Sin & Surrender (Demigod of San Francisco #6)(48)

“Well. See you tomorrow, then.” Zander turned away and lifted his chin somewhat, arrogance on full blast. Kieran bowed, knowing his place, then bowed again to Juri, who exited the building and sauntered after Zander, having clearly stalled to give them time to chat.

Once there was some space between them, Kieran headed back to his collection of golf carts, Amber closing the distance between them. “Sir, you are the talk of the town.”

“They probably can’t believe I was pulled into that last meeting. It was obviously an afterthought, but I don’t care. I’m fucking awe-struck. I never expected to gain this much status so quickly. What do you think the odds are that they’re trying to take me out in some way? Could they arrange that here, or just plan for it and do it when I got back to San Francisco?”

“Um…” She frowned at him. “No, they likely don’t plan to take you out. They wouldn’t have pulled you into a very prestigious meeting if that was their plan. Your crew has just now headed home after a long day of battling. Technically they lost to Magnus’s team. Alexis forfeited.”

Kieran stalled at his golf cart and checked his watch. Nearly six in the evening. “I didn’t think they allowed forfeits unless a team was badly hurt and leaving the grounds.”

“They usually don’t, but in this case they made an exception. Alexis judged that Thane would not last another fight on the sidelines. He’d lasted all day, despite being magically flooded with rage and challenged by another Berserker. His incredible level of control is being whispered about throughout the Summit. The man will be a legend among Berserkers. Even still, he was spent. Magnus’s people were at Lydia’s. They saw, firsthand, what Thane is capable of. They weren’t willing to risk it.”

“Still, they lasted this long and Zander congratulated me on my win. That has to count as a pretty good showing.”

Amber stared at him for a moment, her expression flat. She shifted her weight, just a little, and it seemed she was annoyed about something.

He rubbed his face. Thane wasn’t the only one who was spent.

“What am I missing?” he asked, sitting in one of the carts. He’d been sitting all day, but still he was too tired to stand.

“There are only a few teams that lasted the whole day, all of them belonging to high-status Demigods, but those other groups took breaks. From what I’m hearing—not from your crew, who hasn’t contacted me all day—your people didn’t take breaks. I don’t think they knew they could.”

She paused, and guilt ate away at him. He hadn’t told Lexi, assuming Amber would. But they’d sent her back to him.

“No one could hide from them, either,” Amber went on, and Kieran wondered if her pause had been a deliberate attempt to make him feel guilty. “If they passed a room with someone in it, they barged in and took the team out. Ran into someone? Took them down. Not one of them had to go back to the lodge. They worked together better than any other team—that has been acknowledged by all. No grandstanding amongst them. No arrogance. Lexi could so easily be a diva with her magic, as could Dylan. You know, of course, that they are not. Bria took on two highly experienced level-five Necromancers, without Lexi’s help, and won. Daisy fought beside the rest of them.” Amber laughed, the first indication she had a sense of humor. “A teen Chester without a blood link took down experienced, level-five magical workers. The cats, Jerry—your crew is exactly as effective as we’ve been working toward. Exactly. The risks to get them were not in vain. Your crew’s success is the reason you got pulled into that last meeting. They’ve impressed people, Demigod Kieran. Greatly. The hearing about Lexi’s mark has been fast-tracked. They know they need to button up her involvement in the magical world, because there is not one person at this Summit that wouldn’t slit a throat to get her on their team. Dylan is amazing, but she is absolutely priceless, even without her healing abilities and those strange cats who follow her command. Guard her with your life, sir, because she gives you an incredible amount of status. She was the find of a lifetime, and her mother should be revered for preserving her and not letting the magical world corrupt her.”

Kieran found his way to the house in a fog. He’d had no idea the battles counted for so much. He’d thought they were mostly ridiculous, truth be told. He understood the practice in theory—their people’s abilities reflected on their leadership—but fighting in a hallway? Taking breaks? What was the point?

Well, now he knew. He hadn’t even applied any pressure. The opposite, in fact. He’d told Lexi to play it safe and let him work the political side. Instead, she’d bumped him up a crapload of levels just by being herself. By being amazing…and human. Honest and empathetic. By swallowing down her fear and letting her kid take people down. By refusing to let people die.

Priceless. That was what Amber had said. He’d always thought so, but now everyone else could see exactly what he did.

He found his way into the lodge, as everyone was calling it. The warehouse-house. The cats lounged in the living room, curled up together. Havoc lifted her head as he entered and slowly blinked those luminous eyes. She dropped her head back to its position on Chaos’s neck as Kieran passed.

“All I’m saying is, we did damn well for beginners, you know?” Donovan leaned against the kitchen cabinets, his arms crossed, and a half-drunk bottle of beer beside him. “We lasted in those halls longer than most. That has to count for something.”