Peace Talks (The Dresden Files, #16)(116)

“See?” I called to her. “This is … just a terrible idea. Just awful. For you, I mean. Maybe we can talk instead.”

Freydis’s voice came out a little breathless. “Lara?”

I looked at Lara and made an impatient gesture with one hand. “Come on.”

“I’m alive,” Lara called back to her. Then she looked at me and said evenly. “You traitor.”

“Hey,” I said, lifting an annoyed finger. “I’m not the one who came running at you with a knife.”

“What did you do to him?” Lara asked, her voice cold and measured.

I’d heard the tone before. Back when I’d had to put the fear of, well, me, into a vampire named Bianca. We’d sort of been amicable opponents up until that point. Things changed when I’d made her feel helpless. Things had gotten a little complicated.

And I’d just repeated history.

Only Lara was smarter and stronger and a great deal more dangerous than Bianca had ever thought about being.

This was one of those situations where it would maybe be wise to use my words.

I walked over to Lara and settled down on my haunches next to her. “I did exactly what I said I would do,” I said. “He’s safe. Locator spells won’t be able to lock onto him here. His demon can’t hurt him. The svartalves can’t get to him. We did it.”

“I want to see him,” Lara hissed. “I want to talk to him.”

I rubbed at my eyes. “You can’t,” I said. I frowned and reached for my intellectus of the island.

I felt what my brother felt. Which was not much. There was distant pain, but mostly he had simply sunk into an exhausted stupor. His mind had been overwhelmed by physical stimuli. Now he sought blessed shelter in oblivion. “He’s … unconscious.”

She stared at the middle distance, refusing to look up at me. “Unconscious?”

“He’s locked in one of the cells,” I said. “He’s safe. But he’s stuck, too. And right now he’s exhausted. Resting.”

“You never said anything about locking him in a cell.”

“I said he’d have to stay here.”

Lara let out a small bitter laugh. “You did. And you kept your word. To think I believed you’d come into Mab’s service as a result of misfortune rather than aptitude.”

I winced at that one.

Ow.

“You’ve made your point, I believe, Dresden,” Lara said somewhat stiffly. “The current balance of power does not favor me. Is it really necessary to keep me in this … position?”

“Are you done with the knife play?” I asked.

“I am ready to negotiate rationally,” she said.

I gave her a professionally suspicious look.

Her poker face was much better than mine.

“Fine,” I said. I stepped back and gestured.

The ground just sort of slid away from her, bringing her back to her feet without any effort needed on her part. As her right hand came free, she lifted a small practical knife that she’d been hiding … somewhere. She put it back into the sheath she held in the other hand and then tossed the knife down onto the ground between us.

“Thank you,” she said stiffly. “I’d appreciate it if we could deal frankly with one another at this point.”

“Sure,” I said.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“For what?”

“Don’t be coy, Dresden,” Lara said. “You hold my brother’s life in your hand now. What is your price?”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Wait—you think that … Wow.”

She tilted her head.

“Lara, look,” I said. “I’m slowly growing more aware of things, but … you’re giving me too much of what you probably think is credit. I don’t play the game like that.”

“A cursory review of your defeated foes begs to differ, wizard.”

“I’ll play hardball,” I acknowledged. “But I play it clean. Or at least, I don’t sell my own damned brother up the river for gain.”

“You’re not that much of an idealist, Dresden,” Lara said with a faint hard smile on her mouth. “At the end of the day, you’ll commit genocide if you think it’s the proper thing to do.”

“You’re goddamned right I will,” I said, because the empirical evidence was pretty tough to dispute. “But if I was as hard-core as you think I am, you wouldn’t be walking off this island with your own mind. And maybe not at all.”

Lara narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

I threw up my hands. “Hell’s bells, Lara. Look, if I wanted to do something bad to you, I could right now. You’re standing in the wrong place, I have the advantage, and if I wanted to wreak some manner of skullduggery upon you, you aren’t in a position to stop me from doing it.”

Words could not be more rigid than the ones she spoke. “I am aware.”

“No!” I said. “That’s not … Augh! Look, I’m not saying that because I’m trying to leverage you. I’m pointing out that I can do it, but I’m not going to because it’s just … dickish. And I try to avoid acting like that whenever I can.”