"What's wrong with just fighting them?" he asked. "You could do it. Do whatever you want to with him anyway and when the Oisins show up, if they show up, just suck up the consequences."

"We could do it, but that's not especially fair to all the soldiers who've just come home from fighting a war," Marcello replied. "Or to our farmers, or anyone else who pays us taxes. And it's not prudent, either. We can't squander our treasuries constantly fighting wars when we haven't managed to rebuild some of the things that have been damaged, and we're just coming out of years of winter."

"If they show up, it's technically an invasion and you can do fuck-all and no one will blame you for it," he said. "And I promise you, you will have all the resources of Ebhot at your disposal." He couldn't say it with a straight face. "Right, right, way to go about this without a war. Hm." He chewed his thumbnail. "What is the deal here? What is he blackmailing her for, anyway? That would go a long way to knowing what to do."

"It's not a question of blame; it's a question of damage." Marcello gave the boy a helpless look. "He's blackmailing her into starting a war. Against his sister. So...really, if we do anything to him, we're actually helping his cause." He made a face. "Personally, I think Niabheara should just tell his sister. But we don't know where we stand with her yet."

The boy frowned. "I think I liked this better when it was all about finding out what happened to me sister, be honest. He's obviously not pressin' for this thing to go on right now, is he? Or is Niabheara trying her famous stall-tactic?"

Marcello sighed. "Stall tactic," he replied. "But I don't know exactly what he's hoping for. The spring, I think?"

"That's not so good. The longer a blackmail scheme goes on, the more can go wrong. He's going to get antsy." Suddenly a light came up in his eyes. "Spring as in after babies are born?"

Marcello raised an eyebrow. "You think he's planning on taking the babies?" he asked.

"I don't know, I'm just trying to think like an asshole here," he said, mildly irked. "Maybe. Spring's the nearest time when he can have the babies without bothering with the mother, ain't it? Or at least see if there's even going to be any babies."

"So if we can get Dierdre to keep her mouth shut for long enough that he won't suspect anything, and then spirit the babies away...we might have some kind of leverage," Marcello replied. "Scarlet said something about him taking Acorn to protect his own children. So he presumably cares what happens to them."