Page 81 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“And what do you propose, cousin?” he asked coolly.

“Expulsion from this chamber, to start,” said Riordan, and Dio did not bother to hide his triumphant grin as he looked at Nyssa Petros, the Commander of Siracusa.

How long had Nikos been permitted to impose himself upon the council thanks to the leniency and favouritism of his aunt? I was sure this was why Riordan’s mother was not present for this meeting. She had either opted not to be a part of betraying Nikos or someone might have made sure she was otherwise occupied.

The underhandedly cutthroat ways of the Imítheos would never cease to shock me.

Nikos was glaring at Riordan hard, but he retained just enough composure not to fly over the table at my king.

“Perhaps a vote—” he began to suggest.

“A vote it is! I shall have ballots sent out to all the fey and Ktínos who have been affected,” Riordan agreed with him instantly. “Or is that not what you had in mind?”

Nikos would not respond, and I could not help but smirk at him.

“For all your talk of democracy, you certainly are very selective of who qualifies for having a voice. Get out,” Riordan commanded him.

Have him arrested!

There will be other dissenters. I will allow him to do our work for us and find them,Riordan reassured me.

Nikos sat a moment, seething, but eventually he shot out of his seat and was followed out the door by hisskiá.Once the door had closed behind them, Riordan released a breath and pulled out the chair next to the witch to sit beside her. He took her hand and clasped it on his thigh before looking up at the other council members who were still watching him with varying degrees of intrigue.

“Now, let us all have a discussion. One that does not devolve into groundless accusations, bigotry, or prejudice. You may share yourgenuineconcerns, or perhaps you’ll take this opportunity to actually learn more about Amira before you presume to judge her,” Riordan suggested.

Not even Castor seemed prepared to break the silence, so it was Dio who sat forward and smiled at the witch.

“Hello, my dear, I am Dio. I have served with Riordan for a long time, so I am truly pleased to meet you.”

The witch had about as much tact as a Ktínos and did not bother to hide that she was pleasantly surprised.

“Hello, Dio. I am Amira, and I’m very pleased to meet you as well,” she replied with a relieved smile.

“Tell us about yourself,” suggested Isaura with a bored gesture of her hand.

“Well, I am a fire witch from Uile Breithà. I was raised without a coven by a single mother, and up until about six months ago, I mostly made portraits of birds,” the witch admitted with a wince. “There is not much else to tell.”

Aside from the fact she steals your magic,I thought to Riordan sarcastically, and he shot me a forbidding glare.You should be honest about that. At least with Helena.

I will tell Helena,he relented in exasperation.

The council members all eyed the witch for a moment in varying degrees of uncertainty.

“And what kind of birds do you use in your portraits?” Dio asked when no one else spoke up again.

“I’m not sure that’s relevant, Dio,” interrupted Castor, having regained his nerve. “I am glad to know that you have no affiliation with more of your kind, Miss…?”

“Kelley,” the witch supplied her surname for him.

“Miss Kelley,” said Castor. “Tell us about how you met our king and how you helped to bring him home.”

The witch glanced at Riordan as if to verify that he did want her to be the one to tell this story, and he gave her an indulgent smile. One that I saw all the councillors taking notice of with varying degrees of interest. Some frowned as if threatened while others were intrigued, but I knew they would all seek to exploit her one way or another as a tool with access and influence over their new king.

“I was taking pictures when I heard a loud sound down by the lake. I was not expecting to find a half-drown griffin tangled in a fishing net,” she admitted with a grimace at Riordan.

I saw some of the councillors shudder in horror at her description the way I had when Riordan told me.

“I didn’t know he was… a man,” she said, shooting myskiáanother glance, but this one was mildly reproachful. It made him smirk knowingly at her, so I guessed that was a part of the storythat they were not going to be sharing with me or the council. “I cut him loose, thinking he was just an animal, but he was… the most beautiful creature that I’d ever seen,” she admitted with another shy look up at Riordan. Myskiádid not bother to even try and hide his smug grin which had eyebrows rising around the table. “And I really wanted to get a picture of him. His portrait,” she clarified. “So I spent weeks trying to get close to him until he was kind of forced to be my friend.”

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