Adam gave him a look of disgust, but soldiered on. “She said she was a prisoner. She was freed and then told to jump the line.”
Foreman nodded. “That was another promise Dougal made, to free some prisoners who were friends and family of his supporters. But once Alexander left and the council started being difficult, Dougal couldn’t show such blatant favoritism without being blocked. So he pardoned a bunch of jumpers who’d served at least half their sentences, using them as camouflage for the ones he’d promised to free.”
Adam decided to stop looming and sat on the floor facing Foreman. I guess he was trying to develop some kind of rapport.
“What’s your name?” Adam asked. “I mean your name, not your host’s name.”
Foreman stared at his hands. “William.”
Both Raphael and Saul started, and I realized they knew him.
“William?” Adam repeated, sounding somewhere between surprised and appalled.
William nodded. “Yes, that William.”
“Shit!” Adam said, with feeling, and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut anymore. The curiosity was killing me.
“Who the hell is William? And why are you all so upset?” I asked.
William looked up at me and frowned. “How can you not know who I am?” he asked, and I realized he’d made the natural assumption that everyone here was a demon. Apparently, any demon should have recognized the name.
“Not everyone in this room is possessed,” I answered.
William gaped at Adam. “You’ve brought humans into this?”
“The humans have the biggest stake of us all in what happens, so yes. And believe me, I don’t require your approval.”
“Is someone going to answer my question?” I asked. Care to give me a hint, Lugh? I added silently.
They’ll tell you, and then Dominic can hear, too.
Adam was shaking his head. “He’s one of the royal cousins.” He turned his attention back to William.
“That’s why you tried to shoot me. You were afraid I’d arrest you and that no one would be able to exorcize you.”
William nodded, his eyes going wide and his fists clenching in what I recognized as renewed terror.
“You said they threatened to report you. Why?”
William shuddered. “I raised too much of a fuss when they killed that demon, Shae. I was a fool. Dougal had already shown me I had no way out anymore. I should have just kept my mouth shut.”
Raphael pushed away from the wall and came to sit beside Adam, his legs crossed. Apparently Saul was too interested in what William had to say to remember he was supposed to Taser his father if he tried to interfere.
“There’s always a way out,” Raphael said, his voice soft and soothing. I blinked in surprise. Raphael flat-out didn’t do soothing. “If you help me quell my brother’s rebellion, I can promise you a royal pardon.”
Everyone in the room gasped, and William’s eyes went saucer-wide, this time with surprise, not fear.
“What are you doing?” Adam cried, looking at Raphael like he’d sprung a second head.
“Lugh?” William asked, and there was something very like reverence in his voice.
“In the flesh,” Raphael answered with a gentle smile.
seventeen
WE WERE ALL SHOCKED SPEECHLESS. WHAT THE hell was Raphael up to now? I silently asked Lugh that question, and his response was Your guess is as good as mine.
It wasn’t exactly the first time Raphael had veered away from the official plan, but this was far more drastic than any of his previous deviations. I couldn’t imagine where he was planning to go with it. I had a momentary temptation to argue with him, but I had little trouble squelching it. Whatever Raphael was up to, he’d committed us all to that course of action when he’d opened his mouth. I heartily wished we hadn’t brought him along.
“Now that we’ve been reunited, cousin,” Raphael said, “tell me what you’re doing on the Mortal Plain acting as my brother’s stalking horse.”
William shook himself, and it seemed to effectively disperse whatever clouds were in his mind. “How do I know that you’re really Lugh?” he asked. “For all I know, you could be one of Dougal’s people trying to hammer the final nail in my coffin.”
Raphael smiled, and there was just a hint of condescension in his voice when he spoke. “If I were one of Dougal’s people, the lid would already be firmly nailed shut. But you can examine my aura if you don’t believe me. And I can examine yours at the same time.”
Neither Saul nor Adam looked surprised at Raphael’s offer, but Dominic and I shared a puzzled glance.
Our auras are too indistinct on the Mortal Plain for us to recognize each other with absolute confidence, Lugh explained. Der Jäger’s ability to distinguish auras on the Mortal Plain was part of what made him so extraordinary. But we can sense each others’ power to some degree. William will know from Raphael’s aura that he is one of the royal brothers. Dougal would be able to tell the two of us apart even on the Mortal Plain, but William will not.
And can Raphael tell whether that’s really William? I asked.
No. He’ll know if he’s truly one of the royal cousins, but he won’t know for sure which one. I don’t suppose it matters much one way or another.
Raphael reached out his hand, and William clasped it. The two of them closed their eyes and sat motionless for maybe thirty seconds. Then they opened their eyes at the same time and let their hands fall back to their sides.
William was not looking quite so frightened anymore, the expression on his face showing a cunning that had been missing before. “How do I know you’re not Raphael? Or Dougal, for that matter?”
Raphael’s eyebrows arched. “Do you think this interview would be quite so … civilized if I were Raphael?”
William’s face paled, and he shook his head. I wondered if there was anyone in the Demon Realm other than Dougal who wasn’t terrified of Raphael.
“And surely you don’t believe Dougal would show his face on the Mortal Plain?”
William thought that over for a moment. “He might,” he decided. “If he thought coming here would lure you out of hiding. There’s only so long he can keep his supporters in line with threats and unfulfilled promises. He sent me to the Mortal Plain and painted a big target on my back because he was afraid I’d break ranks and report him to the council. Once Alexander backed out …” He shrugged.
“I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s started thinking about damage control. Dougal still has plenty of advocates on the council, but if his supporters start talking, even his strongest advocates might agree that it’s prudent to appoint a new regent pending word from you that the allegations are false and Dougal is your choice.”
Raphael’s lips curved in a satisfied smile that looked like no expression I could ever imagine on Lugh’s face. “He would find that … most awkward, I imagine.”
William snorted softly. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“I’m glad to hear that Dougal’s road is not as smooth as we’d thought. We’d feared that he had time on his side, but it sounds like it’s more on ours. Most heartening.”
“I don’t understand why this is so heartening,” I said. “So what if Dougal loses his position as regent?
He still has Lugh’s True Name.” I belatedly realized I should have said “your” True Name, not
“Lugh’s,” but luckily William assumed the question had been meant for him.
“He can’t do anything with Lugh’s True Name unless he has someone on the Mortal Plain who’s willing to do a summoning. He’s already losing supporters now; he’ll lose a lot more if he has to step down as regent.”
“But surely he won’t lose them all,” I protested. “And all it takes is one or two loonies and Lugh is toast. Literally.”