Mab stared at me for a long moment.
“The automobile I had prepared for your use,” she clarified.
“Yes.”
“It is damaged now?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve got Mike on it.”
“Visibly? That others may see?”
“It’s repairable,” I said. “But yes.”
Mab pressed her lips together and frowned at me as if I was quite an idiot. But she turned to Marcone and said, “I too bear a measure of responsibility for the actions of my vassals.” She glared at me once more. “Regardless of how moronic their choices might be.” Her gaze turned to Inverno and Lapland. “And this breach of protocol on your part, Inverno, complicates matters. Such incidents are likely to give the mortals cause to raise their hands against us all.” She shook her head and said, “I am tempted to lock my vassals in ice for, let us say, a pair of decades. And leave them conscious the while.”
“I should have to take a similar action with Mister Gregory to balance you,” Marcone said calmly. “And it would deprive me of the services of an excellent attorney.”
“Yes,” Mab said, clearly annoyed. “It would inconvenience me as well. Yet the Winter Knight--and by extension the Winter Court--has a genuine grievance.”
“Then how shall the matter be resolved?” Marcone asked calmly.
“I have a suggestion,” I said.
Mab’s black eyes focused on me, and I felt an icy quiver run through my guts. “Explain.”
“This entire matter is about an imbalance of forces,” I said, speaking mostly to Mab. “None of us wants more fighting or attention. What is required to resolve it is a rebalancing.”
Mab’s head tilted.
“Interesting,” Marcone said. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’m willing to let the matter of the bomb drop,” I said. I glanced at Talvi. “The incident with the otso, too.”
Marcone nodded once. “In exchange for what?”
“Have Gregory drop the case,” I said.
Marcone studied me steadily. Then he glanced at Tripp Gregory and asked, “Would you be willing to consider it?”
Gregory flicked a hard, ugly look at Marcone and said, “I stayed quiet for you.”
Marcone frowned, sighed, and shook his head. “Yes. You did. I’m afraid I cannot fail to support my vassal, Dresden. We have had this conversation.”
I hadn’t figured I’d get out of it that easy, but it had been worth a shot. “Then how about this?” I said. “Your guy fights fair in court. No expenditure of mob money on experts, no bullshit legal power moves, no putting pressure on the judge or anyone else involved. It gets argued purely on the merits—and we let the mortal courts sort this out. Quietly. Smoothly. None of us put our thumbs on the scale. That’s balance enough for me.”
“Flipping a coin would make more sense,” Marcone mused.
“I like thinking that something like justice can still be found in the wild here and there,” I said. “Leave me the illusion.”
Mab’s cold, black gaze went from me to Marcone. “Your organization struck at my Knight on the open street.” Her eyes landed on Lapland. “And a servant of one under my protection has dishonored her master, and in so doing an ally of Winter. How does this action balance what has happened?”
“If Inverno loses the trial, that makes twice Max will have beaten him,” I said. “Once is unlucky. Twice, he’s been beaten by a mere mortal. That loss of pride will be satisfaction enough for me.”