Page 56 of B Negative
Disappointing.
I took a break from reading to pace around the room. “Hey, Sun, did you happen to remember to ask Titus about why he drinks from a cup?”
“I’m sorry, Eden. It slipped my mind. We were too busy strategizing about the witches, among other things.”
“The witches? What’s going on with them?”
Sunny’s bottom lip slipped between her teeth. “I’m not sure if I can say.”
I nodded, knowing this was bound to be a possibility, though not expecting it to be one so soon. We were on opposite sides of a turf war. At some point, our relationship would have to change to respect that.
“Look, Sun, I don’t want to put you in a weird position. You know I’m not here as a spy for Julian or to get an upper hand with the incursions. If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now, I think the incursions are a waste of time and resources, and I’m only here to figure out how to be a queen to Julian.”
“I know that, Eeds.”
“Good. So what’s the deal with the witches?”
She paused a moment. “Eden, if you use this information to hurt Titus or Cypress City—”
I grabbed her hand, pulling her closer over the table. “Hurting Titus means hurting you, and I would never do anything to hurt you, Sun.”
Sunny gave me a weak smile and took a breath. “With the indefinite postponement of the incursion, the local coven has lost out on a significant amount of work. They want Titus to honor his contract with him despite their end not being met, which Titus doesn’t have a problem with. Except, he’s concerned the coven is trying to use this as a way to renegotiate all their contracts with us.”
“And the issue with that is?”
“Titus leaves the contract law to his lawyers, who he pays well to make certain he gets the better end of the deal. Titus doesn’t want the witches discovering certain discrepancies between the different covens’ contracts.”
“I assume this isn’t some small wording discrepancy?”
Sunny shook her head. “He’s pitted the covens against each other to bid on the work he offers.”
“Do the covens not know they’re bidding against each other?”
She shook her head again. “The bids come in anonymously, and they might have all been led to believe the bids come from outside covens. Sun, if they renegotiate and this comes to light—”
“How much does Titus stand to lose?”
“In dollars? Tens of millions. But it’s more than that, Sun. If the covens figure out what’s been happening, they might very well leave Cypress City and take their magic with them.”
“You mean literally taking their spells and stuff?”
“No. I mean, united, the witches have the ability to unwind all the spells they’ve done over generations of partnership.”
“That would mean no more tower.”
Sunny nodded. “It’s worse than that, though.” Sunny led me to the window, pointing out the river. “This part of the city was underwater a few hundred years ago. But Titus, wanting more land, hired the first coven in Cypress City to move sand from the river bottom to the shoreline, effectively giving him more land.”
I’d seen a documentary about the exact same thing being done in the Netherlands. Of course, the Dutch didn’t use magic, but industrious engineering and land development. But still, the principal was the same.
“So, if the witches leave, the whole city will be washed away. Is that what you’re saying?”
“That's exactly what I’m saying.”
“Well, it seems like Titus needs to do whatever is necessary to keep them appeased enough into not looking too closely at their contracts.”
“That’s what I suggested, but Titus isn’t exactly known for his generosity. Giving them what they want is almost as much of a red flag as not.”
“Shit,” I said, as I took in the city below us. “And we can’t jeopardize the city.”
“Rock, meet hard place.”
I nodded. That’s exactly what this was. Except the rock was potentially angry witch covens and the hard place was one of Titus’s own making.