Dragon: Allie's War Book Nine (36 page)

I knew all of that. I did…and I knew Feigran might really be doing all of those things Balidor would tell me he was doing. Feigran wouldn’t even need a reason to do them…or a reason not to for that matter. He definitely wouldn’t need a reason that made sense to anyone else. He might screw with my head just because he couldn’t help himself.

I didn’t really believe it though.

I tried to convince myself that I was entertaining that possibility, that I was remaining skeptical…objective…but I didn’t really believe it.

I’d known this was why I was coming here, at least in some part of my light.

I’d known, but I told myself it was about Novak.

I told myself it was about that damned book.

That it was about Brooks…about preventing a war.

Those things all made sense. They were plausible. True, even. But I knew they were also utter and complete horseshit.

I’d come here for this. I’d come here because the voice wanted me here.

Since we’d gotten here, Feigran’s drawings had changed.

Watching his downturned head, his shoulders hunched over the drawing pad as he went back to his current one, I sighed, biting my lip as I tried to make up my mind.

I would have to make it up soon.

At the same time, I knew I was lying to myself there, as well.

I’d made up my mind.

I’d made it up before I left Bangkok.

The voice is urgent, desperate maybe.

You must come to me now…

Come to me sister, for I cannot do the rest alone…

Fingering long strands of dark hair out of my eyes, I sighed, sitting down on the dingy bedspread. I listened to the springs creak under me in the old mattress as I watched Feigran draw, and for a long time, neither of us spoke.

We’d been there six days when we got word from Talei’s team that everything was a go.

The meet was on for the following day, Talei said…around three p.m.

That morning, I got up before dawn.

I got ready in the same room where I’d slept. We’d taken over the entire two floors of the cowboy-like Wild, Wild West Motel that we found on the outskirts of town, which was pretty run down and seedy but had boarded-up windows at least, and enough insulation in the ceilings and walls that it was less cold than outside.

We didn’t have much waiting for us here, construct-wise. Apart from a few government workers and the local SCARB branch, not a lot of seers had lived in this area.

We wouldn’t be here long enough for that to matter, either.

In better news, Jorag and Neela had already arranged to have one seer and four humans whose names were on the Lists sent back to Asia. The humans had been surprisingly open to the idea, all but one and we debated for a few hours whether we should take her against her will, given that her life was in danger now that she’d been ID’d.

In the end, we opted to leave her alone. Jorag erased her memory in the hopes that might protect her somewhat…at least from herself. The ones who decided to go to Asia opted to bring their families with them, which made the total group around nine.

Balidor already had a head’s up they were on their way.

Bending down, I grabbed the holster I’d brought out of the open bag.

I was in the process of straightening when a voice broke the quiet.

I must have jumped about two feet.

“What the fuck are you doing?” it demanded.

The voice was harsh. It was also male, contained a borderline threat…and came from only about a yard behind where I stood bent over my own belt, only half-dressed in a bra and armored combat pants.

So yeah, I jumped.

I also turned, unable to hide my startle…which I seemed to do a lot with this particular seer. I was beginning to think he was the male equivalent of Tarsi, some kind of light ninja who liked throwing people off balance by scaring the shit out of them.

I didn’t bother to answer him, though.

Well, not right away.

Instead I went back to strapping the holster around my waist. Once I had the belt clasp locked, I bent to tie the lower strap to my upper leg. Only then did I snatch up the armored shirt I’d left on the bed coverlet, pulling it over my head and shoving an arm into each sleeve before arranging it around my body.

I reached for a shoulder harness next.

“I’m going on a scouting run,” I said neutrally as I straightened. “I won’t need back-up, brother. I don’t intend to be gone that long.”

Dalejem let out a humorless snort. “The fuck you are.”

Glancing over my shoulder a second time, I quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You’re not going anywhere alone,” he said angrily, eyebrows furrowing as he gestured sharply with one hand. “Absolutely not.” His jaw hardened. “Gods above. Your husband warned me how fucking reckless you are. Adamantly. At the time, I thought he was being an overprotective ass but I’m beginning to think he understated it…”

I shook my head, fighting irritation and losing.

“I’m your fucking
bodyguard,
under the gods!” he snapped. “You really planned to sneak out of here without me…? Seriously? Are we children?”

Straightening from where I’d been looking for my headset in the duffel I’d brought into the small hotel room, I leveled the aforementioned irritation at him as I fitted the device to my ear.

“You really don’t get the whole ‘orders,’ concept, do you?” I said.

His mouth only hardened. “You’re not going anywhere by yourself, sister. No.”

“I’m not going alone,” I told him, blunt. “I just don’t need you.”

He flinched, which, okay, yeah…he was meant to. In my periphery I saw him frown when I went back to arming and dressing myself.

Only then did he seem to notice the other occupant of my room.

I saw Dalejem look at the bed. I saw him blink, do a double-take. Shock bled across his high-cheekboned face, altering his dark complexion. Smiling from the bed, the auburn-haired seer sitting on the coverlet waved to Dalejem in a friendly way…right before Dalejem’s frown twisted into a full-blown scowl.

He glared at me.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” His scowl deepened when I didn’t answer. “You
are
kidding me, yes, Esteemed Bridge? Please tell me that you are.”

“No, actually,” I said, shoving a few more 9mm magazines into the armored vest I now wore over the harness. “But thank you for clarifying that my orders might be taken that way. I had no idea. I’ll be sure and specify ‘not kidding’ next time…”

He ignored my sarcasm.

“You’re taking Feigran out of here…alone?” He shook his head, gesturing with his hands. “No. Allie…no, no, no. You’re not bringing this
rek’ k-sidre
with you. No.”

I exhaled, facing him directly that time.

Placing my hands on my hips, I looked him right in the eye.

“Dalejem…brother. I appreciate your concern. I do. But I don’t need you for this. I’m going on a short scouting mission. I need brother Feigran there, for reasons I don’t really want to get into right now. I would also like him with me more generally, since Shadow has a habit of kidnapping brother Feigran whenever I let him out of my sight for too long…”

Dalejem shook his head.

I didn’t let him speak, holding up a hand as I smacked him lightly with my aleimi.

“Brother,” I said. “The conversation is over.”

“No, sister,” he said. “…It’s not over. And you’re not going
alone.
I would have said no if it was just you. With him, it’s not even a fucking discussion, my beautiful sister…not even a fucking
discussion.
Do you hear me?”

I stared at him, fighting incredulity.

Instead of getting angry that time, I found myself pausing, looking at the older seer’s light more closely. I found myself studying the emotion coming off his aleimi as he looked at Feigran specifically.

Once I had, a light bulb went off.

“Jesus,” I said, clicking in annoyance. “You know him. Terian.” Watching Dalejem click back at me, his eyes narrowing in anger, I let out an irritated grunt.
“Gaos.
I should have known. What? Did he fuck your boyfriend or something?” Wincing at my own words as I realized he had, I gritted my teeth, shaking my head. “Get over it, my handsome brother. We don’t have time for psychological breakdowns out here…or hissy fits about past lovers.”

Dalejem frowned, even as his expression grew harder to read.

“I do know him,” he said. “But it’s not the point––”

“It’s part of it,” I said, still studying his light. “I’m guessing it’s a big fucking part of it, from what you’re trying to hide in your light right now.”

For a moment Dalejem only stared at the far wall, his expression hard enough that I could tell he was controlling his temper with an effort.

Then he turned, looking at me directly again.

“Just tell me what the fuck you’re doing, Allie,” he said.

Some kind of wall dropped in his voice and light, letting enough of him through that I found my own light reacting, caught off guard. Shifting my weight on my feet, I folded my arms as he went on, his voice and light holding more emotion the longer he spoke.

“…Just tell me what the fuck we’re even
doing
here, Allie,” he said, his voice frustrated, still holding that strange vulnerability. “Chandre doesn’t need us here. This isn’t about Brooks. Why are we here?”

“It
is
about Brooks,” I said, gesturing in irritation.

“Bullshit!”

I raised my voice. “She’s on the fucking List, brother!”

Dalejem stared at me, his eyes holding a faint surprise.

I exhaled, shaking my head. “We’re keeping it quiet. But Brooks is on the List. We need to try and create an alliance with her…even Balidor agreed it would be better if I did that myself. Also,” I shrugged, looking down at my shirt as I tucked it in. “Balidor wanted me here to take Novak out myself. And I agreed.”

“They didn’t catch that before?” Dalejem said, skeptical. When I glanced over, he clarified, “Brooks. Being on the List.”

“The human List is long, brother.”

Clicking angrily, Dalejem gave me an angry look.

Sighing, I conceded his point. “They fucked up with married names for the female humans in the first round.” At Dalejem’s puzzled look, I explained, “…Human custom. Not all human females take their husband’s family names after marriage, but some do. No one told our predominantly seer tech team. Dante caught it when she found her mom’s maiden name on there. So they re-ran the whole List, realizing they might have missed others.”

Dalejem’s eyes cleared. “I see.”

“So it
is
about Brooks,” I said, exhaling as I smoothed my braided hair. “Primarily, that’s why I’m here. I’m going to try and negotiate a treaty with Brooks before Shadow figures out that she might be an asset and kills her. I suspect she’s got a target painted on her already, which is why I’d appreciate it if you kept this information to yourself.”

He nodded, gesturing dismissively.

His green eyes didn’t lose their scrutiny.