“Was that your job? To betray the Senate?” I asked, taking the bait. And starting to search the shadows for the one searching for me.
“Betray?” Lawrence’s voice was mocking. “Was it betrayal for those fools to gut each other nightly on the arena floor? Fools fight; winners think.”
“So you planned to get on the Senate this way?” I asked in disbelief.
“No, I planned to rule the Senate this way,” Lawrence said. Because he was obviously crazier than I was.
“If you’re so strong, you could do that anyway,” I said, watching a shadow slink along a wall. “Challenge the consul. As far as I know, she isn’t a mentalist.”
“No, but your father is.”
“Ahh.” Thin
gs started to make sense. The consul could fight her own battles, but she could also call for a champion when challenged. And obviously, Lawrence didn’t think he could take Mircea.
So he’d just decided to murder him instead.
“Is that what the fey promised you?” I rasped. “The consulship?”
“No, that is what they promised Geminus. He’d discovered that a Senate seat is merely another form of slavery. The only way out of bondage in our world is to rule.”
“And that’s what you think you’re going to do?” I demanded. “Rule? Because I got the impression that’s what the fey want. And their godly buddies.”
“The fey care about Faerie, not Earth. And what gods?”
“The gods the fey plan to bring back! Or didn’t they share that tidbit?”
He laughed. “Oh yes. I think it was mentioned a time or two. But you forget—the gods are not here. And will not be here until the Circle falls.”
“And isn’t that the idea? Take out the Senate, then destroy the Circle?”
“That’s their idea,” he said condescendingly. “Mine is to remove the consuls and to consolidate rule of the six senates in my hands. Once I have it…Well, both sides will need my favor then, won’t they? And with the odds in the war nearly even, the vampires will be poised to make the difference.”
“And you’ll throw your weight behind the Circle,” I said slowly.
“Who will then owe me their victory, further cementing my position.”
“So this is just another vampire power play.” It shouldn’t have surprised me. Mircea had guessed as much, and it was certainly nothing new. Where vamps were concerned, it was the oldest story in the book and I’d seen a thousand examples. But for some reason, this one seemed particularly—
I belatedly realized that memory-me had started climbing out of the trench she’d been slogging through. And that the trench had been in shadow and outside was a whole lot brighter. And suddenly, so was I, as light from the scene spilled over into the surrounding area.
“The power play,” Lawrence said, materializing out of nothing right in front of me. “And even for a novice, that was pathetic.”
Behind him, memory-me made an “oh shit” face and launched herself back into the trench.
“Really? How’s this?” I asked, and kicked him viciously backward.
Because I might not be strong enough to kill Lawrence myself, but I had plenty of lethal memories that might.
As he was discovering.
I saw him fall into the scene, saw him land in a splash of mud and blood and half-rotten donkey parts. But I didn’t see him get up. Maybe because a barrage of artillery fire ripped across the scene a second later, whiting out everything.
Or maybe because I was running like hell.
Not back for the entrance, but farther, further in. Dodging around, looking for other memories, worse ones, because the son of a bitch wasn’t dead yet. No, not yet, or I’d be out of here. I ran past strafing gunfire and a stampede of horses and a crashing surf and—
And straight into the fist that came out of nowhere.