“That’s none of your business,” she muttered. “And I didn’t come here to talk about someone else.”
“No, of course not.” L’zar licked his lips, and the next smile he gave her almost looked gentle. “You came here to see your drow father with your own eyes. To size up the man who made you what you are, just to know if he fits into the same shape your imagination gave him. Well? Were you close?”
Her nostrils flared as he spread his arms and chuckled again. This is just a game to him.
“Don’t you have any questions about her?”
L’zar shook his head. “Not really. You’re far more interesting, Cheyenne. And you wouldn’t tell me anything about your mother even if I wanted to know. Let’s cut the bullshit, huh? You and I are the same that way. We don’t do very well with pretenses.”
Cheyenne scoffed. “Fine. Why did you leave her the box?”
“For you. Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to. It’s boring, and it’s not who you are.”
“Then tell me what it’s for. How does it work?”
L’zar shook his head. “That’s for you to discover on your own. And I am so looking forward to the day when you reach that point. I hope you’ll come and tell me all about it.”
A new flash of rage churned through her. He has to give me something.
“Okay. Since you think you know so much about my life and what I’m getting into, tell me about the bull’s head.”
For the first time, L’zar reacted to her words with something other than blasé amusement. His eyes widened, and he pulled his legs in toward the chair again before leaning forward. “What about it?”
Can’t give too much away with our FRoE audience in the booth. “I’ve been seeing it around a lot lately on magicals who think they know something about me too. What does it mean?”
The drow on the other side of the bars sucked his teeth and hissed. “That’s an issue that should have stayed in Ambar’ogúl where it belongs.”
“Yeah, well, it didn’t. And now it’s my issue.” Cheyenne leaned toward his face, so much like her own. “Now’s your chance to make this little meeting worth my time. What does it mean?”
He shook his head. “We’re not gonna talk about that.”
“Then I’ve run out of things to say. Easter Bunny.”
A high-pitched whine filled the Dungeon a second before those iron bars lit up with crackling green fell energy, buzzing and sparking between father and daughter. The low lights inset into the walls flashed from a dull yellow to an eerie red, and a blaring alarm cut through the cavern every five seconds. L’zar glanced quickly at the ceiling and the fell energy crackling down the iron bars of his visitation cage. In one swift movement, he stood from the chair and stepped away from the bars. His white teeth glinted in the red alarm lights when he grinned at her and offered her one slow nod.
Cheyenne stood from her chair and meant to push it aside. Instead, the thing went flying sideways across the cavern and clattered against the stone wall. Swift, urgent footsteps echoed behind her, then a warning arm settled on her elbow.
“Let’s go,” the guard said over the alarm.
The halfling jerked her elbow away and glared at L’zar. The drow prisoner threw his head back and laughed, the sound ringing out across the Dungeon between the blaring bursts of the alarm splitting Cheyenne’s head.
“Come see me again when you’ve learned how to ask the questions that really matter,” he said through his laughter. “Then these little talks will be a lot easier for both of us.”
Forcing herself not to fling her magic at those bars and tear the whole cell apart to get to him, Cheyenne spun on her heels and stormed back toward the booth. Sir stood just beside the open door, his arms folded, his face showing no expression. L’zar’s laughter followed her toward the booth, and she didn’t bother turning around to see what would happen to him next.
Should’ve known the real L’zar would be a lot more disappointing than I imagined.
She didn’t look at Sir as she stepped into the booth stretching across the cavern. He entered behind her with the prison guard close on their heels, then the door shut with a loud click and a metallic echo. The guard slammed his hand down on the control panel and the obnoxiously screaming alarm cut out entirely, at least inside the booth. The red lights still illuminated the Dungeon and L’zar’s overlarge cell and the fell energy still fizzled along those thick iron bars, creating a muddy halo of green and red light around them.
“That was a lot shorter than I expected,” Sir muttered.
“Why are you complaining?” Cheyenne spat. “Now you have plenty of time to make it back for lunch.”
Sir didn’t find that very funny and folded his arms again as she pushed the door on the other side of the booth.
She glanced back at the guard and spread her arms. “You gonna open this thing or what?”
The man raised his eyebrows and pressed another button on the control panel. When the door buzzed, Cheyenne shoved her hands against it and stormed out the other side of the booth. The alarm was probably supposed to be silent now, but her drow hearing picked it up from the other side of the booth just the same. And L’zar’s laughter continued.
The elevator doors were closed when she reached them. Where’s the damn button?
She searched the stone walls but couldn’t find anything to call the stupid elevator back down.
“It’s on its way,” Sir said from behind her.
“Whatever.” Cheyenne clenched her fists by her sides and stared at the closed doors set into the stone wall. And I woke up early for this.
Chapter Two
As soon as Cheyenne and Sir stepped into the elevator, the blaring
