Clues for Peace Talks in Bombshells

[Mira]

 I was rereading Bombshells tonight and a few things struck me. 1] Nobody really wants a treaty with the Fomor, but they won't come out and say it. 2] There was a bomb in Bombshells too, and if Lara did send Thomas in to set if off, she'd deny it totally, as Justine told Molly in Bombshells.. Ergo not a shock that Lara would act clueless when Harry asked her about having anything to do with sending Thomas into the Embassy to assassinate Atri.  It also wouldn't be a shock if Atri was in on his own assassination attempt to screw up the peace talks, only this time there was a glitch and someone died.  3] Lea sent Molly in to rescue Thomas supposedly, but what she really wanted was for Molly to clean up the mess..  Which she did, she found the bomb that was planted before anyone got hurt. When she confronted Lea who had tricked her.  Lea told her a treaty with the Fomor wasn't in the best interest of the Winter Court either, but Mab couldn't come out and say it..  Not unlike Peace Talks where suddenly before the crap hits the fan Mab shows up in the Monstermobile with Lara ordering him to pay the favors owed the White Court by the Winter Court..  Also in Bombshells
supposedly it was Thomas who was sent in to make the attempt and was caught, thus needed rescue. 

[ClintACK]

Three points:

1) Given the timing, it's almost certain that Thomas had already been caught when Lara and Mab showed up in the back of Harry's car. Harry was probably the only one in the car who didn't know that and I'd bet that the favors were restricted to helping Thomas -- which would explain how Lara got three favors (because they're not worth as much as open-ended favors would be), and why she used them the way she did.

2) Your point that Lara would disavow Thomas if he got caught is a good one. I do think it's entirely possible that Austri was the traitor (either Nemfected or on the other side of the Oblivion War) and Thomas went there to stop him from killing Etri -- or from some entirely different plot. That suggests that Justine's pregnancy is entirely a red herring when it comes to the assassination.

3) Of course another possibility is that Thomas was a pawn of both Etri and Evanna -- playing a complicated political game, possibly one that only makes sense to svartalves and fairies. The "visits" he was paying to Evanna could have been the long setup to embroil White Court royalty in a scandal that ends with them owing significant debts to the Svartalves. Austri's death could have been accidental, if they underestimated Thomas's capabilities.

And the obligatory complaint -- we're used to the Dresden Files weaving a PI whodunnit plot in with the urban fantasy/epic fantasy big picture plots, but in this book we didn't get nearly enough clues. (Presumably because the clues were meant to pay out over the whole book, and then we only got the first third or so of the book.)

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Mab would likely know, but not Lara, it would allow Mab to manipulate Lara into exactly the favours Mab wants to give. Indeed she may have kept Lara incommunicado by teleporting her around with her. Mab doesn’t usually bring third part non-vassals with her, let alone another head of state.

Mab was using prior knowledge of unfolding events to manipulate wider events.

[Mira]

2) Your point that Lara would disavow Thomas if he got caught is a good one. I do think it's entirely possible that Austri was the traitor (either Nemfected or on the other side of the Oblivion War) and Thomas went there to stop him from killing Etri -- or from some entirely different plot. That suggests that Justine's pregnancy is entirely a red herring when it comes to the assassination.

It could very well be a red herring.  In Bombshells Lea tells Molly a couple of things.

"But why?  Why send us in there?"
"The treaty with the Fomor could not be allowed to conclude," she said.  "If one nation agreed to neutrality with them, a dozen more would follow.  The Fomor would able to divide the others and contend with them one by one."

Justine said about sending Thomas in just as the Svartalfhelm were about to sign an alliance with the Fomor.

"Lara must have sent Thomas in for something," Justine said.  "To steal
information, to disrupt the alliance somehow.  Something.  Trespassing would be bad enough.  If he was captured spying on them. . ."

Waldo asks

"Couldn't the White Court get him out?" Waldo asked.
"If the White Court seeks the return of one of their own, it would be like admitting they sent an agent in to screw around with the Svartalfheim,"  I said.  "Lara cannot do that without serious repercussions.  She'll deny that Thomas's intrusion had anything to do with her."

Long and the short all of the above, exposed what the Fomor were really up to.. The alliance between the Fomor and the Svartalfheim didn't happen, Atri seemed to be in on it to some degree.. Thomas got off with plenty of sex and feeding from the pretty Svartalfheim ladies..

Forward to Peace Talks, if Thomas thought it was going to be a repeat of what happened in  Bombshells, why wouldn't he go along?