Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

came from Cullen.
    “—who will be joining you in San Francisco to assist in your investigation.”

FIFTEEN

    L ILY snapped her seat belt in place. “I’ve never wanted to punch your father more.”
    Rule smiled at his
nadia
, seated between him and Cullen in the backseat of Isen’s oversized and armored Lincoln.
     No doubt it was perverse of him to find her aggravation comforting. “It’s not an uncommon
     reaction.”
    “There is no reason for him to be so tight-lipped about his reasons!”
    “He did explain.”
    Lily snorted. “Oh, yeah. He’s just making things easy for me.”
    “That’s Isen for you,” Cullen said. “One considerate son of a bitch.”
    Isen had informed Lily that it would be convenient for her to have Tony around to
     question in person. True, but Lily’s skepticism was justified. There was more to Isen’s
     arrangement…not that Rule assumed he knew all of that “more,” but he knew some. “You
     will want to talk to Tony about the deal his father made with whoever wanted the prototype.”
    “Of course I want to talk to him. Isen didn’t get anyinformation about that from Leo. At least that’s what he claims.” She shot Rule a
     look. “You were with Isen for a couple hours. You know more about this.”
    “Most of our discussion this morning involved clan politics. Isen’s manner of handling
     Laban’s betrayal will have repercussions.”
    “Why?”
    “It’s meddling,” Cullen said. “Meddling in an internal Laban matter.”
    “It’s okay for Isen to kill Leo, but it’s meddling if he makes him step down?”
    “Pretty much, yeah.”
    Rule could tell how little Lily understood that. “A subordinate clan owes obedience
     to its dominant, but is governed by its own Rho. Isen was well within his rights to
     require Leo’s death, but telling him he must pass the mantle to his heir…he has the
     authority, but some will question whether he has the right. Only a Rho makes decisions
     concerning the mantle.”
    “Yet killing Leo would have the same effect—the mantle would go to his heir. Plus
     Leo would be dead.”
    Rule nodded. “And that’s how Isen will present his decision, as the symbolic death
     of an oath-breaking Rho. The Rho ‘died’; the man did not. Some will still see it as
     a usurpation of the Laban Rho’s authority. Ah…this isn’t a perfect example, but think
     of how testy local cops get when your Bureau intrudes on what they consider their
     turf. The feds have the authority to do so, but local officers sometimes think they
     abuse that authority.”
    “Then there’s the Civil War,” Cullen said cheerfully. “States’ rights and all that—what
     powers belong to the federal government and what belong to the states. People still
     get hot under the collar about that. Laban is subordinate to Nokolai, but it still
     has rights.”
    Rule nodded. “It doesn’t help that Tony was Leo’s heir, and Isen didn’t allow him
     to change that before passing the mantle on.”
    “What does that have to do with it?”
    Rule and Cullen exchanged a look. Rule answered. “Until this past July, Leo’s heir
     was his older son, James, but he suddenly replaced James with his younger son, Tony.
     It’s widely believed that the two of them argued and Leo wanted to teach James a lesson,
     and that Tony, the younger son, is a temporary placeholder for his brother.”
    “What’s wrong with Tony?”
    “Nothing,” Rule said firmly. A little too firmly, maybe, and she raised her brows
     at him. He sighed and gave a partial answer. “Tony doesn’t have a son. And yes, I’ve
     told you that’s essential for a Lu Nuncio, but it’s a cultural requirement, not a
     distinction the mantle makes.”
    Cullen put in helpfully, “It’s like the way Jasper Herron named Myron the Lu Nuncio
     for Kyffin. Myron’s a lousy fighter.”
    She nodded slowly. “A Lu Nuncio is supposed to be proven in battle, but Jasper made
     his uncle his heir because his son’s too young and Myron doesn’t want to be Rho, so
     he’ll be glad when his great-nephew is old enough for the position. Everyone’s wink-wink,
     nudge-nudge about it. Does everyone wink at Tony being Lu Nuncio, then?”
    “More or less. We’ve assumed Leo would remove Tony before long.”
    She nodded again. “Okay, so there’s an issue of territory and rights with Isen telling
     Leo to step down. I get that, but how does letting Leo live change the way the boundaries
     are drawn?”
    “It