“The Circle has exerted a great deal of influence for some time on which initiates are selected as acolytes,” I said, because it was true. “They want to give the old Circle families, the ones they feel they can trust, the best chance to get one of their daughters on the throne. A lot of arm-twisting is done to get those girls into position, and then it’s usually a cutthroat scrabble between them for the top spot.”
“And yet you wish us to send you girls.” That was Evelyn. She’d stopped trying to distract anyone, since they were all over here anyway.
“Yes, I do.”
I looked around at them and tried not to let the various expressions get to me. Other than from Saffy, I didn’t see any encouragement in the room. Hilde was frowning along with the rest, or maybe at the rest—I wasn’t sure. She was in the back, and it was hard to tell. But a party this wasn’t.
“I’m sorry for how you’ve been treated in the past,” I repeated. “It was unfair—”
I heard somebody snort again.
“—but some of that—a lot of it—was on you.”
That earned me a few gasps. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t, I thought. And carried on anyway.
“When you withdrew your girls from the court, you also greatly lowered the chance of ever having a coven Pythia. Rhea was partly raised by the covens, as you know. If she does end up with the top spot, maybe she’ll be sympathetic to your issues, maybe she won’t. But that’s as close as you’re likely to get if you don’t send anybody to be trained. The power isn’t likely to go to someone who doesn’t know how to use it, and you’re making sure they don’t.
“And by doing that, you’re willfully conceding yet another area of the magical world to the Circle’s control. It’s like expecting to win a game when you refuse to play, even though”—I raised my voice again, because the room had just exploded—“even though you have a Pythia right here, right now, willing to give your girls an equal shot! If you don’t take it, don’t blame the Circle. If you don’t have an advocate, it’s because you don’t want one! If you don’t have equality, it’s because you’d rather blame someone else for your problems than take it when it’s offered!”
“Damn,” Saffy muttered, looking into my cup. “What the hell was in here?”
“You wanted the truth,” I told Zara. “That’s the truth.”
“It’s also dangerous,” she said, glancing around.
Saffy jumped to her feet at that, although nobody had made a move—yet. But I didn’t need her. “It’s all right,” I said.
“You sure about that?”
“Yes,” I answered, but I wasn’t talking to her. “I can shift us all out of here at a moment’s notice, although I don’t need to. I can turn back time to before we even arrived and erase all this from everyone’s memories. I can make this as though it never happened, because for all of you, it won’t have. Even more, I can freeze you where you stand and do whatever I like, up to and including slaughtering everyone in the room, because that is the power of the Pythian office! That is the power you forfeited for your pride!”
No one was talking now. They were all staring at me, some calculating, some angry, most shocked. But they were looking, and for once, they were listening.
“You talk about war with the Circle?” I said. “War leaves many dead on both sides, and as you discovered, to your cost, it often achieves little. There are other ways to wield power, safer ways, better ways, and more of it than you could ever dream! But it requires taking a risk and reentering the world in order to claim it.”
“And if we take this risk,” the impressive-looking woman said, her white mane of hair floating about her as if electrified, “what guarantee do we have that you’re not another Agnes? Lady Phemonoe had relatives in o
ne of our covens, and distant though they were, they took in her child, raised her up, gave her a new name to hide her identity until she could safely return to court as just another initiate. And what did that win us? Nothing!”
“Because she was dating Marsden, damn his eyes!” another woman said, and there was loud agreement everywhere.
“Yes, she was dating Jonas Marsden,” I cut in. “And she let that influence her when she shouldn’t have. But I’m not Agnes, and the Circle doesn’t rule me. No one does.”
“So you say,” the impressive woman spat.
“Read my mind, if you doubt me. Isn’t that your gift?” I challenged her. “It isn’t mine, so I don’t know how much you can see. But if you have the skill, do it, and tell them what you find.”
The room went quiet.
“I haven’t forgotten that it was the covens who went with me, to save my court,” I said, my voice trembling a little in memory. “I wouldn’t have it now without Zara and Evelyn and Beatrice. And if your witches hadn’t arrived in the middle of that terrible Battle on the Drag, I might not be here, either. I owe you a debt, and I will not forget that. But I will not be ruled by you. I will not be ruled by anyone. I am Pythia, and I am asking if you want to work with me.”
I stood up.
“Let me know what you decide.”
Chapter Five
Three hours later, I shifted into the foyer of my penthouse, along with Saffy, Hildegarde, and about a hundred packages. Only to have one of my own bodyguards pull a gun on me. “Hey!” I said, startled. “Put that down!”