“I’m talking to my companion,” I said. Might as well admit it.
“Yes. You are,” Johnannes said. “I’m liking how quickly you’re picking this up. The language, turns of phrase used to redirect, to mislead. You’re talking to your companion, yes, but you’re not denying that you’re talking to yourself.”
He knew? Even Laird hadn’t made any obvious connections.
“You’ve been watching?” I asked.
“Yes. Everyone has, to some degree.”
“You up for the deal?” I asked.
“Didn’t you hear?” Johannes asked. “Behaim wants us to take the deal. It leaves everything in the hands of the two more powerful circles in Jacob’s Bell. Chaos is minimized, and they can take whatever action they need to in order to remove you.”
“Why not call an execution against me?” I asked. “Seems easy enough.”
“Laird promised you safety. He’s walking a fine line, trying to keep you in a position to threaten others while ensuring you’re manageable and that the situation stays stable,” Johannes said. “It’s most advantageous to him, because it lets him present traps to Maggie, the Briar Girl, Mara and me like he did tonight. He’s secure enough that any trouble you cause will set others back more than it sets him back. If you fail in that role, he kills you and finds an equilibrium with the next heir.”
Maggie said, “It’s like he lives his life by the ticking of that clock of his, orderly, tidy, neat, but he thrives on controlled chaos.”
“If-” a voice started behind me. It cut off when I turned. Rose. “If the execution was only stayed today because of the promise he made, what’s stopping him from doing it next month?”
“A very good question, miss…?” Johannes let the question hang.
“I don’t know if I should answer that.”
“Miss Mirror. A good question,” Johannes said. “The obvious answer is that he won’t call for an execution if you’re useful to him. He can use the threat you pose as a distraction or a tool, apparently. He’s not worried, because he seems to think he has an answer to whatever you might send his way. How is that? How would he know what you have at your disposal and how to respond?”
“Aimon,” Rose said. “She was close to Aimon, once?”
“Well, that’s one idea,” Johannes said. “You can then give some thought to a way around it. If you were to get your hands on a dark Other of horrendous power, is it possible that Laird might not have an answer to it?”
“Depends on what the answer is,” I said. “Could be some contract she made with every Other in her books. Could be a tool, or some excerpts from the books.”
“Very true,” Johannes said. “So?”
“So,” Rose said. “I’m wondering why you’re ‘helping’ us.”
“Are you wondering?” Johannes replied. “Mr. Blake Thorburn, why do you think I’m helping?”
“Maybe because it’s a danger to Laird, and you lose nothing if I fail.”
“If you fail badly enough, I could lose everything. In order of severity, there’s failure where you’re ineffectual, failure where you get yourself killed, and greater failure still where you might get everyone here killed. But yes. I lose nothing of substance by helping, and I could see Laird Behaim unseated, removed or disconcerted. I like that,” Johannes said.
“Which brings us back to what we were talking about before,” Maggie said. “How do you mess with Laird? I’m thinking, if he’s got his protections, he either has them on his person, which is unlikely since he’s protecting his whole family. They could be more abstract sorts of protections, or he’s set them up somewhere.”
I nodded slowly. “Abstract meaning something like my grandmother made a promise to Aimon that the Behaims would all be safe, then signed deals to put it into motion.”
No. It didn’t make sense that she’d leave me something like that if there was no way to use it against Laird. I didn’t say that out loud.
“And?” Johannes asked, cutting into the silence that had followed my statement.
“The prepared protections,” Rose said, “Are protections that are arranged already. Safe ground?”
Johannes nodded. “It could be barriers, weapons, wards, or other safeguards. He prepares them in advance, then pulls his family back to safety if he expects you’re going to attack. It’s likely it would be somewhere accessible.”
I said, “That means I’d have to find his place. If I disposed of the safeguards and prevented him from erecting any more, he loses his bargaining chip.”
“That would be the natural conclusion,” Johannes said. “Getting into his place to do anything would be the real difficulty. His home is his demesnes, and any protections he has against demons, devils and infernal things might be supplemented with protection against the practitioner that might command them.”
Over and over again, there were these dead ends. Couldn’t get a familiar, implement, or demesnes without other assets. Couldn’t attack Laird.
“You’re not really thinking about doing this, are you?” Rose asked. Asked me.
“No,” I said. “I don’t think it’s doable.”
“I don’t either,” Johannes said. “Returning us to the question of how you protect yourself. From a vote of execution or otherwise. You most likely can’t scare him into submission, you won’t be able to maintain the balance he wants indefinitely. Which would only be delaying the inevitable, by the by. That leaves you two options, as I see it.”
He had a tone to his voice. As though he was waiting for me to ask what those options were.
Why?
I’d ask and he would…
“You want payment, in exchange for you sharing what those options are?” I asked.
“Or you can name them yourself. I’m not picky,” he said.
We walked on in silence, boots squeaking and crunching in the snow.
“When we first saw you, you offered help. For a price,” Rose said.
“That’s one of the two options,” Johannes said. “I’m suspicious that any price I ask would be minor at best, compared to what you’d have to pay one of Rose Thorburn’s Other acquaintances. If you know what I mean.”
There was a moment of silence as we considered. Johannes seemed content to enjoy the silence. Maggie was quiet in general.
I asked, “They’re both allied against me? The Behaim Circle and Duchamp coven?”
“Most likely. They’re united by the marriage that is coming to pass. It makes them powerful. Not as powerful as me, but powerful.”