“But things are the way they are. I get it.” Maleshi tilted her head and folded her arms. “I didn’t tell that girl to wait in the car so I could get a private thank you.”
Corian laughed but didn’t sound even remotely amused. “So this is the part where you tell me you never want to see me again. That you disappeared for a reason, and just because I found you, it doesn’t mean we’ll pick up where we left off. Duty is duty, right?”
Maleshi shook her head. “You said it, not me.”
Corian hung his head with another bitter laugh, shoving his hands into his pockets. The ex-general dipped her head, watching him collect himself and waiting until he was finished. When he looked back up at her, his eyes flashed with an intensity she’d missed for four hundred years. “Then why did you tell her to wait in the car?”
“You realize how important it is to get her through those trials.”
“Of course I do. Don’t insult me.”
“And I know you’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.” She stepped toward him, forcing him to keep looking at her. He didn’t step back or lean away, just lifted his chin enough to meet her gaze. “But if you push her too hard, vae shra’ni, if you break that halfling’s spirit to get the job done, I’ll know. And I will hunt you down just to see the look in your eyes when you remember every word of this conversation.”
Corian stared at her, the tufts of light-brown fur down the sides of his face twitching a little when he smirked. “So that’s what it takes to get you to find me, huh?”
“It’s not a threat, Corian.”
“I know it’s not. I care about what happens to her just as much as you do. It’s been a long time, Maleshi, but not long enough for you to forget who I am.”
“Hmm.” She glanced at nothing behind Corian’s shoulder. “Not long enough for either of us to change much, either.”
All he could do was shake his head and offer a little shrug.
“Find me when Persh’al has something worth going after.” Maleshi spun away from him to head toward Cheyenne’s car. Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder. “To be clear, I’ve wanted to see you again every day since I left. That’s how much this matters to me.”
Corian couldn’t think of anything to say as General Maleshi Hi’et opened the passenger side door of the drow halfling’s shiny new car and slipped into the seat. He watched the woman cast her illusion charm as Cheyenne retied the broken silver chain that hung the Heart of Midnight pendant around her neck. L’zar Verdys’ righthand magical didn’t move until the two women in the Panamera drove away.
Chapter Eighty-Three
“Wanna tell me what that was all about?” Cheyenne asked as she pulled out of the overgrown parking lot and onto the side street in the nearly empty neighborhood.
“Oh, come on, Cheyenne. We both know you heard every word of that conversation. I’m sure you can put the pieces together for yourself.” A slow smile spread across Maleshi’s now human-looking face as she glanced at the halfling beside her. “You’re getting pretty good at that, aren’t you?”
Cheyenne ignored the professor’s jest. Guess we’re not talking about those soldiers or Corian. Fine. She glanced at the scrap of beetle-thing carapace resting in the Nightstalker’s lap and snorted. “I’m still having trouble with that piece, though.”
“Ah. Yeah.” Maleshi tapped her fingernails on the curved husk and shrugged. “I have no idea what it is, honestly.”
“Why’d you take it?”
“Jealous that I thought to grab a souvenir, are you?”
The halfling rolled her eyes and focused on the road. “You weren’t even there for that fight.”
“Well, if there’s anything left when we’re finished, kid, I’m more than happy to hand it over for you to hang on the wall.”
“I don’t know what to say to that.”
“No problem. Just keep driving.”
Adjusting her hands on the steering wheel, Cheyenne glanced quickly at the Nightstalker woman beside her. Maleshi just stared out the windshield, her lips moving soundlessly. “Uh, I don’t know where you live. Once we get back into town, you’ll have to give me directions.”
Maleshi finished her muttered spell and turned her head so quickly toward Cheyenne, the halfling flinched sideways. “That won’t be necessary.”
The half-drow stared at the Nightstalker’s feral grin and frowned. “You don’t want me to take you home?”
“No. I want you to forget everything you know about avoiding obstacles in the road and just keep driving.”
When the ex-general nodded at the road, Cheyenne looked out the windshield in time to see a dark, glimmering oval of another portal hovering in front of them.
“What the—” She jerked the wheel and hit the brakes, but there wasn’t enough time. When the Panamera screeched to a stop, they were no longer on a side street outside DC. The back tire bumped against the curb of an entirely different road, and Cheyenne slammed the gearshift into park. “Are you insane?”
“Very much so. I thought we’d covered that already.” Maleshi unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door to leap nimbly onto the sidewalk.
With a frustrated growl, the halfling turned off the engine, nearly ripped her seatbelt from its buckle, and got out to follow her friend. And I thought she drove me nuts before. Her irritation didn’t keep her from remembering to lock the car, but the chirp and flashing lights didn’t bring so much as a smirk this time. “You can’t just cast portals in the middle of the road while I’m driving.”
“I think it worked out rather well.” The Nightstalker stopped at a building Cheyenne only halfway recognized, gesturing toward the banged-up front door of the three-story complex with the beetle shell instead of her hand. “Bet you didn’t think you’d be back here, did ya?”
“And you’re not even a little worried about someone seeing a dark
