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“I am a dwarf, Professor,” she reminded him. “And I believe I may have been on this earth longer than anyone else in this room.”

That’s right, I suddenly remembered. She’d been known by another name. Once, she’d been a famous scout known as Grim-blade. Remembering that made me think of Naveen. As a fellow dwarf, he’d been so excited to realize our instructor was a legend.

“The Emberwatch performed the ritual that turned the four dragons to stone,” Rodriguez said.

“And you think there were no dwarves in the Emberwatch, Professor?” Magda scoffed.

He looked chagrined. “Well, I …”

“You hadn’t been born,” she said dismissively.

“Does that mean you were there, Professor?” Florence asked timidly.

Magda stared at her in silence for a moment. “It means this all goes back to the dwarves in many ways, Miss Shen. It means I have a great deal to think about and a number of letters to write. But for now—” Magda pushed back her chair “—we’re all exhausted. As Miss Pendragon has said, she has no solution. Right now, none of us do. We’ve just had a great many bombshells dropped on our heads. We need to rest, and we need to contemplate our next moves.”

It suddenly dawned on me that Magda Stonefist might be the most battle-hardened warrior in the room. I glanced at Lysander. He was studying the professor as if he’d just had precisely the same thought.

“Yes,” Rodriguez said hastily. “Let’s adjourn this Special Circumstances Committee meeting for now.”

“SCC,” Evie corrected. She groaned, stood up, and stretched. “Thank the fucking Bloodmaiden that’s over.” She met my eye and grinned. “And you probably thought his lectures were bad.”

Beside me Visha snickered. “He is rather long-winded,” she muttered.

“Yes, well, it’s time-consuming to rebuild a world,” Rodriguez said, a little crankily, clearly overhearing. “I hope you’ll be willing to devote just a little more effort to such a worthy cause.”

“And I hope you’ll be able to share more of your secrets with us if they’ll help in the rebuilding,” I shot back, standing up and grabbing the satchel I’d hung on the back of the chair. I glanced over to where Theo had been sitting. The carved women had vanished from the arms of his chair, leaving rough spots on the wood. I thought it was a vast improvement. Maybe I’d have to borrow a file from him for the next meeting.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Miss Pendragon?” Rodriguez called as I moved toward the door.

I stopped, closed my eyes, opened them. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

I stomped back toward the table, passing Evie, then Visha, then Professor Stonefist. Magda shot me a sympathetic look and clapped me briefly on the shoulder.

Then she was gone, and the room was empty—save for Florence, Rodriguez, and me.

Chapter 8

MEDRA

Do we have a name for this committee?” Rodriguez asked as he sat back down and picked up a quill.

“Are you fucking serious, Rodriguez?” I exploded. “It’s just a meeting.”

“Let’s call it the Save a Dragon committee,” he deadpanned. “Or SAD for short.”

“You asshole,” I muttered, sinking back into my chair.

He shrugged. “Look, you’re the one who wanted to talk to us.”

“I never want to talk to you,” I shot back. “I need information from you. That’s quite different.”

“You made me your headmaster. Evidently you have confidence in my abilities.” Rodriguez looked smug.

“Yes, your ability to piss people off,” I retorted. I shook my head. “Gods, I knew that was going to come back to bite me in the ass. I just didn’t realize it was going to be so soon.”

“Please,” Florence begged. “Can we try to get on topic? It’s been a very long—” she looked at the clock on the wall “—four and a half hours.”

It was nearly ten o’clock. No wonder we were all so cranky. At least, Rodriguez and I certainly were. Florence just looked tired.