Page 31 of Cathmoir's Sons

Thinking of the cat who sits outside my window in the snow every night, I wince.

A smile, quickly suppressed, flits across Dittman’s mouth. “I don’t envy you. Cait are notoriously sneaky and ruthless when they go after something they want.”

Ihumph. “Oh, I’m aware. I don’t expect you to know how to deal with the Cait, but as Rhodes’ mentor for several years, any advice for me? Luca’s warned me Rhodes won’t just give up. He said something about Rhodes never losing at anything. Is that true?”

Dittman nods. “A hundred percent winner, that boy. Tenacious and driven. I’ve encouraged those qualities, I'll admit. They’ll make him an excellent White Cloak. I have high hopes for him as one of the Pillars someday. But I appreciate that puts you in a pickle.”

“I can avoid him for a few months,” I say with a certainty I don’t feel.

Dittman’s iron gray eyebrows raise. “Good luck with that. Patience isn’t a quality the boy possesses.”

“Surely a good White Cloak needs to be able to see the long game,” I point out.

“They get impatience beaten out of them the first year or two in the field,” Dittman says. “I won’t send them into the White Cloaks anything less than raring to go.”

“Is the first year very hard?” I ask, not knowing anything practical about the Aedis Astrum’s White Cloaks.

“Fifty percent drop-out rate,” Dittman tells me. “Rhodes won’t be one of them, unlike that snotty asshole who’s wearing the crow mantle. But burn out is real, too. They need connection. Someone to come home to at the end of the day who isn’t going to duck and run the first time they break down ‘cause they made the hard call. The Cait prince will be good for that, but you’ll be better.”

I blink at him. “Why do you think I’ll be better?”

Dittman lets his smile spread this time; it’s not a nice smile. It’s cold and it tells me that Dittman has also seen his fair share of the real world. “I hear your gift is resonances. You read vibrations. I’m a Fire-mage. I read auras. I know when someone’s lying. Made me a great White Cloak, and not a bad teacher. I know you were skating close to the line a few times in that meeting. And I know the aura of someone who has killed, who has made more than one life-or-death decision.”

I nod in acknowledgement. He’s gotten too much out of me already. I’m not giving him more ammunition.

“Well, I appreciate your discretion,” I say.

“You have it,” Dittman says. “For now. Do not end up in front of the committee over this issue, Professor Wyndham. I’m not going to tattle, but I’m also not going to cover for you. If you end up in front of the committee for improper relations with students, I’ll vote against you.”

“That’s fair,” I agree.

“I’m not going to patronize you by telling you what to do, and I’m not on your tenure committee so I don’t have a say in it, but I hope if you get offered tenure, you’ll turn it down. You don’t belong at a lectern, Professor Wyndham. Not after what I saw at the museum. Not after I helped ward that death cup. Not after hearing about what happened at Jedburgh Abbey. You belong out there in the field. You and Rhodes would make an incredible team. I hope you’ll think about that.”

“I’m not a White Cloak,” I protest.

“Justiciars have wide latitude in what they investigate. Are you telling me you’ve dug everything you’ve found out of the ground? I don’t believe that. Your aura has a distinct streak of righteousness. You’ve gone after the makers of fakes you wrote about when you were a student, haven’t you?”

“When I could,” I admit. “I’m not a crusader.”

“No, but Rhodes could be. You’ve seen the world, Professor Wyndham. You know what’s important and you know when to pick your battles. You’re not someone who will run from the uglier parts of being a White Cloak. Help the boy find his way. He could be great. We need a little greatness in the Aedis Astrum again.”

I’ll admit I don’t think much of the organization. My few run-ins with them have shown them to be bureaucrats moreinterested in their own advancement than getting anything constructive done.

Maybe the Aedis Astrum needs cleansing as much as Faery.

Chewing over that thought, I nod at Dittman and excuse myself. He holds the door for me and does me the courtesy of going the other way when I head to my office.

Chapter 10

Spare Wisdom

RHODES

When I texted my details to Evan Lords, I did not expect him to show up at the den.

Luca’s in his first class of Winter Study and Law’s doing whatever Law does, probably stalking Kellan. So I’m unprepared for a knock on the door. I’m more unprepared to see Lords when I open it.

“May I come in?” he asks.

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