“Bria, that’s enough,” Kieran said. She walked a fine line. He could handle Nancy if she took offense and retaliated, but he didn’t want to burn that bridge. One day he wanted the option to buy her swing vote.

“Of course, sir. Sorry, sir.” Feigning chastisement, Bria straightened up and closed her mouth.

“I apologize, Demigod Nancy,” Kieran said. “Bria has done a remarkable job with Alexis’s training so far, being a level-five Necromancer, but she hasn’t worked under a Demigod before. She’s rusty on the correct way of doing things.”

Nancy’s lips were tight and her expression pinched. “Yes, of course. And…Alexis is a Spirit Walker, correct? I haven’t been hearing tall tales?”

“She is, yes. The genuine article.” Kieran bent his head in a slight bow. Alexis mimicked it awkwardly, and he nearly busted up laughing.

“I see. And do we have…proof?” Nancy pushed. Bria smirked.

“Alexis?” Kieran said, wondering how she’d deliver the proof. The normal protocol would be to pick the weakest member of the present staff and deliver a quick, sharp punch of power to get the point across.

Alexis didn’t know protocol. On purpose.

Her face turned red again and she tilted toward Kieran. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Demigod Nancy wants assurance of what you can do. I think we can give her that, don’t you?”

Bria’s smile widened. She knew what was coming.

A heady blast of power filled the room, a quick slice through everyone’s midsections. Kieran’s people clenched their teeth and clamped down, bearing it. They’d had practice. Nancy’s people didn’t fare so well.

Screams and wails filled the space. Two people flung themselves back from the table, falling over their chairs and scrambling to their feet. Bria jogged to the door, flinging it open in time for one of the two, a young man, to run out in a blind panic.

That was the staff member to lean on for intel. He would be the easiest to crack.

Kieran glanced at Henry and saw he had already read the situation.

Nancy’s face had gone white. She must have thought her power as a Demigod of Hermes would protect her from Alexis’s magic.

“That’s enough, Alexis,” Kieran said softly, schooling his expression to one of mild impatience. It would make Alexis seem like a rogue warrior, barely kept on a leash. Dramatics were good for a first encounter with a mediocre-status Demigod. A player had to play the game.

Alexis’s power drained away, leaving sniveling or shocked silence in its wake. Nancy stared at him with wide eyes.

“Should we continue?” he asked in an easy tone.

She gulped and nodded quickly. “Y-yes, of course. Her power has been verified. She is as you say, Demigod Kieran.”

Just like that, Kieran had the upper hand. Now all Kieran had to do was charm her into revealing her secrets. His father had taught him well, and his mother’s magic gave him a…potent arsenal.

Magnus

“Demigod Magnus, it was… She was…” Nancy’s voice drifted away, letting silence hang on the phone line.

“She was genuine,” Magnus said, adjusting the draping of his silk robe as he crossed a leg over his knee. Lamplight glowed softly around him in the interior chamber of his bedroom. He sat on his couch with a bookmarked novel on the cushion next to him. Her meeting with the child Demigod had taken a break while the Spirit Walker was released, giving her a few moments for a quick call.

“Yes,” Nancy breathed out, proving why she was mostly useless in all things political. She got worked up much too easily.

“Spirit Walker, level five,” Magnus prompted, as though there were any other level for such a power.

“Yes. The feeling of it… It’s like it reached down into my very center and exposed me to the elements. Like I was entirely vulnerable to her whims. You can’t protect yourself, even if you tried, with that magic. No one could.”

Magnus sighed softly and leaned back, fighting annoyance. Of course he could protect himself. The girl was a level five, not a Demigod. Her power might compare to his within the spirit realm, but it had limitations. The child Demigod had taken down his father with the Spirit Walker’s help, not the other way around. She was a tool. A dangerous, exceptional, rare-beyond-belief tool, but a tool all the same. She was still only a level five.

“What of the child?” Magnus asked, clearly needing to steer the conversation.

“Kieran?”

So she was using his first name, no title. That meant one of three things: she was intrigued by him, starting to respect him, or had already taken him to her bed. She wasn’t one to shrug away a pretty face, and not many Demigods said no to another of their kind, regardless of whether they’d foolishly bestowed their mark on someone.

“Yes,” Magnus replied.

“He is as you expected. New to the job but competent. The write-ups on him are accurate—people greet him with smiles. They respect him, and that respect is not based on fear, from what I could tell. He seems to have things well in hand.”

“Did he give you any indication of his political leanings?”

“No. He was…vague.” She rushed to fill the following silence. “But that was just because he’s still learning the ropes. He said so. He wants to more aptly understand the issues at hand before he throws his hat in the ring. I think he’ll be a solid ally, I really do. He’s…competent.”