Rival clan. Not just Dominic. Rhain.
My mind returned, sharply and unwillingly, to the corridor outside the library. I had thought Rhain was warning me about Dominic.
Rhain had been warning me about all three of us. The three of us, he had said, were already in a conversation I hadn’t been given the language to understand.
The elder had known. Yuki had known enough to go still. Bjorn had known enough to put bodies around Rhain.
And Rhain. Rhain had known enough to stay where he was while every instinct in him must have been trying to cross to me.
The Norwegian delegation had formed a box around Rhain. I had assumed it was to keep him out of trouble. It had been to keep him from crossing the floor before Dominic got there.
Rival-clan bond.
Shit.
Terms
Catalina
They called me into the council chamber forty-two minutes after they put me in the antechamber.
I counted.
The council could assemble in eight minutes if they wanted to. Forty-two meant they had chosen not to hurry, which told me almost everything I needed to know. Ashenmere wasn’t panicking, wouldn’t be seen panicking, and had apparently survived enough dragon-human disasters to manage this one at its preferred speed.
Fine. That gave me time.
I didn’t pace or rehearse a speech. Speeches required faith that the room could be persuaded, and I had very little faith in ancient dragons, closed doors, or political sincerity as a survival strategy.
So I built a decision tree. By the time the deputy opened the door, I had run it four times and chosen the branch with the fewest immediate disasters.
I stood, and my hand almost went to my throat before I caught the movement.
Training reflex: clean up the vulnerability, control the optics, walk back in looking like nothing had happened.
I have dealt with racism my whole life. I won’t let dragons look down on me here. Dominic is the one who didn’t control himself.
The blood had to stay. Evidence mattered. The council needed to remember what had happened, and they needed to understand that I intended to remember too.
The deputy led me back through the corridor without speaking.
The council chamber waited behind double doors. When they opened, I saw a long oval room with a stone table at the center and twelve seats around it. Eleven were filled. The twelfth waited at the far end, facing the door.
The deputy gestured to it.
I walked the length of the table at a trained pace. Nothing they could use. Then I sat.
Yuki sat at the head. Dominic stood against the wall behind her, three paces back, exactly where an enforcer belonged.
I let my eyes meet his once. Only once. Then I made myself look away, because the bond in my chest was already too loud and I couldn’t give him another inch.
The eldest elder spoke first. “Catalina Cordero.”
“Madam.”
Her hands rested flat on the stone table. Nothing about her read fragile. “You understand what was done to you?”
“Yes.” The word came out calm.