“You knew what this was when I asked you about it.” The halfling tapped her fingers on the pendant.
“Of course I did. I just wasn’t aware of who’d given it to you.”
She doesn’t want to talk about any of this right now, either. What happened between those two?
“So now you want my help at this new portal.” Mattie crossed one bare foot over her knee and glanced at the other magicals in her living room. “Because you think the Crown might have opened it to get at Cheyenne.”
Corian nodded. “It’s only one possibility of many, Maleshi.”
Hearing that name made Mattie close her eyes again, but she seemed to resign herself to the fact that he wouldn’t stop using it. “Take me to the portal, then.”
“Thank you.”
“For Cheyenne.” The Nightstalker woman turned to offer her former student a real smile before she nodded. “If the Crown’s ripping through two worlds to get to her, it’s the least I can do.”
Cheyenne’s heart sank when she saw the ghost of old pain behind Mattie Bergmann’s green eyes. She really doesn’t want this. “Mattie, you don’t owe me anything.”
“Of course I don’t.” The Nightstalker woman chuckled. “If anything’s owed to anyone, Cheyenne, the armchairs in my office have yet to be replaced. But I will say I’ve grown pretty fond of you, kid. And the bigger picture is making itself more than apparent.” Mattie pushed quickly to her feet and twirled her hand in a gesture to speed things up. Everyone else scrambled up so as not to be sitting while General Hi’et stood before them. “Whatever you have to do to get us there, Corian, I strongly suggest you do it quickly.”
Corian forced back a laugh and summoned another portal right there in Mattie/Maleshi’s living room.
Mattie leaned toward Cheyenne as the dark, shimmering oval grew in the air. “I always had a feeling you were something special, kid.”
“You just wanted to say you trained a drow halfling.” Cheyenne looked at her friend and grinned.
“Turns out, I had no idea what I bargained for.” The Nightstalker woman smiled at the half-drow, but it lacked her usual mirth. “Hopefully, I can give you guys a better idea of whether the Crown’s behind this unaccounted-for portal. That’s what we’re hoping for, at any rate.”
Cheyenne frowned. “I thought we were trying to keep the Crown from finding me.”
“Oh, fuck the Crown. I can handle that self-absorbed drow with my hands tied behind my back.” Mattie snorted. “But if it’s not the Crown, there’s some other reason this new Border portal appeared without warning. Then both sides of the Border are fucked.”
Lumil let out a low whistle at that last statement. Corian pursed his lips. Persh’al tried to hide a chuckle and shook his head.
When Corian’s newest portal was fully formed, Mattie frowned at the image of a dark, empty warehouse and a bunch of computers scattered over three tables. “I’m not an idiot, Corian.”
“Neither am I.” The Nightstalker laughed, his silver eyes shining from across the room. “You didn’t have a single ward or bonded alarm around your house, General.”
“Because I didn’t expect a gang of rogue O’gúleesh to show up at my front door using L’zar’s halfling daughter as bait.”
Corian shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve just fallen out of the habit.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes.
“And I’m not interested in leaving a trail from the border right back to your living room.”
“Aw, man.” Byrd grimaced. “Come on!”
“Deal with it, goblin. We’re going for another drive.” Corian stepped through the portal, which shimmered around him as he disappeared.
Cheyenne watched him reappear in Persh’al’s warehouse, walking away from her. The goblins followed, with Persh’al close on their heels.
Mattie winked at the halfling. “Looks like you’ve had your fair share of portal-hopping too.”
“Enough to know I’d really like to learn how to open one on my own.”
Chuckling, the Nightstalker woman shook her head. “Good luck.”
Frowning, Cheyenne followed her former professor into Persh’al’s warehouse. I could open a portal if someone taught me. And if they won’t, I’ll teach myself.
Corian clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention, then pointed at Lumil as she headed for his unfinished sandwich on the table. “Don’t even think about it.”
The goblin woman grunted. “Come on. You can’t at least buy enough for all of us?”
When the Nightstalker glanced at Persh’al, the troll turned away and pretended to be intensely interested in the overhead lights hanging above loose metal cages in the warehouse ceiling.
“We’ll make it a better trip this time,” Corian said through clenched teeth. Then he nodded toward the warehouse door, and everyone headed for it. He stepped up beside Maleshi and lightly touched her elbow. “If you need—”
“Don’t.” She shot him a warning glance and moved subtly out of his reach. “I don’t need any of this, vae shra’ni.”
They’d stopped just in front of the door, and Cheyenne didn’t even have the option of leaving the warehouse so she wouldn’t have to watch the private moment. He seriously screwed something up.
“And yet here we are.” Grinning, Corian looked Mattie/Maleshi up and down, then gestured for her to step outside in front of him. Mattie didn’t waste any time, and the Nightstalker glanced over his shoulder at the drow halfling and raised his eyebrows. “I think she’s happy to see me.”
Cheyenne snorted. “Yeah, that message isn’t even a little mixed.”
With a smirk, Corian stepped out into the afternoon light and held the door open for the halfling to join him. When it closed, he flicked his fingers toward the warehouse, and the wards illuminated in a soft green glow with a four-pointed star flashing in the center of the door.
“I know that means something,” Cheyenne muttered.
Corian glanced at the fading light of the four-pointed star and shrugged. “Call it a family crest, kid. L’zar was the one who built these wards.”
“For real?”
“Come on, Cheyenne. I might not be able to tell you everything
