I didn't want her to know I had any connection to Blackwood whatsoever--though probably Adam had already told her.
So I attacked.
"Because you murdered his menagerie.
The people he cared about," I said hotly.
"Truth," Stefan ground out.
"Truth," agreed Wulfe softly.
Marsilia, her face angled toward me, looked obscurely satisfied.
"I have what I need of you, Ms.
Thompson.
You may vacate the chair." I pulled my hands off the chair and tried not to wince--or relax--as the uncomfortable pulse of magic left me.
Before I could get up, Stefan's hand was under my arm, lifting me to my feet.
His back was to Marsilia, and all his attention seemed to be on me-- though I had the feeling that all of his being was focused on his former Mistress.
He took one of my hands in both of his and raised it to his mouth, licking it clean with gentle thoroughness.
If we hadn't been in public, I'd have told him what I thought of that.
I thought he caught a little of it in my face because the corners of his mouth turned up.
Marsilia's eyes flashed red.
"You overstep yourself." It was Adam, but it didn't sound like him.
I turned and saw him stride over the floor of the room without making a noise.
If Marsilia's face had been frightening, it was nothing compared to his.
Stefan, undeterred, had picked up my other hand and treated it the same way--though he was a little more brisk about it.
I didn't jerk it away because I wasn't sure he'd let me--and the struggle would light Adam's fuse for sure.
"I heal her hands," Stefan said, releasing me and stepping back.
"As is my privilege." Adam stopped next to me.
He picked up my hands--which did look better--and gave Stefan a short, sharp nod.
He tucked my hand around his upper arm, then returned with me to the wolves.
I could feel in the pounding of his heart, in the tightness of his arm, that he was on the edge of losing it.
So I dropped my head against his arm to muffle my voice.
Then I said, "That was all aimed at Marsilia." "When we get home," said Adam, not bothering to speak quietly, "you will allow me to enlighten you about how something can accomplish more than one purpose at the same time." Marsilia waited until we were seated with the rest of the wolves before she continued her program for the evening.
"And now for you," she said to Stefan.
"I hope you have not reconsidered your cooperation." In answer, Stefan sat in the thronelike chair, raised both hands over the sharp thorns, and slammed them down with such force that I could hear the chair groan from where I stood.