I wasn’t the only one who took the threat seriously. Most of Cordus’s other guests backed away, but a few moved forward. Andy and Theo advanced from the corners of the room, taking up positions behind Cordus. Williams stayed in the doorway, the shadows hiding his expression.

“My Lord,” Cordus said coldly, “such behavior is unproductive.”

Limu was leaning forward and staring at Cordus, hands clenched, breathing out waves of heat. Cordus must’ve been shielding us from it. I couldn’t feel it, but I could see the shimmer in the air.

Comically, the air-conditioning kicked in.

After almost a minute, Limu straightened up and sat back. Slowly, he opened his fists.

“She is a thief.”

“Mrs. Ryder stole something of yours?”

I glanced at Cordus. The eyebrow was back up.

“Yes.”

“What did she steal?”

“That is none of your business,” Limu snapped. “It is my right to pursue a thief.”

“Certainly, so long as the thief remains in your lands,” Cordus said. “Once he or she crosses into another power’s territory, it becomes a matter for local law-keepers. And,” he added, “for possible extradition. Sadly, we have no extradition agreement, My Lord, despite my repeated suggestions that we discuss one.”

Limu responded with a rumbling growl.

I got the sense that Cordus was goading him. Why would he do that? It didn’t seem wise. Yeah, Williams had apparently contained that last outburst, but it hadn’t been a directed attack on someone, just vented frustration.

“Even if you could offer evidence supporting your accusation of thievery, which it seems you will not or cannot,” Cordus continued, “given the regrettably lacking state of our treaties, the criminal would remain under my jurisdiction.”

“Law-keeping and treaties!” With a disgusted sound, Limu spat a globule of fire onto the coffee table in front of us. It guttered instantly and went out, leaving a charred spot. “You have spent too long among humans, whelp. As though power comes from rules and symbols. Power does not come from. Power is.”

Cordus leaned forward, all pretense of indifference gone. His beauty seemed to blaze around him, inhuman, terrifying.

“As you say. So then, take her from me.”

The room went silent. Not a creature in the place breathed.

Limu’s eyes widened. He stared back at Cordus for several seconds. Then, with a howl of fury, he exploded into enveloping fire, boiling and seething just in front of us. I cowered away from it, pointlessly shielding my face with my arm.

The fire seemed to grow ever denser, hotter, and brighter. Malevolence radiated from it. The fire wanted to expand, to consume. But it didn’t. It was being restrained. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cordus, still sitting beside me, staring intently into the flames.

Was he holding Limu back? Yes, he must be.