Page 84 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

Rooke closed the door after Varden. “Bad news.”

For fuck’s sake. “Go ahead.”

“There’s a massive rumor that three covens have dropped their support since the Vissimo and Luther negotiations.”

I thumped my head back against my stupid, uncomfortable damned authority. “Not a rumor. It’s true, and Frond’s spreading it.”

“People aren’t happy,” she added, wincing because she hated bringing me this stuff.

“If you poisoned Frond, could anyone trace it back to you?” Huxley asked her.

She frowned. “Yes.”

“Is that a no?”

“Yes, Huxley. That’s a no. And what did you do to Spyne?”

“He’s being unreasonable!”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Rooke, I need you to pass on something to Sven, please.”

So far, he’d operated on his own. I felt odd about using his powers for my gain, like it blurred a line on my moral compass. Frond had focused that line when he betrayed this coven. The gloves were off. “Ask Sven to counter the rumors with news that High Esteemed Nightlock has just offered her full support. Her magus will join us for sparring sessions soon.”

“I’ll tell him straightaway.”

Might as well fight fire with fire. “And ask him to start rumors that Frond has been dealing with the original coven and working to betray us all to their rule.”

Rooke’s eyes rounded. “He has?”

“If the original coven has its way, Frond will sit where I am sooner rather than later.”

It wasn’t often that my cousin got fiery, but her eyes narrowed. “Then I’ll be finding a new fucking coven.”

So would I.

And not by choice.

21

The demon braid was enormous. I’d realized tonight that the braid was actually a spine for another quipu joined to this one. My quipu was so big it had its own quipu. One for the coven, Caves, and then this huge demon mothership.

I’d asked the sentries to leave me a few hours ago to do my work, and my fingers throbbed after downloading the recent information about the demon king murdering my family, the open gates, the original coven, and my coven’s restlessness. Otherwise, I felt better. I hadn’t solved any problems, but I felt more capable of doing so.

I hadn’t had it in me to face the coven at dinner tonight. Call me a coward if you like, but exhausted would be a better word for how I felt. I’d decided to give myself a break for the first time since the demons attacked.

I walked around the quipu hung in my esteemed quarters to locate Rooke’s braid. I wove new antidote developments onto that, then moved to Delta’s, Ty’s, Christyr’s, and Serene’s. I added information to the braids for my advisors and then more to the braids I’d started for the other covens. I had a feeling that would turn into a quipu of its own in time too. Magus politics was an entire world that I was yet to fully enter.

I stood in the middle of my quarters to look at the full quipu. The thing was massive and complicated and only getting more so.

A knock.

“Come in,” I called.

The quad, minus Wild, filed in behind Rooke.

I took one look at their faces and general dejection. “There can’t be more bad shit today. I’ve filled the quota for that. Tell me something good.”

“People are whispering about Nightlock’s coven joining us for sparring,” Sven said. “They’re excited and reassured by the news.”

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