Page 20 of Horn of Winter

He ran a finger across the cage, his skin briefly caressing the stone. The Eye flared to life, its heat burning against my skin while the lightning that sat deep within its dark heart flashed violently, spinning purple light through the shadows haunting the room.

It had never reacted that way before—not to someone else’s touch, anyway. I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant, especially given the odd edge of violence that seemed to accompany the flash.

“Is that supposed to happen?” he asked.

“The lightning often appears when I’m attempting to do a seer search, but generally, no.” I paused, then added with a grin, “Maybe it simply doesn’t like you.”

“Maybe you should take it off when we’re together, then,” he said, amused. “Getting burned by all that energy at the wrong moment could definitely be deflating.”

“And here I was thinking there is very little in this world that can put a man off his game when they’re close to the summit.”

“Depends on the man and the distraction.” He kissed my forehead, his lips warm on my skin. “What time do you have to get up in the morning?”

“Mathi’s picking me up at eight forty-five.”

“Then shall I wake you at eight with bacon and eggs? That should give you time for breakfast and a shower.”

“Seven thirty would give us time for all thatandsex.”

“But only a couple of hours of sleep for you.”

I grinned. “I’ll survive.”

“If you fall asleep in the middle of that council meeting, do not blame me.”

I laughed and kissed him goodnight. The Eye’s heat chased me into sleep, and though no dreams disturbed my slumber, the thick sense of approaching danger nevertheless settled deep within.

As usual, though, there was very little explanation as to exactly what form that danger came in. As Treasa had noted, it was damnably annoying.

The fae council building was located next to the Deva City Council offices and was an uninspiring red-brick and concrete construction. Mathi’s driver parked illegally out front, then jumped out and ran around to the rear passenger door, holding an umbrella above the two of us so we didn’t get soaked walking to the entrance. I was wearing a long woolen coat with a hood, and thick, wool-lined, waterproof boots, but given it was bucketing down, the umbrella was nevertheless appreciated.

The guard opened the door with a perfunctory nod at Mathi, and we headed up the bland but functional concrete stairs to the second-floor meeting hall. The double doors were metal, and led into an antechamber that was protected by spells designed to detect both regular and magically enhanced weapons. Which meant, of course, that alarms went off the minute I strode in, thanks to the fact I was wearing my knives.

Mathi rolled his eyes and switched the sound off, then motioned me on through the next set of doors. The meeting chamber was the size of a grand hall, but without any of the usual decorations generally found in them—no wall hangings, no crests, no paintings. Basically, there was nothing here that could be manipulated in any way by the elves or pixies present. Even the furniture was plastic, which would have normally given the shifters a serious advantage thanks to their greater strength, but aside from the chambers being an electronically null zone to prevent the use of listening devices being deployed and conversations recorded, it was also wrapped in magic so strong it actually prevented shapeshifting.

Unlike the other two times I’d faced the council in here in this room, the table was less than half occupied. There were threelight elves, four shifters—including the rat shifter who’d been the convener at the previous meeting—and the blue-haired pixie who seemed to be a fixture at these things. But then, she was a Malloyei, and they’d always been more political than any other branch of pixies.

My gaze was drawn to the far end of the table, where Cynwrig usually sat. His seat was empty, of course, but I was rather surprised to see there were no other Myrkálfar here. I could understand the Lùtairs undertaking a three-month morning period, but I couldn’t imagine it extending out to all Myrkálfar.

But maybe the Myrkálfar just didn’t think the allocation of the relic for my first official hunt to be of any sort of importance, and I couldn’t say I blamed them. In all honesty, I was surprised they’d called a meeting at all—surely they could have just passed whatever information they had on to me via Mathi.

Or they simply wanted to remind me I now worked for them, and had best start taking things seriously. Which I most certainly was, but more because this council represented a means of finding Mom’s killer and uncovering the Ninkil who infested their ranks rather than any real need to find the hoard.

Mathi pulled out the plastic chair at the head of the table and seated me, then moved around to sit next to a gray-haired elf with heavily lined features and pale blue, somewhat rheumy eyes. In elf terms, he was an elder statesman—an elf who’d moved past breeding age and slipped into his twilight years. I didn’t know his name, but from the little I’d seen of him, his mind remained as sharp as a tack. I couldn’t help but wonder if that would change the closer he got to his millennium year, or whether he’d be far luckier than Cynwrig’s father.

“It is a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Aodhán,” he said, in his cool, somewhat whispery tone.

I smiled. “I’d wager there’s a few here who’d disagree with that statement, given they think my brother is a thief and I’m a necessary evil.”

A smile tugged very,verybriefly at his lips, which was probably as close to a laugh as I was ever likely to get from someone of his vintage. “I daresay you could be right, but that is neither here nor there. You were called here to receive your first assignment.”

Mathi had already told me what my first assignment was, but given he shouldn’t have, I wasn’t about to out him. “And how are we tackling these things—in order of dangerousness, or via a simpler method, such as alphabetically?”

“We do this alphabetically, for the most part.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Why ‘for the most part’?”

Though the elder elf’s expression remained benign, I’d been around them long enough now to sense the quick flash of his irritation.

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