Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6) - Jim Butcher Page 0,120
it. They can influence people's opinions of all kinds of things—what physical beauty is, what sex is, how one should react to temptation, what is acceptable behavior in intimate relationships. My God, Murph, it's like training deer to come to a particular feeding point to make stalking and killing them easier."
Her mouth fell open for a moment. "God. That's… that's sort of terrifying. That's huge."
"And insidious," I said. "I never even thought about something like that happening. Or maybe it's fairer to say that it's been happening. Maybe Raith was just taking over the business from some other player in the White Court."
"So when Genosa thumbed his nose at Silverlight, it made Lord Raith look even weaker."
"Yeah," I said. "A mere human defying the White King. And Raith couldn't send Lara to control him, either, because Genosa is in love."
"Meaning?"
"The White Court can't touch someone who is in love," I said. "Real love. If they try to feed on them, it causes them physical agony. It's… their holy water, I guess you could say. Their silver bullet. They're terrified of it."
Murphy's eyes brightened and she nodded. "Raith wasn't able to control Genosa, so he had to find a way to torpedo the guy instead, or lose face."
"And be torn from his position of power. Exactly."
"Why not just kill Genosa?"
I shook my head. "The White Court seems to pride itself on elegance when it comes to power games. Thomas told me that when the Whites go to war with one another, they do it through indirect means. Cat's-paws. The more untraceable the better. They believe that intelligence and manipulation are more important than mere strength. If Raith just popped a cap in Arturo, it would have been still another loss of face. So…"
"So he finds someone he can control," Murphy said. "He sets them up to find out that the new wife is a danger to their positions, and he does it in the worst possible way, to make them readier to take action. He even hands them the murder weapon—a big, nasty dark ritual. He's not sure who it is, so he tells them to get rid of whoever Genosa is secretly engaged to. They've got a means, a motive, and an opportunity. Even in magical circles, I'll bet no one's going to be able to easily prove it was Raith who was responsible for the death of the woman Arturo was engaged to."
"And in love with," I said. "For Lord Raith it's a win-win situation. If they kill the fiancée, it will destabilize Genosa and hamper his ability to produce films. Hell, maybe Raith planned to wait until he fell into a depression afterward, and then send one of the ex-wives after a while to offer comfort, seduce him, and leave him vulnerable to Lara's control. If they don't manage to kill the fiancée, they might still create enough havoc and confusion to derail Genosa's work."
"And even if someone on the spooky end of the block figures out whodunit, Raith has it set it up so that they can't be traced back to him."
"Yeah," I said. "Meanwhile, Arturo is back in the fold and Raith has reconsolidated his power base. End of problem."
"But not if you interfere and stop him."
"Not if I interfere and stop him," I agreed. "So once Raith gets word that I'm sticking my nose into his business, he brings in Lara to keep an eye on me and take me out if she can."
"Or just take you," Murphy said. "If this guy is a schemer, maybe he thought it would be great to have this Lara get hooks into you."
The puppy stirred, disturbed. I shivered and petted him. "Ugh," I said. "But it didn't work, and I'm close to blowing the whole thing wide open. Now he'll have to take a swing at me and get me out of the picture."
Murphy made a growling sound. "Gutless bastard. Going through other people like that."
"It's smart," I said. "If he really has been weakened, he wouldn't want to take on anyone from the White Council directly. Only a fool goes toe to toe with a stronger enemy. That's why Thomas did the same thing as his father—recruiting me to go up against him."
Murphy whistled. "You're right. How the hell did you get this bag of snakes?"
"Clean living," I said.
"You should tell Thomas to get lost," Murphy said.
"Can't."
"Why not?"
I looked at her in silence.
Her eyes widened. She understood. "It's him. He's family."