Free All is Fair by Emma Newman

the gargoyle groan. “There’s corruption in one of the London Chapters. They were told to ignore any breaches made by the Rosas.”
    “Holy crap! Really?” Cathy had been taught the Arbiters were incorruptible. It was one of the reasons the Great Families were so afraid of them.
    “Yep,” the gargoyle replied. “And there’s something dodgy going on with the ex-Sorcerer of Essex, so we need to find the Chapter as soon as we can and look into it.”
    “But why isn’t your Sorcerer involved?”
    “He’s too busy fighting a war. And he’s as mad as a bag of cats if you ask me.”
    So there was a war amongst the Sorcerers. Cathy wondered if her uncle knew about that. Should she warn him?
    “That’s enough,” Max said. “There’s something seriously wrong in London and you’re the only person in the city and in Fae-touched society we can ask to help. I can’t promise Mr Ekstrand will help you if you do this for us, but–”
    Cathy held up a hand. “I don’t need his help any more. I’ve decided to stay.”
    “Why?” the gargoyle asked. “You were dead set on getting out.” It narrowed its eyes. “You haven’t fallen in love or something?” It looked at Max. “You should check her for Charms, maybe–”
    “It’s not that,” she interrupted. “I wanted to leave because it sucks to be a woman here. But it’s better to change it for everyone, than to just run away. And it’s the Agency too.”
    “What about it?” Max asked.
    Cathy feared the curse would kick in if she said anything negative about it. Was it only to stop her telling anyone about the blackmail, or speaking ill of the Agency too? Then she remembered Bennet’s warning about thinking twice before saying anything about them. He wouldn’t have said that if the curse prevented it. With the artefact in the keyhole, she decided to take the risk. “It’s dodgy.” She told them about Miss Rainer without coughing once.
    “That’s nothing compared to what we saw last night,” the gargoyle began but Max held up a hand.
    “That’s off-topic,” he said.
    “Is it?” Cathy put her cup down. “You want me to breach the Treaty in the city of London when I’m supposed to be the Duchess of Londinium. It’s a big risk – what if I’m delivered to bloody Dame Iris by the local Arbiters? Lord Iris would kill me. No, actually, he’d do something worse.”
    “I’ll be watching,” Max said. “When the Arbiter comes I’ll step in and handle it.”
    It was still a huge risk. She’d have to do something very obvious and very public to get the immediate attention of the London Arbiters, and what if they didn’t listen to Max? He was working without his Sorcerer’s knowledge, after all. “I’ll do it – if you tell me more about the Agency and get me any files I need.” There were names in Miss Rainer’s file she wanted to follow up, including other former students. Max was the only way she could find out more about them.
    “That will be very difficult,” Max said.
    “Bollocks.” The gargoyle put itself between her and the Arbiter. “He’s just saying that to cover our arses and make out like it’s something special. We can get you whatever you need to know. The files kept by the Agency are easy to get hold of now and they have one for every single person in your Nether Society.”
    Cathy wondered what they had in her file. She suspected Bennet had kept all of her secrets out of it, to preserve their blackmail value.
    “Don’t make promises we can’t keep,” Max said.
    “And don’t get in the way of something that could get us much further than we can alone,” the gargoyle replied. “Cathy is our insider. She knows what it’s like in their world, we don’t.”
    “I know enough,” Max said.
    “We know enough to bust their asses when they step out of line, but not how the system works. And she’s connected to the Fae in a way we can never be. Someone is messing everything up, not just in London but the entire