girl in the room. But I was looking around for Anna. She had to be here somewhere.

“No Kouroi have been sent to—” Alton began.

“They have.” Kir had turned green under his paleness. “I signed the orders. At the Head’s request.”

Nobody moved; nobody even blinked. Bruce’s fangs slid out from under his top lip. He stood, rigid,

and I got a very bad feeling about all this. Nausea and terror all rolled together, roiled in the pit of

my stomach.

Christophe stood, very straight and slim, his boots placed military-precise against the stone floor.

“Set against each other. Divide and conquer. At least she learned well.”

“An extermination order on another Kouroi?” Hiro shook his head. “That is against the Codes.”

“Milady . . . ” Kir shrank into himself. “The Head said it was a matter of necessity. She . . . she

showed me a transcript. Of a call made to betray the position of Elizabeth Lefevre. She died eleven

years ago, and the transcript was proof that Reynard had betrayed her to the nosferat.”

Leon’s hand came down on my shoulder. He pushed me back down in the pew. “But—” I began.

Lefevre? That had to be her maiden name. Funny, I’d never thought about it before. It was like

Mom’s life had only begun with Dad, and with me.

“Be quiet,” he hissed in my ear. “Please, Dru!”

I subsided.

“Lies!” someone yelled from far back in the crowd. “Lies, and I can prove it!”

Wait a second. I knew that voice, and if Leon hadn’t been holding onto me I would have been up

out of that pew like a rocket.

Bruce didn’t look surprised, but he did lift his head and stare in the general direction the voice had

come from. “Approach,” was all he said.

“Oh, Christ,” Kir moaned. “What have I done?”

“She promised you the Princeps, didn’t she?” Christophe’s hands curled into fists. “I wondered

who’d signed the orders. Did you also sign the directive to send wulfen teams after me in the Dakotas?”

Kir actually stumbled back and collapsed in his chair. “I did. I swear to God, Reynard, she told me

we had to protect the—”

“What about Dru?” Christophe was pitiless. “Did you sign the directives to keep her in a reform

Schola, unprotected and vulnerable? Did you?”

“No.” Marcus stood straight and defiant. “I signed those. The Head told me they were for a troublesome new Kouroi, not a svetocha . And when I went back later to check them, after Milady Dru told

us her tale, I found they had vanished.”

Oh. Well, that answered that question. It wasn’t like I was surprised, but I was happy to know. Kind

of.

Now if I could just keep my stomach from unloading itself all over the floor, I’d be peachy.

An avenue had opened in the crowd. I let out a breathless little cry. It was a djamphir I knew, his