Already, my network is scouring the Named Lands for more substantive evidence of this threat. With your permission, I can widen my investigation to include the Ninefold Forest, and I can also send you a hundred of my Blood Scouts.”
Rudolfo’s mind reeled at her suggestions. Blood Scouts in the Ninefold Forest? The Machtvolk Y’Zirites investigating his people. But three of her words snared him fastest. “With my permission?”
She chuckled. “I know you think us monsters. The Desolation of Windwir. The kin-healing of House Li Tam and the night of purging. But we are not monsters, Lord Rudolfo. We are the servants of House Y’Zir, and by bonds of kinship, we are your servants as well.” Her voice drifted across the room now from the other side. “My deception this day notwithstanding, I have the very best interests of your son at heart, and I would not easily violate the trust or sovereignty of your Ninefold