***
“Falcon.” I marched toward him quickly, checking the manor entranceway for other ears. “Call a meeting.”
“Meeting?”
“Yes, with the private council, but—” I grabbed his arm, “—don’t let Morgaine know.”
“Why?”
I checked over my shoulder. “She’s fired.”
His eyes went wide. “Is this because of—”
“It’s because I don’t trust her anymore, Falcon. And I don’t have to give a reason.”
“Of course.” He bowed his head. “I’ll organise the meeting for twenty minutes’ time, yeah?”
“Great. Thanks.”
Falcon disappeared beyond the archway to the east of the manor, and I stood in the middle of the entranceway with my eyes closed, searching for that feeling—the little buzz I always got around Jason. And when it tingled deep within me, I sent a thought out. “Jase?”
The energy changed.
“Jase? Meet me in the—”
“Ara?” He grabbed my arm gently, snapping me aware. “What’s wrong?”
“I need you.”
“What for? And how did you know how to reach me like that?”
I shrugged. “I can always feel you, so . . . I just searched for that feeling—aimed my thoughts in that direction.”
He smiled, his eyes wide with wonder. “You are amazing. Can you do that with anyone else?”
“Feel them? Yeah. But not call to them.”
“Wow. Tell me where. . .” he looked around, “—tell me where Arthur is right now.”
I groaned. “Jase, I don’t have time for circus tricks.”
“Please.” He sunk lower into his knees, closing his hands in prayer. “Come on. This is cool.”
I groaned again, rolling my eyes, and then closed them, picturing Arthur, feeling him. “He’s . . . in his room.”
“That is amazing.”
“It can be amazing later.” I tugged his sleeve until his thoughtful gaze came back down to earth. “Right now, I want to offer you a job.”
“Job?”
“A position on my council just opened up.”
“What?” His tone rose, half with shock, the other half with joy.
“I’m just about to fire Morgaine, and I need a new member that I trust implicitly. I couldn’t think of anyone else in the world.”
“Aw, Ara.” He shook his head. “I . . . I can’t, sweet girl. David will—”
“I’m dividing the councils, now, Jase. David is no longer on this council. Being king doesn't give him right to advise me—never has. I gave him a position on my council because I trusted him. But, now, well, he can get his own council, and he has no say over who is on mine.”
“What did he do to you?” he asked, his eyes shrinking.
“Nothing. I’m fine. But . . . if you’re on my council, he can’t do anything to you. It gives you protection, gets you off stable duties, and. . .” I grinned suggestively.
“I get a new room.” He nodded, catching on.
“Yup. You’ll be right next to me.”
“I bet that’ll piss David off.”
I shrugged. “I’m not really sure I care right now, Jase.”
“He’s being cruel, isn’t he?” he asked, sweeping my hair back behind my ear.
I nodded, but before I even looked up, my face was against Jason’s shirt, his arms around me tightly.
“You need to tell me, Ara. Every time he does or says anything that hurts you, you need to tell me.”
“There’s no point, Jase. I know he’s hurt and just doing anything he can to make me suffer. It’ll pass.”
He clicked his tongue. “I’m not so sure about that, sweet girl. He’s—”
“Ara?” Falcon cut in, leaning around the wall. “Council’s in session.”
“Oh, already?” I flipped Jason’s hand over and looked at his watch. “We’ll be there in two minutes.”
“We?” Falcon looked at Jason.
“Yeah.” I thrust my shoulders back. “We.”
“As in. . .?” He motioned between Jason and I.
“Yes. I just hired Jason.”
“Okay.” He groaned, standing off the wall. “I’ll prepare the others.”
“Thank you,” I called, then smiled up at Jase. “Ready?”
He slipped his hand into mine. “As long as I’ve got you, I can face anything.”
“Amara?” Arthur called from the top of the stairs, his voice sharp with a sense of urgency.
Jase and I stopped walking. “What’s wrong?”
“Where’s David?
“I—” I looked around. “I don’t know. Why?”
“The dagger.” He appeared beside me. “It’s gone. I’m afraid he’s—”
“It’s not gone.” Jason said, and we smiled at each other.
“Drake took it,” I cut in.
They both looked at me in shock.
“What? Since when?” Jase said.
“That’s why I was calling the meeting. I wanted to inform my council first that I met with Drake, and—”
“When?” Arthur asked.
“Just now. He—”
“Amara, what were you thinking? He—”
“It’s all right, Arthur. Everything is fine,” I assured him, patting his arm. “And we have a plan.”
“We?”
“Drake and I. We came to an agreement.”
Jason closed his feet, making himself a little taller. “And you’re happy with the terms?”
I nodded. “As much as I can be, yeah.”
“And he has the dagger?” Arthur asked.
“Yes.”
“Amara, how will we—”
“We can’t kill him, Arthur. That’s not what the dagger does.”
He stopped the protest short of his lips and just stood there frowning. “What does it do?”
“We need to talk.”
“Then you’d better start at the beginning,” David said from behind us.
I groaned loudly, more annoyed than shocked that he was there, and slowly turned around. “We need to call a House meeting. I—”
“No, you need to tell me, right now, what you’ve done.” He walked coolly over and stood before me like a towering lighthouse with angry green lanterns for eyes.