Page 164 of Dance of Ruin

“Yourword, Nico. Promise you’ll follow through with my request. Guarantee it.”

“What you’re asking requires the whole Court to vote!” I roar. “I can’t?—”

“You can. And right now, youreallyshould.”

“We don’t have fucking time for?—”

“No,Naomidoesn’t have time,” he replies. “Again: if you want my help stopping those men from spilling her blood in the streets of New York, youwillmake this happen, right now. And it should go without saying that if I help you…and you fail to help me…there is no length I won’t go to make sure you have a front row seat the next time one of your family members gets into a car.”

My blood turns to acid. But it’s an easy call to make. Naomi’s life is on the table. If I have to cut out my own fucking heart to make sure the Court follows through on this, that’s what I’ll do.

I whirl away from him and yank out my phone.

Five names on a group chat in a secret, secure messaging app. One we only ever use in case of dire emergencies.

The Raven

We’re bringing the head of the Obsidian Syndicate to trial. Immediately.

The Bull

C’mon, man.

The Wolf

We already fucking talked about this. You know I sympathize with your situation, but this is NOT a court issue.

The Hound

Calling you in a sec

The Raven

It’s different now. I have proof of him offing a Bratva kingpin to weasel out of a blood marker.

The Raven

I need this voted on RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.

The Stag

How serious is this proof?

The Raven

Concrete. Iron-clad. He’s OURS. But it needs to happen immediately.

The Bull

We’ll set up a meeting

The Raven

Not fucking good enough. Naomi’s life is on the line. VOTE. NOW.

The Hound

If you can send us this proof, we’ll have him picked up asap. Trial by this weekend. But we NEED that evidence.

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