“Where he’s also likely to be on the daub,” Han said.
“I don’t expect Klemath will take the news gracefully,” she went on. “Nor will the direct reports who are loyal to him, since most are from the down-realms. Captain Byrne and General Dunedain have been developing a list of candidates to replace officers who might refuse to accept this change, but that will take time. I think we can look forward to a difficult few months.”
“Especially because Klemath was hoping to marry off one of his sons to you,” Han said.
“Right,” Raisa said, wondering, How did you know about that? Are you somehow keeping track of my suitors? Which made her think of Marisa Pines.
“What was that all about, anyway?” she blurted. “At Marisa Pines.”
“What was what all about?” Han asked, furrowing his brow.
“Your behavior. That dance.”
Han conjured a wounded look. “Well, nobody else volunteered, and so I thought …”
“And the note.”
Now he looked genuinely puzzled. “What note?”
“The note you put under my pillow at the Matriarch Lodge,” Raisa said. “Warning me away from Nightwalker.”
“I didn’t put any note under your pillow,” Han said. He paused for a heartbeat, then added, “Though avoiding Nightwalker seems like a good idea to me.”
“It’s a match my father favors,” Raisa said.
“Then your father is wrong,” Han said. “Nightwalker thinks the world sprouted from his bunghole.”
Raisa dismissed this image with some difficulty. “Then you did leave the note!”
“I did not. It just sounds like somebody else shares my opinion.”
“I won’t be marrying for love,” Raisa said. “I’ll have to make the best match politically if we’re going to get out of this fix.”
“So you’ve said.” Han cocked his head back and looked down his nose at Raisa.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
“What?”
“That look on your face.”
“I’m thinking that you’re the queen of the realm. If anybody can marry for love, it ought to be you.”
“You don’t understand how I—”
“You’re right. I don’t. I’m just a jumped-up streetrat in a velvet coat. Now can I go to bed?” He made as if to rise.
“Not yet,” Raisa said, thinking, We have to get off this topic. “Let’s talk about the Wizard Council.”
“What about it?” Han said, easing back into his chair.
“How did the first meeting go? How did the members react to Lord deVilliers’s death? Are they planning any response to the murders in the city?”
Han looked at Raisa for a long moment, as if trying to read the meaning behind her words. “If they are, it’s under the table. Not discussed in open council.” He paused for a heartbeat, eyes narrowed. “Lord Bayar is already trying to blame them on me.”
“On you?” Raisa sat forward. “Why would you be out killing wizards?”
“Didn’t they tell you about me?” Han’s eyes seemed to pin her in place, the color shifting from sapphire to lapis, to deep indigo. “I’m a killer. Need to get a little practice in now and then. And the bodies have been found on my turf. Open-and-shut case.”
“Did anyone believe him?” Raisa asked, worry pinging through her. “That you’re the one responsible?”
Han scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “Those that hated me before believe him. Those that hate the Bayars think it’s likely them—or the Demonai.”
“Could it be the Demonai?”
Han shifted his gaze away. “I don’t know what to think. It could be. It’s the easy answer.”
“Could it be wizard politics?” Raisa asked.
“Maybe. But it seems like the killers are picking at random. If it were the Bayars, for instance, you’d think they’d use this opportunity to hush their enemies and blame it on me.”
“Well. Maybe they know that would be too obvious,” Raisa said.
“Maybe.” Han looked unconvinced.
“Are there any on the council who support me?” Raisa said. “Any I can count on?”
Han thought about it. “Well,” he said. “Dean Abelard prefers you to Mellony as queen, or Micah Bayar as king.”
“I suppose that’s something,” Raisa said. “What about Adam Gryphon? Where does he stand?”
“I don’t know,” Han said. “The Bayars tried to push through a vote for High Wizard, and he wouldn’t go along. But I don’t think he’d go against them in a key vote.”
“I want a High Wizard I can trust,” Raisa said bluntly.
“Sure you do,” Han said. “The trick is how to pull that off. The High Wizard is elected by the council, and you know how the council members are chosen.”
“I can’t have a High Wizard whose loyalty rests with the gifted alone,” Raisa said. “I don’t need someone who is more focused on wizard politics than the good of the realm. I need someone I can work with.”
“So you want to change the role of the High Wizard,” Han said. “Is that it?”
Raisa shook her head. “I want the role of the High Wizard to be what it should have been all along—the magical arm of my government. Integrated with it, not in opposition to it.”
“I agree with you, but there’s only so many fights you can pick at a time.” Han sighed, looking glum. “Right now, I’m guessing the new High Wizard will be Micah Bayar. If not him, Mina Abelard. Which one of them do you prefer?”
“Neither,” Raisa said. “I want you.”
“Me?” Han stared at her as if blindsided. “Seriously?”
“Why would I joke about this?”
“I just told you that Lord Bayar accused me, in open council, of murdering wizards,” Han said. “At least some on the council believe him. It’s not going to be easy—to get elected, I mean.”
“Nobody said it was going to be easy,” Raisa said, twisting the wolf ring on her finger.
“No matter how you do the numbers, they don’t come out.”
“Then you need to build alliances with the other council members. You were the one who wanted this post. I can’t bring pressure directly to bear—that’s likely to have the opposite result.”
“No!” Han said, giving his head a decisive shake. “They can’t know you actually support me for High Wizard.” He sat thinking, chewing on his bottom lip, fingering his hair. Finally, he looked up at her. “Let’s be clear on this. You want me to do whatever it takes to make this happen? Things you might not like?”
It was like he was requesting an unconditional pardon for crimes not yet committed. There was no way Raisa could agree to that.
“Well,” she said, “I don’t want you killing anyone.”
“Short of that?” Han persisted.
Raisa didn’t know how to answer that. So she didn’t. “I need to gain influence over