“Uh-huh.” He turned away from her without another word and headed toward his agents, who had gathered in a loose group behind him.
The halfling scanned their faces and didn’t recognize a single one of them. ‘Cause Sir doesn’t want the halfling making friends with his operatives. Message received.
She spun again and headed back toward the house as the last of the light faded to black. When she looked at the veranda, her mother’s silhouette was stark against the house lights spilling through the wall of windows. Bianca Summerlin didn’t look down at the drow halfling making her way across the lawn, focusing instead on the team of agents in black fatigues milling around the edge of the woods on her property. The woman lifted the glass of the good scotch to her lips and barely tasted it.
Chapter One Hundred Two
Cheyenne had offered to drive Ember back to their apartment, but her fae friend had refused without a second thought. “I’m not gonna make you drive me home so you can come all the way back out here and miss three and a half hours of whatever might happen. I’ll just take one of the guest rooms, and we’ll head back in the morning.”
The halfling didn’t have enough energy to argue, so she’d set Ember up in the guest suite next to her childhood bedroom and didn’t leave until Ember shouted to quit smothering her so they could both get some sleep.
Now, lying in a queen-sized bed in a room that was at least the size of her old crappy apartment, Cheyenne found herself unable to get to sleep. Big surprise. FRoE agents out back, a broken portal about to spit out monsters at any minute, and everyone’s pissed about it.
She rolled onto her other side and stared into the darkness. The outline of her massive bookshelf in the moonlight spilling through the window made her frown. Showing up for dinner’s one thing. I hate this room.
The halfling closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, focusing on slowing her breathing until it fell into one long inhale and exhale after another.
Just as she felt herself slipping off, a jolt of buzzing energy flared across her body. She opened her eyes to bright white light and L’zar’s glowing gold eyes staring at her. “What the fuck!”
She tried to sit up in her bed but couldn’t move. There wasn’t a bed beneath her anyway, and she glanced down to see her bare feet standing on white nothingness. Good thing I put on pajamas.
“What happened?” L’zar stood in front of her, dressed in his Chateau D’rahl prison uniform.
“Okay, why are we standing in the middle of nothing?”
“Don’adurr Thread, Cheyenne. I initiated it. Are you okay?”
“There’s gotta be some kinda warning signal before you pop into my head right before I fall asleep.”
“It doesn’t work that way. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but I had to make sure you’re all right.”
Frowning, the halfling stopped her spinning mind and focused on L’zar’s face in the white light. His gold eyes were wide, his shoulders hunched as he studied her in concern beneath disheveled white hair spilling over his shoulders. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s worried about something.
“I’m fine,” she said slowly. “Are you all right?”
“Knowing the Thread worked and I could still find you, I’ll be fine. Tell me what happened.”
“Lots of things happen to me. You’re gonna have to be a little more specific.”
“I can’t.” The drow pressed his lips together and took a sharp, anxious breath through his nose. “But I felt—” He sniffed and looked away from her, blinking quickly. “I felt you fade, Cheyenne. And don’t try to tell me I’m imagining it. I’ve felt the same far too many times before, and none of them were there when I—” L’zar hissed out a breath and bit his bottom lip in irritation.
He’s scared, and it pisses him off. Cheyenne stared at her wild-eyed father. “I faded, all right, and then I came back and took care of it. A new portal burst out of nowhere on Bianca’s estate. Right behind her house.”
“A new—” The drow growled. “If it just opened, Cheyenne, it can’t possibly be as strong as the others. Not yet. How did you almost die at a brand-new portal?”
“A lot easier than I expected, actually. I went down to check it out; you know, to keep it away from my mom, and I might have overestimated my abilities a little. But I took care of it.”
“Alone?”
She glanced around the white nothingness and nodded.
“Where was Corian?”
“I don’t know. Out on one of his weird errands. You wanted him at that first portal, so that’s what he was taking care of.”
“But he’s with you now. And you’re okay.”
Cheyenne shook her head. L’zar Verdys, too panicked to put two and two together. “I’m okay. He’s not here.”
“What?” A sharp, furious snarl escaped the drow, and he closed his eyes to try pulling himself back together. “He knows how important it is to make sure you stay on track. You can’t be left unprotected!”
“Hey, I did a pretty damn good job of protecting myself, thank you.” She wanted to step toward him but still couldn’t move. “And I had tricks up my sleeve that came in pretty handy. I’m fine.”
L’zar’s eyes flew open. “What tricks?”
“The other two abilities I have left, I guess. Whatever telekinetic thing I can do and the black fire.”
“Black fire. Black—” A sharp laugh escaped him. “Fire. You used black fire.” L’zar took a deep, shuddering breath, and that wild, feral grin split his face. “Where’s the Cuil Aní?”
“Not with me. I told Corian that part too.”
“You need to get it, Cheyenne. Find that box and tell Corian if anything’s changed. That’s crucial, do you understand?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Is that how you finished it, then? The black fire?”
Am I the only sane person I know? Cheyenne shrugged. “Yeah. That’s how I did it. Finished the thing off and
