Page 135 of The Tribes of Magic
“They’re saying he’s a crazy old man, of course,” Dante said.
“Surely, this latest insanity has finally given the Governor everything she needs to fire him.” Nevada looked to us for confirmation.
Ansel shrugged. “The General has powerful allies.”
“Powerful allies who, for all we know, signed off on this insane operation.”
“What makes you say that, Dante?” Nevada asked.
“The Government wants to prove to the Many Realms Court that we can handle ourselves.”
“He’s right,” Bronte said. “President Stout wants to establish Gaia’s place in the Many Realms. He wants the leaders of the other realms to respect us.”
“If we want to be accepted as equals by the leaders of the Many Realms, we really can’t afford this kind of drama,” Dante said.
“No pain, no gain.”
“I can’t believe you’re agreeing with the General’s asinine plan to send a Cursed horde to the Castle!”
“I said I understand why the Government would do it. I didn’t say I agree with it.”
“Bronte’s right,” Dutch said. “This sounds precisely like something the Government would do. They would doanythingto impress the Many Realms delegates. Just consider all the bad press around the vampires’ deaths, which has tanked Gaia’sodds of joining the Court, by the way. The Government is desperate for a big, flashy win.”
Nevada grinned at me. “Savannah obliterated a whole horde of Cursed Ones in like five seconds. You can’t go bigger than that.”
“Actually, it was a phantom that obliterated a whole horde of Cursed Ones,” I told her.
“A phantomyousummoned.”
I shook my head. “It’s not that easy. And in any case, it doesn’t matter. The Court won’t care that I took care of a problem the Gaian Government so obviously staged for their benefit. I bet the news stations are already broadcasting the drama all across the Many Realms.”
“Speaking of drama, what exactly happened to the Sorcerers’ art room?” Nevada asked me.
I poked my green beans with my fork and said nothing.
Luckily, Bronte was there to fill everyone in on all the gory details. “Savannah’s phantom disrupted our training. Her shenanigans arealwaysdisrupting our training. At this rate, we’re never going to find our Tribes.” She sighed.
Of course that’s what she cared about. I didn’t blame her for picking on me. Well, not much, anyway. Bronte had been raised to be the best at everything she did, and my ‘shenanigans’, as she put it, were standing in the way of her career plans.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to keep messing things up. I’m just really struggling to control my magic.”
“And to keep your nose out of everyone’s business.” Dante flashed me a smirk.
I tossed a strawberry at him. His reflexes were super-quick, so he caught it easily.
Nevada took a sip from her glass of pink lemonade. “Don’t stress, Savannah. We know you’re trying. Hardly anyone’stalking about you. They’re all too busy pointing fingers at the General for unleashing the Cursed Ones on us.”
“Is that true? For once, am I not the epicenter of the gossip bomb?” I looked at Dante.
He took that as an invitation to steal a piece of chicken from my plate. “Pretty much. A few people had way too much fun telling me that my sister blew up the art room.” He laughed. “But I figured that only added to your reputation.”
I leveled a hard stare on him. “A reputation that includes setting the General’s curtains on fire, apparently.”
He shrugged, then helped himself to another piece of my chicken. “As your brother, I reserve the right to take artistic license when sharing your tales of valor.”
“There’s nothing valiant about attacking curtains.” I swatted his hand away when it ventured too close to my plate again. “And there’s no honor in stealing your hungry sister’s food.”
“Sorry,” Dante said. But he only looked sorry that he’d been caught.
