Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4) - Jim Butcher Page 0,16

almost completely shut. He said nothing more. Nothing about him betrayed any tension, from the set of his bull neck and solid shoulders to the stillness of his gnarled, work-hardened hands. But I felt it in him, somewhere.

I said quietly, "Youre going out on a limb for me, arent you?"

He shrugged. "Some, maybe."

I felt the anger run hot in my belly, and I tightened the muscles of my jaw. But I made an effort to keep my voice even. Ebenezar had been more than my teacher. Hed been my mentor at a time when I hadnt had anything else left to me. Hed helped me when a lot of other people wanted to kick me while I was downor, more accurately, decapitate me while I was down. I owed him my life in more than one sense.

It would be wrong for me to lose my temper, no matter how tired or hurt I was. Besides, the old man could probably kick my ass. So I managed to tone my answer down to, "What the hell do you think youre doing, sir ? I am not your apprentice anymore. I can look out for myself."

He didnt miss the anger. Guess Im not much of a poker player. He looked up at me and said, "Im trying to help you, boy."

"Ive got all the help I can stand already," I told him. "Ive got vampires breathing down my neck, toads falling from the sky, Im about to get evicted from everywhere, Im late to the Council meeting, and I am not going to stand around out here and suck up to members of the Senior Council to lobby their vote."

Ebenezar thrust out his jaw, rapping his staff against the ground to emphasize his sentences. "Harry, this is not a game. The Wardens and the Merlin are dead set against you. They will move. Without support in the Senior Council youre in trouble, Hoss."

I shook my head and thought of Mabs glacial gaze. "It cant be much more than Im in already."

"The hell it cant. They could make a sacrificial lamb of you."

"They will or they wont. Either way Im not going to start brownnosing the Council now, Senior or otherwise."

"Harry, Im not saying you need to get on your knees and beg, but if you would just"

I rolled my eyes. "What? Offer a couple of favors? Sell my vote to one of the blocs? Fuck that. Pardon my French. Ive got enough problems without" I broke off abruptly, narrowing my eyes. "Youre the last one I would expect to be telling me to get involved in Council politics."

Ebenezar scowled at me. "Oh?"

"Yeah. In fact, the last time I checked, you told me the whole swill-spouting pack of lollygagging skunkwallows could transform one another into clams, for all you cared."

"I did not say that."

"Did so."

Ebenezars face turned red. "Boy. I ought to"

"Save it," I told him. "Go ahead and punch me or whatever, but threats just arent hitting me like they used to."

Ebenezar snorted at me and slammed his staff on the concrete once more before turning and stalking several paces away. He stood there for a minute, muttering to himself. Or I thought he was muttering. After a minute, the sound resolved itself into swallowed laughter.

I scowled at his back. "What?" I demanded. "Why are you laughing at me?"

Ebenezar turned out to an open parking space across the row and said, "There. Are you satisfied?"

I never felt a whisper of power, not a breath of magic stirring against me. Whatever veil had been used, it was beyond anything I could have even attempted. Im not exactly a neurosurgeon when it comes to magic. Ive had my moments, but mostly I muddle through by shoving a lot of energy into my spells until it doesnt matter if half of it is slopping out. Magically speaking, Im a brawny thug, and noisy as hell.

This veil was good, almost perfect, completely silent. Way better than I would be able to do anytime in the next couple of decades. I stared in abrupt shock as it fell and two people I hadnt sensed at all simply flickered into existence in front of me.

The first was a woman better than six feet tall. She wore her grey hair coiled in a net at the base of her neck. She had already put on her robes of office, black silk nearly the same color as her skin, and her purple stole echoed the gems at her throat. Her