“Anyone who stands against us tonight will realize they have made a fatal error,” Monty said, creeping into semi-Darthness. “They threaten death; we will unleash it upon them tenfold.”
“When you start speaking like that, my inner Jedi starts the Darth alarm.”
“How many lives have you touched with your own?” Monty asked, quietly. “Can you name any which you’re willing to lose?”
“No.”
“Magnus or the Shadow Company will go after them all.”
“What’s the fine print to these terms?” I said, the dread still seizing my midsection. “That seemed too easy.”
“There was nothing easy about what we just did.”
“Why would she agree? What does she get out of this? I mean, besides the whole wiping out of everything she sees.”
“I agreed to her terms,” Monty said. “Which requires repayment in the future.”
“You indebted yourself to Badb Catha?” I said, raising my voice. “Are. You. Insane?”
“No. We are out of options,” Monty said, his jaw set and his tone cold. “If we don’t get help—her help—we’ve lost. Do you understand? We lose. Even with her help, we may still lose. At least this way, we stand a chance.”
“Dex, The Ten, any of the insane mages willing to work with you?” I asked, as my anger rose. “Are you telling me none of them were an option, not one? We had to resort to this?”
“No, none of them,” Monty said, flatly. “Those insane enough to face off against a dragon enclave aren’t powerful enough. Those powerful enough to do so would never consider it, even for me. I will not put more people I care for in harm’s way.”
“At the very least we could have asked them.”
“What did you think I was doing?” Monty asked, exasperated. “Badb Catha was my second-to-last call. I reached out to everyone I thought could help. It did not go well.”
“Who was last on the list?”
“What you would call the thermonuclear option. Even I wouldn’t go that far—not that he would agree, but I didn’t dare, just in case he did.”
“Who?” I asked, my brain still jolted by the fact that Badb Catha had agreed. “Who would be the nuclear option?”
“Ezra.”
The name stopped me cold. For a brief second, I understood how desperate Monty had truly been.
“Would he have said yes?”
“I’m glad we don’t have to find out,” Monty said with a sigh. “Unleashing her will be dangerous enough. She is an aspect of the triune Morrigan…the deadliest and most fear-inducing of the three.”
“Yet you called her?” I asked, incredulously. “Why not one of the other less scary aspects? The one dating Dex would have been a better choice.”
“They are all dating my uncle,” Monty said. “There are no major distinctions here. Why do you think most consider my uncle mad to be with her?”
“That would actually explain why,” I admitted. “Are you certain the schism didn’t fry some circuits in that mage brain of yours?”
“I’m certain I will not be held hostage by the Shadow Company or Magnus,” Monty said, his voice and expression dark. “I will not lose those close to me. If that means dealing with Badb, then so be it.”
“Again, making statements like that—I start hearing the Imperial March. Are you okay? You’re not feeling a desire to wear a deep Zegna cowl or give in to the hate?”
“Stop spouting gibberish. I’m not going dark, nor will I,” Monty assured me. “I also recognize when a situation is beyond my capabilities. We can’t be everywhere at once. The Transporter and Badb will buy us some time; not much, but hopefully enough that we can do what we need to do to walk away from this.”
“While stopping Shadow Company.”
“While eliminating Shadow Company and stopping Magnus.”
I nodded, trying to take it all in.
“Shit, I still can’t believe you accepted her terms,” I said, still angry. “I mean I understand, but damn, Monty, that was a bad idea.”
“I’m glad you understand,” Monty said, pressing the runic sequence to open the back room door. “Because you accepted the same terms.”
“You want to repeat that?” I said, steadying my voice. “What do you mean I accepted the same terms…No.”
The realization hit me like a gut-check.
“Yes,” Monty said, opening the door. “We do what we must to keep those near us safe. She is following the terms you laid out for her. My agreement was to follow whatever you determined. Technically, it was you making the terms.”
“Technically? Technically?” I yelled. “We now owe Badb a favor?”
“Yes,” Monty said, quietly, “and if we want to be alive to negotiate extricating ourselves out of it, we need to survive tonight.”
I opened my mouth to disagree, but realized Monty was right. We would have to deal with Badb’s terms later. Right now, we had to deal with getting through tonight…alive.
This is why you always read the fine print. Monty hadn’t exactly tricked me; it was more like inviting me into the carnage Badb Catha was going to unleash. Part of me still felt this was dangerous overkill. The other part—the part that understood Magnus and Shadow Company would only respect power—knew this was, if not the right course, then an acceptable course of action.
“I’m not working or doing any favors for her,” I said. “There better be some kind of exit clause.”
“If our actions spark a dragon war, it won’t matter,” Monty said. “At that point we will have greater concerns.”
“Like staying alive,” I said as we stepped out of the back room.
TWENTY-SIX
“We need to speak to Dex,” I said. “After this is all through, and if we somehow make it out alive, I need to speak to Dex.”
“Agreed,” Monty said as we stepped into the main dining area. “James, a word?”
Jimmy came over to where we stood as the door to the back room closed silently behind us.
“What’s going on?” Jimmy asked. “Is she gone? Tell me she’s gone.”
“She’s gone,” Monty said. “I strongly advise against conducting business for a few
