Notes from a gathering of Unseelie in spring 2016:

“Gerard of York is the most formidable foe we face, easily. Without his direction, the others would crumble. Lahav and Rhydian may be stronger fighters, and Patience may have more tricks, but Gerard keeps them together. Kill him, and we can take the Knights within a week. Within two days, if we are lucky.”

“How go the oathbreaking plans?”

“No good. No matter what we dangled in front of him, the man showed no interest whatsoever. His phone is entirely filled with pictures of his children and his wife. Men, women, human, fae – we tried them all. Even sent him nude pictures of a couple of saints. Nothing worked. The man is utterly uninterested in anyone except his wife. It’s not natural, if you ask me. Osmund only knows what oaths she’s sworn him to.”

“And the corruption? Any luck there?”

“None at all. Gerard goes to church every Sunday and pays attention during the service, which is more than can be said for most of his children, grand-children, great-grandchildren – all the rest of them. Patience even stays at home and makes dinner and he says grace before they eat.”

“Patience cooks?”

“Well, no, she buys it all from the posh deli in Summertown and heats it up in the oven. He knows this. Same as she knows he used to pretend to lose fights against his grandchildren but Lahav Junior wins each time on merit now.”

“Never mind this. The man is utterly uncorruptible?”

“Appears so. Only kills when he has no other choice, sells off bits of those of us he destroys and gives all the money to the Knights – he seems to make any personal money from selling off the wine cellar at intervals and restocking it on the cheap. I checked – he even pays tax.”

“What a creep.”

“I know, right.”

“Abuses his powers in any way? Any unsavoury connections?”

“Mostly socialises with the Demiurges from the Collegium and the Knights of St George, so it depends how many of them you count as unsavoury. They’re all going out to some ball in Oxford tonight – some anniversary of something being founded – except Gerard, who will be at home babysitting.”

“Means the cavalry won’t be far away. If word gets to them-“

“We’ll need people watching – any sign of the Demiurges leaving, particularly Patience or Stanley, and we’ll need to do a flit. We’re trusting them to largely distract each other.”

“How?”

“Lahav. Black tie dinner party. No weapons allowed.”

“Yeah, that should do it. With them out of the way, it’s just to sneak up on the house, go in fast, kill Gerard and leave. The kids we can ignore – none of them are old enough to pose a threat, and if we kill her grandchildren Patience will hunt us down. Just killing her husband – those of us who actually do the deed will die, but the blow we strike for the Unseelie will shake the course of history. We will show the Guardian he cannot control us forever!”

“It’s settled, then. Gerard dies tonight.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think we stand a chance?”