worlds and we are in the best position to ensure Endor’s defeat.”
“You can’t possible compare our magic to yours,” interrupted Beltran. “We have more knowledge and more power in our little fingers than you could possibly ever demonstrate.”
“You don’t even live on this plane,” Lucy said to the Fae, scorn dripping from her voice. “The only Otherworld leader who had enough nouse to be where the real danger was to begin with was Lord Corrigan. It should obviously be a shifter in control.”
The room descended into a cacophony of chaos. Two of the mages were on their feet, arguing loudly with Lucy and Staines. Alex was jabbing a finger at the faeries. Both the Summer Queen and the Arch-Mage looked about ready to boil over. I glanced at Corrigan.
This isn’t helping. They’re going to spend more time arguing than ever getting anything done.
Welcome to the machinations of the Otherworld, kitten.
I shook my head slightly in irritation. Then I stood up, pushing my chair back. Nobody took any notice. Rather than attempt make myself heard above the mayhem, I shot a single bolt of green fire at the centre of the table. It smoked and hissed, scorching the expensive sheen of the wood. Oh, well. The room went quiet again.
“Look, we’re all agreed that we need a task force, right?”
“Let’s call it a council,” suggested one of the Fae.
I blinked at that, and thought of Mrs. Alcoon.’s words. “Okay, a council then. We also all know what we need to do to guard against Endor’s next move.”
There was more nodding.
Corrigan spoke up. “She’s right. Let’s leave the issue of who’s in charge alone for now, and worry about the important matters instead.”
There were some grumbled mutters.
“Lord Alpha, I don’t think you appreciate that without a head, this entire operation will collapse before it begins,” commented the Arch-Mage. “Someone needs to keep everyone in place.”
“Let me guess,” added in Beltran sarcastically, “you think that ought to be you.”
The Summer Queen rose to her feet. She was tapping her mouth thoughtfully. “We’ll choose a leader. We’ll just wait awhile before we do so.”
The Arch-Mage also stood up. “With all due respect…”
She stared at him, some kind of message in her eyes. I watched her carefully. What on earth was she up to?
“Let’s get some food first, then reconvene in, say, an hour’s time?”
Without waiting for an answer, she held her hand out to Beltran. He took it, and the pair of them swept imperiously out of the room.
I looked at Corrigan and shrugged. Everyone else began to file out, one by one. I nodded to Aubrey, and he left too.
“How on earth do you lot ever get anything done?” I asked, once the room was empty.
“That’s easy,” he answered distractedly, running a tired hand through his midnight black hair. “We never do.”
“You’re a bunch of power hungry maniacs,” I said, annoyed at the childish truculent behaviour of almost every single Otherworld member.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “It’s a dangerous world out there, Mack. You know that.” Changing tack, he reached out and touched me lightly on the arm. “I’m sorry about Staines. He shouldn’t have revealed that about you.”
“How did he even know?” I didn’t want to start getting pissed off at Corrigan, but I needed to be able to trust him.
A muscle throbbed in his cheek. “It was a mistake. He was going on at me to leave you alone. That things would never work out because you were a mage. It just kind of burst out.”
I sighed. I figured that I couldn’t really berate him for snapping something out in anger, not given my own natural proclivity for letting rage rule my head anyway. “Whatever. I’m going to go and hit the bathroom. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
*
I was washing my hands in the marble sink when the door to the bathroom swung open. My eyes widened slightly as I realised it was Solus.
“You do know this is the little girls’ room right?”
He just blinked at me, then mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’. Confused, I gave him a puzzled frown. He shook his head slightly, as if warning me to be quiet. The bathroom door creaked as it opened again. It was the Summer Queen.
I looked from her to Solus, then back again.
Finally, I opened my mouth to speak. “Okay, what gives?”
“You’re an intelligent woman,” she said, “I’d have thought that was obvious.”
I shook the droplets of water from my hands, then dried them on the back of