Wolfe was probably shocked when Thomas turned to him and shushed him, but Jess didn’t look up. He was sweating and feeling uncomfortably close to this creature now that it was no longer in pieces. “Here it goes.”

He pressed the switch and quickly backed up to stand next to Thomas and Morgan. “This will work, won’t it?” he asked Thomas. “A little reassurance would be nice. We don’t have room to run in here.”

Reassurance didn’t come from Thomas, but from the lion. The dull eyes took on a shimmer, then a baleful red shine. It turned its head to fix those unblinking eyes on Jess, and . . . made a sound low in that metallic throat that sounded almost like a purr.

Jess was used to hearing them growl, but he’d never heard that sound before. Before he could ask Thomas if that was a good sign, the lion’s head pushed forward and pressed against his chest, and the mechanical purring grew so loud, it vibrated through Jess’s body. He awkwardly patted the thing’s head. His whole body still felt tight and nervous. “Good girl,” he said. “Is it a girl?”

“Jess,” Thomas said. “It’s a machine. But I think I will call her Frauke. Do you like that name, Frauke?”

“It’s an automaton. It can’t like—” But the lion was turning from him to nudge her nose against Thomas’s chest now. Purring. It seemed beyond odd.

Morgan came next, and she smiled when the lion’s massive nose pushed at her. “Frauke,” she said. “It means ‘little lady,’ doesn’t it? It suits her.” She stroked the metal ears.

“If you’re finished making a pet out of this monster—” Wolfe said, and stopped as Frauke’s head snapped in the direction of his voice and the purring switched to a low, ominous rumble.

“No, no, Frauke. He’s one of us.” Thomas gestured to Wolfe, who looked back as if he thought they’d all gone mad. “Come, Scholar, she needs to learn who you are.”

Wolfe didn’t like it—at all—and that didn’t change even when Frauke’s growls changed to purrs. He suffered the nuzzling with a bitter expression of distaste before he moved well back, and pushed Santi forward in his place.

“Brilliant,” Santi said, and patted Frauke on the head. No hesitation there; he clearly liked the creature. Santi stepped aside to let Khalila crowd forward, and then Dario. “She’ll not only confuse our enemies, but confront them, too. No one questions a party of Scholars and High Garda walking with an official lion as escort, do they?”

The only one Frauke hadn’t nuzzled was Glain, who still watched the door. When they all turned toward her, she shook her head. “I’m not coming near that thing.”

Morgan tried. “Glain. It’s safe. You saw—”

“It’s wrong. It’s wrong that you just . . . changed it. Is it just that easy for you? Just rewrite a killer into a pet?” She glared straight at Morgan finally. “It’s Obscurists who make all this possible, you know. Without them, things would be different, wouldn’t they? Without the automata, the Translation Chamber, the Library wouldn’t have nearly the advantage, and we’d be fighting fair.”