“You have chosen a new reign title, I believe.”
“Yeah. But since when do you use it?”
“Since you’ve earned it.”
“Along with a lot of enemies.” My list of problems now included a pissed-off demon lord, the Dark Fey king—who was still waiting impatiently for the Codex—and an angry god. To keep the last of those from turning mankind back i
nto his playthings, I had to protect the Silver Circle from annihilation, even though they were facing a war with his allies and still wanted me dead themselves. And, oh, yeah, I was in the last place I’d wanted to be, allied with the Senate in the thick of the fight.
“A hazard of office.” Pritkin shrugged. “There were many who did not care for Lady Phemonoe.”
Yeah, like the ones who had killed her. “She once told me that I’d be the very best of us, or the very worst,” I admitted. “I didn’t know what that meant for a long time. I think I do now. Either my reign will see the office finally under the control of the Pythia, instead of the Circle or some ancient being, or it will see me, and everyone else, become slaves to that creature.”
“That won’t happen.”
I almost pointed out that it very nearly had happened, but I didn’t feel like getting into a fight. “Which kind of brings us to something else I wanted to ask you,” I said instead. “The Circle maintains the ouroboros spell now, right?”
“Yes. Power is drawn from the Circle collectively, as no one mage could possibly sustain such a thing alone.”
That was what I’d been afraid of. “Okay, so exactly how many ‘blows’ can the Circle take before they can’t keep up the spell anymore?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
“I can’t. All I can tell you is that when the spell was laid, the Circle was considerably smaller than it is now. Presumably we have some leeway before a crisis point is reached. But as the war heats up, there will be casualties. And every loss will become progressively more dangerous.”
“Because it could be the one that lets the old gods return.”
“They’re not gods! They’re strong, but primarily because their magic is so different from ours that it is difficult to counter. And there is certainly nothing godlike about their attitudes! Petty, arrogant, cruel beings without a shred of—”
“My point,” I said, raising my voice, “is that if the Circle weakens too far, the spell snaps. So how do we keep that from happening? It’s a little hard to save the lives of a bunch of people who are still trying to kill me!”
Pritkin ran a hand through his hair agitatedly. “I am well aware of that! We will have to manage some kind of rapprochement. If we continue to fight amongst ourselves, our enemies will have a definite advantage.”
“And even if we win the war, if the Circle is weakened enough that the spell shatters—”
“Then we’ve lost anyway.” Pritkin finished for me grimly.
“How would you suggest we begin? The Circle hates me.”
“I don’t know. With its current leadership…I don’t know,” he repeated. “It will not be easy. But above all else, you have to show them that you are not a puppet of the vampires. That isn’t the case, I know,” he said, forestalling my protest, “but that is how it appears. You live here, surrounded by them; you wear Mircea’s mark; you are bound to him by the geis—”
“About that last one—I assume you are going to help me break it?”
There was a commotion outside, then the door burst open and Casanova ran in. He batted away Sal’s hands. “Let go of me, woman!”
“What else have I been doing?” Pritkin asked incredulously. “What more would you have me do?”
Casanova looked at me. “Feeling better, are we?” It didn’t sound concerned. It sounded pissed.
“Not particularly, no.” I looked at Pritkin. “Cast the spell, of course.”
“Good,” Casanova snapped. “Because, thanks to you, neither am I!”
“What spell?” Pritkin asked, looking confused.
“The one to remove the geis!” I said impatiently. “I had to destroy the Codex, remember? I don’t have it. But you do, so it doesn’t matter.”