Curiosity overcame her, and she shifted closer to me. “What did it say?”
“A lot of things. Private things.” Hurtful words I hoped I wouldn’t have to relay in their entirety, even if they came from a cousin and not her. “What matters is the Marchands donated their entire collection to the Athenaeum to prevent me from gaining access.”
“And Boaz, being an Elite,” she finished, “knew where to find the Athenaeum.”
“He helped us for the sake of the fallen.”
The slight purse of her lips hinted she hadn’t bought the line, not in its entirety, but she let it go. “After all you’ve suffered, you returned to Atramentous.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t hesitate.” A note of reluctant pride entered her voice. “You went back there for the good of the Society.”
More like the good of Savannah and all her inhabitants, but I took the out I was given. “Yes.”
The Grande Dame worried one of her earrings. “How did Boaz get you as far as visitation?”
“He forged paperwork that indicated Commander Roark had granted our petition.”
“He was there when Commander Roark died,” she murmured. “There were no survivors to contradict him.”
“That’s my understanding, yes.”
“The paperwork would have held,” Linus continued the story, “except he wasn’t given an access code. He was forced to borrow one from the guard working visitation. She was a willing participant until we prepared to leave, when Boaz made it clear in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t interested in her sexually now or ever.”
“Foolish boy.”
For once, we were in total agreement, though I couldn’t bring myself to admit it out loud.
“This is what happened.” She massaged her temples. “Linus, you and Grier were granted permission from Commander Roark to visit the Athenaeum. Boaz met with Roark to collect the clearance papers, and that’s when Elite Heath entered the room and opened fire.” Her arms lowered as she reimagined those events, twisting them to suit her. “That’s why Boaz accompanied you to Atramentous, to arrange for the use of Elite Barfoot’s code since no new ones could be issued until an interim commander could be appointed.”
“The video won’t corroborate your version of events,” Linus said gently. “Elite Barfoot and Elite Marx won’t either.”
Not to mention the guards we took out at the gates, some with more force than others.
“I’ll handle it.” She pushed hairs away from her face. “I’m the Grande Dame, and you were acting in the best interests of the Society.”
“Protecting us might cost you your title.” Linus measured her with a frown. “Are you prepared for that?”
“You’re my son.” She frowned back at him. “Do you honestly think I wouldn’t give it up to keep you safe?”
Rather than answer, Linus embraced her. “Thank you, Mother.”
“I assume there’s more to this visit than a confession?” She pulled back and straightened her clothes then fixed me with a stare. “I hope, given the trouble your shenanigans have caused, you accomplished what you set out to do?”
“I did.”
“Then all that’s left is gaining access to Lacroix in order to implement your plan.” The Grande Dame wasted no time getting to the point. “You want me to lower the protections on the Lyceum so you can enter beneath city hall.”
“I do.”
“You understand that if you fail, the Lyceum will fall.”
Like mother, like son. “This is our best chance of regaining control of the city.”
With a dramatic sigh, she flicked a wrist. “I suppose we can always burn it to the ground if that fails.”
“I would prefer not to set Savannah on fire, but yeah. That’s always an option.”
Older vampires, ancients in particular, being flammable and all.
“Oh.” Cruel interest sparked in her eyes. “I do have one spot of bright news.”
Linus inclined his head in an invitation to share.
“Sentinel Rue has been relieved of duty. She was interrogated on the Volkov situation, and she is now being held pending a formal hearing. She admitted to acting on Lacroix’s orders, which she received through her vampire boyfriend.” She gave her son a resigned look. “I believe he was killed during the altercation outside the facility.”
Linus gave nothing away with his placid expression.
“This incident highlights the need for the sentinels’ handbook, particularly the chapters on fraternization, to be revised.”
Vampires are not our enemies.
Necromancer children learned that at their mothers’ knees. But Lacroix’s actions would condemn his species to censure and distrust. It wasn’t right, and the Grande Dame would see that when this standoff ended. She was too politically savvy to wallow in ignorance for long, but any condemnation on her part would send ripples throughout the Society. For everyone’s sake, I hoped her temper cooled sooner rather than later.
“Lacroix must not be done with Volkov.” I got queasy just thinking about it. “Why else protect him?”
Our old pals, the vampire assassins, must have showed up late to the party. We had already gone in, so they got stuck waiting. Hood found them before they got a chance to take aim at me. But the brawlers? Gramps must have worried the Society would transfer its inmates out of the city until we restored order, and he didn’t want to lose track of him. They must have been positioned in the yard, behind the wards, or they would have been Hood’s meal instead of the assassins.
“I’ll have Sentinel Rue questioned again,” the Grande Dame decided. “If Lacroix wants Volkov, we must ensure he doesn’t get him.” Her focus homed in on Linus. “Will you two go alone?”
“Lethe and Hood will be accompanying us.” He stuck his hands into his pockets. “Boaz will, I’m certain, attempt to come as well.”
“Good.” The Grande Dame tapped a finger against her lower lip. “Muzzle him until I can speak with him. Don’t allow his sudden plague of conscience to ruin us.” Satisfied that was one more loose end snipped, she gestured toward the sigils on the door. “Smudge those, please. Let’s find paper and a pen.” She shot Linus a look over her shoulder. “I can show you how to bring down the wards surrounding the Lyceum. How you get from there into city hall is up to you.”
There was only one way—up. The elevator shaft was the sole connection between the two.
As I was preparing to remove the wards, the Grande Dame hugged me from behind.
“You and I have never seen eye to eye, but you are family.” She released me. “I do love you.”
Shock zapped my brain like a lightning bolt. She had spoken the words to me many times over the years, with varying degrees of affection, but just now, she appeared to mean them.
“Take care of each other” was the last thing she said before smudging the sigil and striding into the control room like she owned it.
The sentinels relaxed with her back among them, when they once would have snapped to attention.
Lacroix might be the worst disaster to strike Savannah, but he was doing wonders for the Grande Dame. She had the sentinels eating out of the palm of her hand. One even handed her the notebook and pen she sought before she could ask for them.
“Here is the list of streets waiting on their supply delivery,” she said, loud enough for her voice to carry. Her hand, however, drew sigils followed by careful instructions in the margin. “There you go.” She passed it to Linus with reluctance. “Be careful out there.” She glanced at me. “Both of you.”
Linus kissed her cheek. “We’ll be in contact soon.”
A sentinel waited behind her, a printout in hand. Dismissing us, she turned to hear his report.
We left the barracks and rejoined the Kinases in the van.
“We good?” Lethe gnawed on a round jerky stick that almost brushed the ceiling. “Did she have an alternate way in?”
“We’re good,” I confirmed. “We can access the Lyceum and bring down the wards.”
Hood met my eyes in the rearview mirror. “What did she say about the rest?”
“She told us she would handle it.” I gusted out an exhale. “Now we wait and see if she can.”
Thanks to her championing my release, from Atramentous no less, her reign as Grande Dame had begun in controversy. Clarice hadn’t held the title for long, and she had crossed Abayomi Balewa to get there. There were those, both High Society and Low, who believed she had freed me because of our familial connection. Soon those same grumblers would have fresh ammunition.
Clarice had freed me after discovering I was goddess-touched. She had extended to me the first pardon in the history of Atramentous. The fact my grandfather was holding the city and the American seat of the Society hostage on her watch painted an ugly picture of gross incompetence at best and rampant corruption at worst.
“We will if she can’t,” Hood promised. “We have the resources to make you vanish, both of you.”
Gwyllgi had kept Taz a step ahead of the Marchands. They could do the same for us. I believed that. But it would cost me Woolly and Keet and all my non-gwyllgi friends. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“What about Boaz?” Massaging my temples, I was reminded of Clarice’s favor. “We have to bring him with us, by the way. The Grande Dame wants him isolated until she wraps up damage control.”
Assuming they didn’t clamp her in irons and then come straight for Linus, Boaz, and me.
“We can always use the cannon fodder,” Lethe said as she bit off a mouthful. “We’ll let him go first.”
Linus attempted to hide his smile, but honestly? He didn’t try all that hard.
Boaz was easy to spot when we rolled up to the barricade. The other sentinels gravitated toward him. His larger-than-life personality had that effect on people. He made friends easily. Keeping them was the problem. And right now, he was shaking hands and checking in with each individual so they felt valued and their sacrifice respected. They were looking to him as a figurehead, and he was stepping into the role with both feet.