I don't understand why. It's the great mystery of the universe. But nobody betrayed you. They did it to spare you."
I unloaded. I told him the whole story. He said nothing. He just sat and listened to me, emotionless and arctic.
"Are you finished?" he asked at the end.
"Yes."
"So let me make sure I understood you. My chief of security deliberately and knowingly disobeyed my first law, because he thought he knew better than me, dragged one of my best people into it, and got him permanently disfigured, beaten, and nearly killed. And he didn't tell me?"
The lion roar vibrated in his voice.
"Then he convinced you to cover up for his insubordination, and together you attacked a group of mythological killers, aggravating the conflict between them and my Pack instead of repairing the damage. And now he and three others are going to willfully and knowingly break my law again, flaunting it before thousands of people, so there is absolutely no possible way I can sweep it under the rug, even if I had the slightest inclination to do so, which I don't.
Have I gotten it right?"
"Well, yes, it sounds bad when you say it like that."
He leaned back and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. If the cage fell apart at this point, overwhelmed by his fury, I wouldn't be surprised.
"Curran, the gem is dangerous. I think that Roland is the Sultan of Death, and if I'm right, that means you've grown too powerful to be ignored. He will keep trying to eliminate you. The Wolf Diamond is trouble in the hands of the rakshasas, but it would be even more trouble in the hands of the People or the Order. Rakshasas aren't too bright. Roland is a genius. And it's not just him. If the Order got their hands on it, they would try to duplicate its magic and then inoculate your people with it. It's a key to genocide against your kind."
"And you care why?"
"Because I don't want to see you hurt. Any of you. My best friend is beastkin. They will plug a shard into her in a minute. Andrea might not like her animal side, she might reject it, but the choice to do so should be hers."
Pushing the words out was like trying to carry a rock the size of a house up a mountain. "I should've come to you. I would have if we hadn't found a cure. Anyway, I'm sorry. I tried to help my friends. I don't have many and . . . you should've seen Derek. I thought he was dying. I could actually picture myself burying his corpse. You'd have to kill him if he'd turned loup and . . . I didn't want to see you hurt." I turned away. "Julie will let you out of the cage in one hour."
He didn't say anything as I left the room. He just sat in the cage, his eyes blazing with towering wrath.
Outside Julie emerged from her hiding spot between the buildings and ran up to me.
"The Beast Lord is locked in a loup cage upstairs. Here is the key." I handed her the big steel key. "Put it into the keyhole, do a quarter turn, then release the top bar, so you can swing the top open. Curran knows how to open one; he'll guide you through it. Wait one hour before you let him out. This is very important, Julie. Don't go near him before then, because he'll talk you into opening the cage. Okay?"
She nodded.
"Once you're done, if he lets you get away, call this number." I handed her a piece of paper.
"That's Aunt B's phone. Explain that you are alone. Someone will come and pick you up."
"I want to come with you."
"I know. I'm sorry, but you can't. It's not a good place and I might not get out of there in one piece." I hugged her. "One hour."
"One hour," she agreed.
I went to get a horse stabled in the lot. Too late I realized that Curran had found us before the
three days were up. Oh well. I seriously doubted he would call in the bet. Not after our last encounter. And if he did and I somehow managed to survive this mess, serving a dinner to him naked would be the least of my problems.
Chapter 25
I HAD TO WAIT IN THE LOBBY WHILE RENE PRETENDED to find my name on the roster of fighters. "Fools," she said, flipping through the pages. "Is that a description of