The Howling

Chapter Twenty One

        Piers seemed thrilled with the news. "Court Magician. Well now. That is interesting." He sat in his cat form, his tail swinging rhythmically behind him. A low purr came from him as he glanced between Villette and Reinard. 

        "I hardly see how this can be a good thing," Villette mumbled, slamming the tea tray down on the coffee table in front of the detective. She skulked to her own seat and collapsed in it. 

        Reinard leaned forward and poured some tea into his cup. "Because," he explained gently, "it stops the Magistrates from taking another course of action with you." 

        "What does that even mean?" she demanded, exasperated. She was tired of magicians and their politics. She wanted nothing more to do with the lot of them. 

        "It means they can't kill you now," Piers answered bluntly. He leapt off the back of the sofa and onto the coffee table. He smelled the tea before shaking his head and returning to his previous position. 

        "Kill me. Why on earth would they want to kill me? I haven't done anything wrong!" 

        Reinard let out a slow breath, looked longingly at his cup of tea, and then set it aside. "You saw them Villette," he said, looking at her closely, as if willing her to understand. "How quickly they sprung up to shoot the idea down. How Avaris and Helling despised the very idea. Because they hate and fear you. I bet, given time, they would have come around to kill you. It would have been quick, when you least expected it. Now, that option is off the table." 

        She sagged forward in her seat. This was all beyond her. She had been dunked head first into a political landscape she hadn't known even existed two weeks ago. How on earth was she going to keep up? Especially if half the Magistrates had it out for her. 

        "Because your grandfather is right. You proved yourself exceptionally adept and powerful with the demon's assistance. You stood on equal footing with Eisen. Not many magicians can boast that, let alone humans." 

        She glanced at Piers. "But I didn't do it alone." 

        Reinard shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You've become a threat. It would be easier to dispose of you rather than Piers and they know it. Now you're in the public eye. Word is continuing to spread of the human who made a deal with a demon to rescue their children. Those families would have defended you if asked, simply because they owed you. Which is probably why Lisle and Bretane vouched for you. Now you're a Court Magician, making it harder for the Magistrates to act against you. Introducing you to the role of a Court Magician was a stroke of genius by your grandfather. He essentially saved your life." 

        Villette scoffed at the idea. More like he wanted a Court Magician he felt he could manipulate, thinking her putty in his hands. She planned on proving him wrong. She wouldn't be so easy to bend. 

        Piers opened his mouth to say something and quickly clamped it down. He spun around, trying to make the motion lazy. 

        Emil stood in the doorway, his eyes narrowed at the cat. "Don't stop on my account. I know you can speak. You might as well spit it out." 

        The cat eyed him for a moment and then did a slight shrug. "Very well. It seems the cat's out of the bag." 

        Emil didn't laugh. "Funny." He rounded on Villette. "Do you mind telling me what's going on?" 

        She had tensed when she realized that he had come into the room without her noticing. For a moment, she had felt the urge to jump up from the chair. But that required too much effort and she felt exhausted enough as it was. She was drained from the Council meeting and she didn't think she could get up if the apartment caught on fire. "He's a talking cat."