Pas by S M Reine Page B

Rylie said tightly. “Fairly or not, she won . Brother Marshall’s evidence isn’t enough. This is complicated, Deirdre, so much more complicated than you understand. We have to handle it delicately.”
    “It didn’t seem real delicate when Rhiannon had me and Vidya hauled on stage to be publicly devoured by the sluagh.”
    “Who do you think rallied the vampires to rescue you?” Rylie asked.
    “They rallied themselves to save Lucifer.”
    Brother Marshall gave a dry laugh. “Vampires couldn’t rally themselves to play a game of dodge ball.” He jerked a thumb at Rylie. “She got them together to save you. And she did it in secret. Delicately, you might say.”
    Deirdre supposed that she should have thanked Rylie for it, but her well of gratitude seemed to have run dry.
    The Alpha wasn’t going to do anything about Rhiannon. She was too busy playing politics, pulling strings like some damn puppet master hidden backstage while everyone risked their lives in her stead.
    She was just as bad as Stark in her own way.
    Deirdre was starting to think that they were all as bad as Stark.
    “Forget it,” Deirdre said. “I need a way into the Winter Court. I summoned you so that you could take us there, Brother Marshall. And don’t give me any crap about it. I put myself in a lot of danger to present your evidence to the public, and you owe me for it.”
    His eyes flicked between Deirdre and Vidya. “I can’t get into the Winter Court. When the sluagh was unleashed, I shut down my access to the ley lines leading between Middle Worlds.”
    “So open it again,” Deirdre said.
    “Sure, I could do that. But I’ll have to get to the Winter Court to reopen my access points, which means someone over there will have to let me in first.”
    “You’ve gotta have unseelie allies over there. Ask them to drag us over.”
    “You know that the Summer and Winter Courts are at war, right?” Brother Marshall asked. “All my unseelie contacts are in hiding. I can’t reach anyone.”
    Rylie stepped forward, still cloaked in her disguise. “I have a plan. I’m not going to let Rhiannon hurt people. You have to step back and let me handle things before you make it so much worse.”
    “Yeah, well, I don’t trust you,” Deirdre said. “You’ve made your priorities clear, and that’s your own damn skin, not the people.” She thumped her fist on her chest. “I’m the only one who cares about them. I’m the only one who’s gonna fix this. And nothing you say can stop me.”
    “Or me,” Vidya said.
    That was a slightly more intimidating threat, what with the razor feathers.
    Rylie sighed, massaging her temples. “There might be another way into the Winter Court. The unseelie wanted to have Stark assassinated while he was still on Earth, and they got in touch with anyone they thought might give him safe haven. They gave them ways to open portals to the Middle Worlds.”
    “Like Chadwick Reynolds,” Deirdre said. He’d had a gift from the unseelie when they had killed him.
    Rylie frowned. “Who?”
    “Never mind. So you mean we have to figure out who among Stark’s former allies would have also sold him out to the unseelie, track them down, and take their portal-opening-device-thing?”
    “Actually, I already found one person,” Rylie said. “You can go there directly. It’s near Cumberland.”
    “Give me an address,” Vidya said.
    Rylie did. The valkyrie’s eyes went blank as she absorbed the information, taking it in with the same chilling calm that came over her when she was acquiring new targets.
    “Okay, let’s go,” Deirdre said, grabbing Vidya’s arm. She didn’t want to spend another moment in that cathedral with those people.
    “I might as well go with you and see what I can do about my access points to the Winter Court.” Brother Marshall followed them down the aisle. The gargoyle lurched into motion, leaning on its knuckles as it loped behind him, showering granite dust on the runner between