Stefan laughed. “I let that slip in Gribben, didn’t I? Of course I could hardly hold it back under the circumstances.” He glanced at Thomas. “Thomas holds the Cae of the Ytrayi to task for torturing him on Eudae, yet Thomas tortures as well. That makes Thomas a hypocrite.”

“I do what I need to do in order to protect my people.”

“As Rue might say, too, yes?” Stefan raised a pale eyebrow. “So I also do what I must to protect my people. I do what I need to do to protect the Duskoff way of life and to improve upon it. Any action I take against the Coven is a step toward that goal, since the Coven seems set against preventing us from living the way we see fit.”

“Harm ye none.” Thomas ground the words out. “The Duskoff crushes that principle under its boot heel.”

“Harm ye none.” Stefan made a raspberry. “How about to each their own?”

“You really care that much about the well-being of your people, Stefan?” Mira shook her head. “I don’t buy it.”

“Ah, Mira, just the witch I wanted to see today. I cared about my father, but you ended that for me, didn’t you?”

Mira’s mouth snapped closed. Everyone knew that William Crane had been seconds away from sucking all the magick and life from her when she’d retaliated and killed him. Stefan made it sound like she’d done it in cold blood.

Stefan pulled something from his pocket. Sarafina couldn’t see what it was, but it fit in the palm of his hand. “I came to finish the job my father started, although with a slightly different ending.” He motioned to the daaeman surrounding him and gave a careless one-shouldered shrug. “I’ve already pulled through all the demons I could possibly ever have a use for. I have different priorities that are a bit more personal.”

Theo’s grip tightened around Sarafina’s hand. The tension in the room ratcheted upward. They’d ambushed Stefan twice, and now he’d ambushed them. No one had their swords. No one but Sarafina even had any syringes. She only had one because of Bai’s interest in her, kept in a special leather sheath on her hip at all times.

All they had on hand to fight the Atrika and whatever Stefan had just pulled from his pocket was their elemental magick and their determination.

Coven witches from all over the building had now converged in the foyer. They stood behind the core group of nine—Mira, Jack, Thomas, Isabelle, Claire, Adam, Sarafina, Theo, and Micah—lining the massive curving staircase that led to the second floor and crowding the corridors leading off from the foyer.