The Nightstalker stared at the drow halfling, then her dark eyebrows flickered together in her feline face, and she turned without another word.
“That’s it? End of discussion, just like that?”
Maleshi headed swiftly across the clearing toward the tree line and disappeared into the woods.
Chapter Eighty-Two
Corian glanced at Persh’al, Lumil, and Byrd, then nodded toward the crates and the O’gúl loyalists scattered around them. The magicals headed toward the crates, gathering as much of the O’gúl contraband as they could to take with them.
When he caught Cheyenne’s gaze, the halfling fought down another unintended flare of her drow magic. I should’ve done something.
“How many times do I have to tell you this is bigger than you?” Corian walked toward her, his head low like he was trying to whisper to her from three yards away. “Bigger than Ambar’ogúl, too.”
“You’ve been telling me that since we met, Corian.” Cheyenne forced herself to unclench her fists. “I know you made a promise to L’zar, but don’t try to tell me that promise included killing a bunch of soldiers with their hands tied behind their backs.”
“They would have done the same to us. The fact that the Crown didn’t open this new portal doesn’t matter anymore. She’s using it, and she just sent us a message by moving all this shit across the border.” The Nightstalker shook his head and glanced at the shimmering wall of pale pink light rising between the dark stone spires of the ridge. “They’re bringing this war Earthside, and the fight won’t end with the magicals in hiding over here. The Crown will come for humans too. Maybe even go for them first, given how easy humans are to pick off. And if she doesn’t, whatever we fought this morning will end up doing the same kind of damage, if not more.”
“The ruler of Ambar’ogúl is gonna send her forces into this world to kill humans.” The halfling cocked her head with a dry laugh. “That doesn’t make sense. Humans don’t even know about this.”
“It doesn’t matter who knows. What matters is how far the Crown’s willing to go to get what she wants. Which might not just be you at this point.” Corian eyed Persh’al and the goblins as they trudged back across the clearing. The blue troll and Lumil carried one of the crates between them, followed by Byrd with an armful of silver blood-tracker canisters. “Whatever she wants over here, she won’t stop until she has it all in her grasp. That’s what we’re trying to avoid, Cheyenne.”
“None of this looks like avoiding it to me.”
“You have the right to your opinion, kid, but if we wanna make sure a day like today never happens again, we need to hurry it up with your trials. Like yesterday.”
“Why?”
“You’re gonna help us stop this war. Hopefully, before it really gets bad, and preferably in time for L’zar to put all the other pieces in play to join us.”
Cheyenne scoffed, glancing around the Nightstalker to see Persh’al and the goblins vanishing into the woods. “All he has to do is break out of Chateau D’rahl and show up. But he can’t even do that.”
“He will when—”
“When I’m ready?”
Corian’s lips twitched into the ghost of a smile, his brow creasing again in something like concern. “No. When he’s ready. Time to go.”
The halfling scanned the scattered mess across the fresh Border portal. “What about all this?”
“We’ve got as much as we need for now, and we really don’t have time to play cleanup.” The Nightstalker headed toward the tree line, knowing the halfling wouldn’t be too far behind.
Cheyenne studied the clearing and the portal. No wonder things went to shit over there. I won’t let that happen on this side.
They made the drive back to Persh’al’s warehouse outside DC in complete silence. The goblins had given up bickering with each other, and it didn’t pick back up again once the SUV pulled into the warehouse’s weed-choked parking lot. While Persh’al and the goblins hefted the O’gúl contraband into the warehouse, Corian stayed outside with Cheyenne and Maleshi.
“Whatever Persh’al can figure out about those machine parts, he’ll give us a report in the next few hours.”
Maleshi pressed her lips together and glanced at the warehouse’s metal door as it clicked shut behind the other magicals. “Have him run whatever searches he can for a different frequency of magical tech.”
“At the very least, yeah. I hate to say it, but I hope their expert’s been tinkering enough to give off even a minor signal.”
“Hope won’t get us that name, vae shra’ni.”
“No, but it sure does keep that troll motivated.” Corian glanced at the halfling and gave her that concerned frown again. “We’ll call the whole day another training session, kid. Let me know what happened with the Cuil Aní when you get home.”
“Checking a copper box doesn’t feel like a top priority,” she muttered.
“Doesn’t matter what it feels like.” Corian pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed on it. “Just text me if anything changes.”
“I don’t have your—” Cheyenne’s back pocket vibrated, and the Nightstalker looked at her with a wry smile.
“Now you do.”
“Okay.” The halfling gave him a curt nod and stepped toward her Panamera. “Mattie—Maleshi… You know what? I don’t know what the hell to call you anymore.”
“Whatever you like, Cheyenne.” Maleshi’s gaze was locked on Corian’s, even as Cheyenne unlocked her car.
“Right. You want a ride home?”
“Absolutely. Go ahead and start the car. I’ll be right there.”
After glancing at the Nightstalkers, who were locked in a staring contest, Cheyenne shrugged and walked around the front of her car to slip behind the wheel. Her two mentors didn’t say another word until she’d closed the driver’s side door and the low hum of the Porsche’s engine was audible. The halfling sat back against the seat and closed her eyes. No way they forgot I can still hear them.
“Thank you for coming with
