Bee shook her head again. “Legal cases can take years or decades to proceed!”

“So can wars,” said Chartji.

Vai nodded. “Change must come from all sides. Change is not a rope, a single line that you pull on. Change is a net. Or anyway, that is what Kofi always says.”

He addressed his next words to me. “Maybe it is true I forgot my promise to Kofi a little because I was so dazzled by what the mansa offered me.” He sat back to address the entire table. “But we all want the same things.”

“The best strategy is to play them off each other,” I said as I fiddled with the hem of my jacket, since I was too anxious to sit still. “They can’t both end stronger than they have begun, because they desire only victory, and thus risk defeat. But if they are both weakened, that leaves opportunity for the humbler parties to rise.”

Bee propped her chin on clasped hands. “That is why I stay with the radicals. Besides being a good orator, I can sometimes help people avoid arrest and know the safe places to hold meetings.”

“I do support the radicals,” said Vai, “and I can do so most fruitfully within the mage Houses. If Camjiata wins, he will need cold mages. I am therefore in a position to negotiate for how the Houses will cooperate with him afterward. If he loses, I can influence the mage councils when they are weakened and unstable because of the conflict. Either way, there will always be mage Houses. No matter how much you shake the boat, it will not turn over. We have to hold on to tradition but also allow it to change where it must.”

“We have long wished to place a powerful agent within the mage Houses,” said Brennan, “and this is honestly more even than we had hoped for.”

“It might work,” said Bee reluctantly.

Heart heavy, I looked down at my hands, for I knew Vai was right, that by training and temperament he belonged in the mage House, and I regretted it.

“May I speak to Catherine alone, please?” he asked, exactly as if he were a courting man requesting permission from my elders.

“Don’t involve me in this,” said Brennan. “I’ve already heard more than I feel I ought.”

“It must be Catherine’s choice, not ours to make for her,” said Kehinde.

“I don’t trust you with her,” said Bee.

I frowned. “What do you think he’s going to do? Kiss me?”

Rory laughed.

Bee rolled her eyes. “That’s exactly what he’s going to do. Instead of using reasoned words and rational arguments, the kind you would once have insisted on back when you were sensible and heartless, he will use kisses to seduce you back into his arms.”