Lord's Fall (27 page)

“What?”
Aryal snapped. “I’m not the criminal here!”

“Hell, you haven’t even been trying to walk a line.” Graydon stared at her with angry incredulity. “You’ve been staggering all over it like a drunk at a single’s bar. Do you want to keep your job or not?”

Aryal snarled, “I will
win my job back
just like all you other sonsabitches—by hammering down any bastard that gets in my way.”

“Is that so, Smurfette?” Quentin sneered at her from across a barrier made up of two gryphons and a pegasus. “And here I thought you were an example of affirmative action in the workplace.”

Rage detonated in Aryal’s expression. She flicked out both stiffened hands, and talons sprang out on all her fingers and thumbs. Then she plowed forward, only to be brought up short when Graydon came at her from behind and pinned her in a headlock.

“Smurfette,” breathed Eva rapturously.

“Everybody has gone nuts,” Pia muttered.

She looked from Eva to her other bodyguards, who had all come to surround her. And she had thought they were the psychos. They looked positively sane in comparison to the crazy pants developing between Quentin and Aryal.

Her gaze lingered on Eva’s delighted face. Well, almost all of them looked sane.

She shoved her way through the bristling testosterone to reach Quentin, making sure he saw her before she put a hand on his bicep. The warm muscle beneath her fingertips felt rock hard with tension.

“Hey,” she said softly. “Come on. Come talk to me.”

At first he didn’t respond, his blue eyes two ice chips of fury. He watched the harpy with a killer’s face, a muscle leaping in his clenched jaw.

Once upon a time, that expression would have scared her spitless. Funny how things had changed. She tugged harder at his arm, injecting more authority into her voice. “Quentin, walk away with me right now.”

Finally his attention snapped to her. She smiled at him, and he jerked his head once in a nod. Still, she entwined one arm firmly with his as she led him to one side. When Eva made as if to join her, she sent the other woman a warning glance, and Eva responded by hanging back several steps.

At six-foot-two, Quentin stood half a head taller than she did. Even though she now knew that he had a strong enough Wyr side that he could change into his animal form, she still saw a strong resemblance to an Elven heritage in his graceful bone structure. Like Dragos, Quentin was broader in the shoulders than most Elves. His mixed race heritage had given him a spectacular combination of strength and beauty.

Before Dragos, she had enjoyed having a crush on her sexy boss. Now the crush had comfortably and quite irrevocably settled into friendship.

“Someday I’m going to fucking kill her,” Quentin said between his teeth. “Just so you’re warned. That harpy is
unendurable
.”

“Okay,” she said, soft and quiet. “You’re not going to get any argument from me.”

His gaze fully focused on her. “That looks like blood on your clothes. Are you all right? You weren’t hurt?”

“I wasn’t hurt,” she told him. “The blood isn’t mine.”

“Well, that’s something, at least.” He put his arms around her with a deep sigh.

She hugged him tight. “Did I see you fly in on the pegasus?”

“Yeah, that’s Alex,” he said. “Going through the Games together has given us a chance to do some bonding. He’s a really good guy. I hope he wins through to the end. I think the sentinels could use someone as even tempered as he is.”

She glanced over her shoulder, noting that Alex had separated himself from the sentinels once Quentin had walked away. The pegasus stood nearby as well, watching the events in the clearing unfold, his hands on his hips.

She turned back to Quentin. “Are you okay?” she asked gently. “You’ve lost some people tonight, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, I did,” he whispered. His eyes were bloodshot. “But I’m not the only one. A lot of folks lost people tonight.”

“Can I do anything for you?” She rubbed his back.

He shook his head and gave her a not-quite smile. “Other than keep yourself safe, no. Thanks.” He looked around at the devastation, his expression turning grim once more. “I’m just glad Dragos did the decent thing and mustered the Wyr to help.”

Quentin made no secret of the fact that he disliked Dragos, nor did Dragos hide the fact that he tolerated Quentin for Pia’s sake. When Pia had asked Quentin about his decision to enter the Sentinel Games, he had told her, “I don’t have to like Dragos in order to decide that I want to invest in my community. He may be Lord of the Wyr, but he’s just one man, after all. The Wyr demesne is a lot bigger than he is.”

Now her answering smile turned wry. “You sound surprised at the thought of Dragos doing something decent.”

He searched her mild expression. She could tell he was looking to see if he had offended her. When he saw that he hadn’t, he shrugged. “Yeah, what can I say,” he said. “You’re always going to be the best part of him.”

“I think that might be the only thing you both agree on,” she told him.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thanks for the de-escalation. I’d better go see what I can do to help.”

“Okay.” She gave him another quick squeeze and let him go. “As long as you go in the opposite direction of Aryal. Just avoid her completely. Nobody needs any more strife right now, Quentin.”

He glanced at where Aryal and Graydon were still arguing, and his face hardened, but he said, “Fair enough.”

He kissed her cheek, then walked away to join Alex. She turned to find Eva, and as she did so, she looked around at everybody else in the clearing. Many people, both Elves and Wyr, were watching the sentinels.

Just as many Wyr, if not more, were watching her as well, their expressions closed and unfriendly. Jolted, she looked from one person to the next. Each Wyr turned away when her gaze fell on him or her.

They didn’t have to meet her eyes or say anything. She could see what they thought in their faces.

They thought she had started the whole thing.

She thought back to how everything had begun, a few minutes ago, then back to last year, and her mouth compressed into an unhappy line.

Maybe they were more right than she wanted to admit.

From that point on things seemed to move quickly. The sentinels took their squabbling elsewhere for a few minutes and returned in short order, each one wearing a tight face and the promise of imminent violence. Danger burned so hot in their auras, all the other Wyr turned subdued and quiet.

Still troubled, Pia settled on the corner of a nearby bench and concentrated on cleaning off her crossbow, while the last of the arriving Wyr fighters dried off and stowed their parachutes away, and last minute preparations were made. Eva and Johnny stayed with Pia, and they didn’t talk much either.

Elven horses were brought out, only these weren’t prettily saddled for a day’s ride in the Wood. The horses wore head guards and neck plates, their bodies covered in blankets of protective chain mail. The animals had clearly been trained for war. They stamped the ground and blew through their nostrils, eager and restless.

After talking with Calondir, Dragos called Miguel over to him and sent him off with another Elf. Within ten minutes, Miguel returned, carrying exquisitely tooled leather armor suitable for a female of Pia’s height and frame. Pia’s slim runner’s build was very compatible with an Elven body type, and the peanut bump wasn’t obtrusive enough to cause a problem.

The armor was lined with a finely crafted, tough chain mail and padded with cotton, and it was heavier than it looked. Pia liked to think she recognized good sense when she saw it, though, and she didn’t complain about the weight.

“It’s a gift from the High Lord,” Miguel said. His dark eyes were filled with admiration as he ran a hand down one piece. “This is really fine. It’s got an aversion spell woven into the chain mail.”

Pia stood, and Miguel and Eva helped to strap it into place on her, adjusting each buckle to make sure of the fit. She squatted when they asked, and twisted and turned. She said, “It doesn’t feel as bad as I thought it would.”

“It shouldn’t,” Eva told her. “You’re wearing about fifty thousand dollars’ worth of battle bling.”

She almost fell over. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Elven armor is kinda like those wafers of wayfarer bread that you like so much—it’s top-of-the-line and hard to come by. This stuff is not only resistant to sword cuts and knife throws, but it can block a bullet as long as it isn’t an armor-piercing round fired point-blank at you. It’s water repellant and lightweight too. With a little training in it, you shouldn’t have any impairment in speed or stamina when you run.” After tugging one last time on a shin plate, Eva slapped Pia’s leg lightly and stood.

Pia felt a little like one of the horses that had just been saddled. She gave Eva a leery glance. “Training.”

“Yep, and that’s first on our agenda when we get back home.”

“What are you talking about?”

Eva stood hipshot with her arms crossed as she looked over the clearing. She said, “Fact is, you need somebody on you, Tink, and it can’t be the sentinels who take time off their regular work to do it piecemeal. It needs to be someone full time who has the ability to work with your schedule and needs, and who can coordinate the right staff for each occasion. So I put in a quick word with the Old Man earlier, about the possibility of a job transfer.” Eva’s gaze slid sideways to her. “If you would be amenable to working with me, that is.”

Pia blinked rapidly. Evil Eva had asked for a job transfer to work with her? “I had no idea,” she said inanely. “He never said anything.”

Eva lifted one shoulder. “Well, we just barely had time for me to bring it up telepathically. Why don’t you think about it, see how it sits? Nobody’s deciding nuthin’ without you.”

“Why’d you ask?” The words burst out of her before she could stop it.

A small smile played around the edges of the captain’s bold mouth. “First, I like you,” Eva said bluntly. “I didn’t want to, and I didn’t expect it, but I do. Second, I’ve been doing the same thing for a while now. Sometimes you just need a change of pace, know what I mean?” Pia nodded as she watched the other woman’s face. “Third, you’re a challenge, and I need that too. You’re always going to be facing something. You’re always going to be in the public eye, and always going to be a target. Plus, you’re gifted, and you’re smart, but I gotta tell you, Tink, sometimes you’re kind of stupid too.”

She scowled. “I’m not stupid.”

Eva said, “Crossbow.”

“Fuck you.”

Eva laughed softly, and after a moment she joined in. “Fourth,” Eva said. “It may take me a while, because sometimes I’m kind of stupid too, but I recognize a top dog when I see one. And that’s what you are. You surprised me with it, and I’m not talking about you kicking my ass, or Aryal’s ass, or anything like that, because I haven’t even seen you fight yet, so clearly I’m going on faith about that bit.”

Pia toed a clump of grass. She muttered, “I can too kick your ass.”

“Beside the point. Being an alpha is much more than kicking someone’s ass.” Eva grinned. “I watched you order the Lord of the Wyr—
the Old Man himself
—out of the room, and he went. You don’t get more top dog than that. Shit, girl, I damn near genuflected, and I’m not even sure what that word means.”

“If this is about Johnny, I don’t want you to change careers because you feel like you might owe me something.”

“I won’t lie to you,” Eva said quietly. “This is partly about Johnny, but I wouldn’t change careers because I feel like I owe you. I could always find some other way to repay you. It’s everything, Pia. It’s the total package.”

A strange feeling pressed against her chest and made her eyes prickle. She whispered, “You figured it out, didn’t you? What I am.”

“I think so,” Eva murmured in reply. “But in the end, that stuff don’t matter. It’s who you are, not what you are. That’s what matters.”

She nodded, thinking. “We could give it a trial basis,” she said. “We should find out if you even like the change. If I talk to Dragos about it, I think he’d see to it that your old job was kept open until you were sure.”

“If you asked him, I’m sure he would,” Eva said, smiling. “Okay, that’d work. But I can tell you right now, I’ll like the change. If you don’t mind, I’d like to start talking to my crew about it. Some of them might be interested in making the switch with me, but most of them won’t. I’ll let you know what they have to say.”

“Sounds good.” She smiled. “Thank you, Eva.”

“My pleasure. I’m glad you listened.” Eva tugged at one of the side straps between the breast and the back plates, rather unnecessarily, she thought. “How’s that feel? Think you could run in it?”

She looked down sourly at the thirty extra pounds tied onto her body. “I wouldn’t want to,” she said.

“But you
could
if you had to, right?” Eva stressed.

“I suppose,” she grumbled.

“Now, here’s the real question,” Eva said. “Do you think you could run in it without dropping your crossbow?”

She rolled her eyes and threatened, “I’m not going to hire you if you keep bringing that up.”

“Are you kidding?” Eva said. “That’s totally why you’re gonna hire me. I’m never gonna let you forget it, and someday that may just save your life.”

A horn blew, the sharp blast of sound soaring over the snatches of conversation in the clearing, and Pia shivered. She turned, looking for Dragos, and found him watching her with a frown. She pointed to the chest plate and gave him a thumbs-up. He just shook his head, his face grim.

Then he turned to look around the fighters in the clearing, who had all quieted. “Calondir and I have agreed to lead together,” he said, his deep, powerful voice pitched to carry. “We will share command decisions and bring down Amras Gaeleval in partnership with each other. The heavier Wyr and all the avians will come after us. Then Wyr and Elves will follow together.” As he looked at Pia, he added telepathically,
That’s where you and your guards will be, in the middle. Do you understand?