It couldn’t have been about me. Not at a council meeting, anyway. They were both too professional—and too elven—to air personal grievances in a public space.

“He wanted the council to issue a warrant for Aram’s arrest.”

I frowned. “Can the council order something like that? Surely that’s the province of the IIT?”

“For crime-related matters, it is. But the council can issue warrants in specific cases that deal with the overall safety of the town or its people.”

“Which I guess does apply in this situation, given the Claws can destroy the balance of light and day.”

“Yes, but the point is, there’s no clear evidence Aram is involved in either the theft of the Claws or the Hoard in any way other than helping secure the moonstone from your tavern. Besides, if the council does issue a warrant, it might only succeed in driving him further underground.”

“If he’s not already dead, that is.”

“We have no evidence of that.”

“They’d still be sifting through the rubble of his shop and wouldn’t be able to confirm that yet, surely.”

“That doesn’t nullify the point of a warrant being worthless. It would be far better to set a seeking spell onto him.”

“Seeking spells don’t usually work against spellcasters.”

“It depends on the spellcaster and the strength of the spell. Aram is a strong caster, but he’s not among Deva’s elite.”

“But Deva’s elite may well be protecting him,” I said. “There’s a theme of family protecting family running through this whole situation.”

For several seconds he made no reply, though I had a deep sense of him being surprised by the comment. It might well have been nothing more than imagination, but I suspected he hadn’t expected me to call him out on his response to Jalvi’s appearance when we’d been at the warehouse.

“I know Lugh was angry,” he said slowly, “and I understand his reasons—”

“Do you truly?” I cut in bluntly. “Because from where he’s sitting, you’re using our sexual relationship to gather information—”

“I made no secret of the fact the council appointed me as your liaison as an information gathering exercise.”

“Yes, but I thought we’d had an understanding that it was to be a two-way street.”

“We do—”

“Except when it comes to family,” I cut in again.

He sighed. “No matter my personal feelings on the matter, I’m obligated to protect her until an internal interrogation is undertaken. I could not allow either of you to be a part of that.”

“Is that why you didn’t inform Sgott of her whereabouts?”

“He was informed that we had her.”

“Was he informed about everything she told you?”

“Most of it, yes. The only information held back related to family.”

“That’s a very convenient excuse.”

“I’m an heir to the Myrkálfar throne. That comes with certain obligations, and it means I sometimes have to walk the tightrope between what I might want and what I am expected to do.”

“Given Jalvi is working with the very same people who attacked your sister, I’d have thought protecting her from external interrogation would have been the last thing on your mind.”