“Don’t call it a job if you’re not paying me anything.” She turned her head just enough to shoot him a sideways glance. “I thought Bianca drilled that into you hard enough.”
Sir grunted but ignored the jibe about how quickly and easily her mom had buried him in legalities on the back veranda of her estate. “I’m paying you in visitations, halfling. You can’t buy your way into Chateau D’rahl. Plenty of people have tried.”
“Plenty of magicals break out of there, too. Or was that just an extra special night for everyone?”
The morning sunlight glinted across Sir’s face as it passed like a strobe light through the trees lining the highway. She caught a glimpse of his eyes darting toward her beneath the dark sunglasses before returning to the road. “That was a first. I’m not surprised it hasn’t happened again.”
“Good to know you have so much faith in your security over there.” The halfling thumped her head back against the headrest.
“Those men know what they’re doing, and the prison’s security has gone through more updates than the iPhone I don’t have. I’ll tell you what, though. If the bastard really wanted out right now, he’d be out. He already did it once.”
She didn’t say anything to that. Sir had heard her entire conversation with L’zar and already knew the answer the drow inmate had given for that one.
“I wanna know why he’s still playing prisoner,” Sir continued. “Find out for me the next time you cash in your FRoE points for another visit, and you’ll have unrestricted access to the guy. Then I can quit spending my Sundays being a goddamn halfling chauffeur.”
Cheyenne turned to look at him full-on. He’s serious. “Game on.”
Sir nodded and gave another little grunt. “Smart move, halfling.”
“Hey, while we’re stuck in your car together, anything you can tell me about those bull’s-head pendants?”
The man’s head rocked back in confusion, and he shot her a quick glance. Whatever she might have been able to see in his eyes was hidden by the tinted lenses. “I don’t have a goddamn clue what you’re spoutin’ off about. Didn’t even understand half the shit you two were talking about in there. If you want answers to useless questions, don’t ask the guy who doesn’t do useless.”
Right, like Sir’s been useful for much of anything.
“Didn’t expect you to have an answer.”
“Oh, sure. Just wanna keep up the small talk, huh? You suck at that, just like I suck at emotions.”
Cheyenne took a deep breath. He sounds a lot more desperate, the longer I’m with him. She glanced at the sign for the next exit coming up—just two more before they’d turn off into the business park. Time to shut down drow mode. Think of the woods.
The heat of her drow magic fizzled out in a second, drawing itself back inside her to wait for the next time she needed it. Her purple-gray skin faded back to its unnatural human paleness, the bone-white hair returning to High Voltage Raven Black. She lifted a hand absently to her ears to feel their rounded tops and dropped her forearm back onto the armrest. I can’t wait to get out of this car.
When Sir turned into the huge, empty parking lot, the buckle of Cheyenne’s seatbelt clicked against the side of the car before they’d come to a complete stop. She jerked open the passenger-side door as Sir shifted into park, and he snorted as she leaped out. “You and me both, halfling. Keep the phone—”
The door slammed shut, and Cheyenne walked briskly to the driver’s side of her matte-gray Ford Focus with its chipped and peeling paint. “Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s still on me.”
Sir sped away in his screaming-orange Kia Rio, and the halfling slipped quickly behind the wheel of her car. She took a deep breath to calm herself even further. As soon as she started the car, her personal phone let out a little chirp from inside her jacket pocket. Another text from Ember.
Hey, if you’re awake and not too busy, can you run by my place and pick up more of my things? Since it looks like I’ll be staying here a little longer after all.
Cheyenne smirked and texted back.
No problem. What do you need?
Clothes. Don’t forget the underwear this time. Bathroom stuff. It’s all pretty much in a bag on the counter. A couple of books. Literally, anything stacked on my desk that isn’t for classes. This place has shitty cable, and I’m not about to buy an issue of Good Housekeeping just to have something to read.
Very specific. I’ll try not to screw it up.
Ember sent crazy-face emojis and a heart, followed by, You’re the best. See you soon.
Cheyenne just sent her a thumbs-up and stuck her phone back into her pocket. Then she strapped herself in and got the hell out of the business park.
* * *
It took her about twenty minutes to get back to the north side of Jackson Ward and Ember’s apartment. There weren’t that many people out and about yet, at least in the apartment complex. She walked through the hallway on the ground floor, which was open to the air, and stopped at the last apartment on the left. After squatting to lift the corner of the doormat, she pulled the spare key out from underneath and unlocked the door. First floor. That’ll make things easier when they let her out.
Ember’s apartment was almost the exact opposite of Cheyenne’s because the fae grad student had furniture in her living room, with brightly colored throw pillows and everything. It smelled like lavender hand soap and the Nag Champa incense
