He’d even arranged to get our towed car out of impound, hopefully with my katana still in the trunk.
As much as I hated Lucas sometimes, he could occasionally do something to remind me why I’d fallen in love with him in the first place. Love wasn’t what I felt now, but perhaps loathing might yield to grudging respect someday.
Sig had called Ingrid on our behalf to make arrangements for a conditional surrender. As long as we were back on council turf before sunrise, we wouldn’t be attacked. In spite of the assurances, I still felt like I was being watched the entire trip from the airfield back to the council headquarters.
Ingrid met us at the front entrance, and I could tell by her expression she was disappointed in me. Whether she was disappointed I had screwed up, or because I didn’t die, I couldn’t be sure.
“It’s a long story. ” I still refused to go into detail with anyone.
“It had better be a good one. ”
“Actually it’s pretty awful. ”
That made her frown, and some of the bluster went out of her sails. “I see you found Sig’s missing kin. ”
“I did. ”
“And did you find the object Tribunal Leader Eilidh was so…impassioned about?”
The pendant felt heavy in my pocket. If it did what Sutherland claimed it could, there was no small wonder Eilidh wanted it so badly, or why she was willing to sacrifice our lives if it meant no one else would have it. In the wrong hands it would be a powerful weapon.
I just wasn’t sure Eilidh’s hands were the right ones.
If I’d been given a choice, I would have brought the pendant to Sig. Unfortunately I didn’t have that option. Part of me wanted to keep it for myself, but even with the power it provided I would have been a fool to believe I’d get away with running.
“I have it,” I confirmed. “Are they ready for us?”
“Yes. They’ve been patiently awaiting your return. ” Sarcasm sounded funny coming from a seven-hundred-year-old. Yet somehow it managed to endear her to me. Obviously Ingrid hadn’t enjoyed her stay with Galen’s council in my absence.
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “We’ll be going home soon enough. ”
“About damn time. ” The elevator arrived, and she selected one of the lower floors but didn’t join us in the lift. “Secret?”
I held the door before it could close. “Yeah?”
“For what it’s worth…I knew you hadn’t run. ”
I was too stunned to reply, so I let the door shut instead. Holden and Sutherland were silent the whole trip down, but my father had a goofy smile stuck on his face, the same one he’d had since we got on the plane back to L. A. I’d have asked what he was happy about, but I wasn’t sure he’d know the answer.
Outside the Tribunal chamber two wardens tried to insist I enter alone, but I pulled rank and forced them to let me bring the men along. There was no way in hell I was letting either of them out of my sight, not until this whole mess was resolved. As of right now I had to consider the council enemy territory. When I had assurances we were all safe and the warrants were called off, then I’d take alone time into consideration.
Eilidh, Galen and Arturo were seated in the same arrangement they had been the last time I saw them. Tonight Eilidh and Galen were dressed in matching emerald green, while Arturo had opted for a black suit.
“How kind of you to grace us with your presence, Secret. ” Eilidh tried to sound bored, but her voice maintained an edge of malice.
“I wasn’t aware there were time restrictions on my mission. ” I’d practiced what I would say to them in my mind, going over it a thousand times on the flight south. Now that I was actually standing in front of them, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to remember any of it.
“No, but we weren’t aware you would disappear without a trace. ”
“My methods, unconventional though they may be, yield results. You wouldn’t have asked my council for help unless you wanted results, yet now you want to question how they were obtained?”
“Results?” Eilidh sneered. “The window still sits in San Jose. I see no results. ”
“I’ve returned your warden. ” I indicated Sutherland, who stood in front of Arturo.
“Hello,” he greeted.
“Wonderful. You’ve brought us a mad vampire. What a delightful treat. ”