“And that might’ve been the hunch. But it still doesn’t add up.” Corian spun and paced toward her again. “Fae magic is impossible to trace.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. That’s why you never see one. Or at least, most of us don’t.”
“Well, she hasn’t been fighting anyone recently. I’m positive of that.”
“Fine. It wouldn’t have been her magic anyway.” The nightstalker stopped in front of her and met her gaze. “You haven’t been drawing your friend’s blood and using it for some kind of secret Peridosh trade, right?”
She blinked. “What the hell do you think I do in my spare time?”
“Not that, obviously. I still had to ask.”
Cheyenne turned away from him and ruffled her fingers through her bone-white hair, her chains jingling. “If that thing couldn’t track her magic, are you saying it could still track her blood?”
“Blood doesn’t lie, kid.” Corian swallowed thickly. When she shot him a curious glance, he avoided her gaze and kept walking. “And you’re sure she’s not selling her own blood down in the market? No judgment. I’ve known plenty of fae who’ve built their empires selling blood right from their veins.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. She doesn’t need to do that for money, and that was her first time down there anyway. It was supposed to be fun.”
“Hmm.” He scratched his jaw. “Bit of a shortage of that these days.”
“Of fun? Yeah, remind me to tell you when I find some.” Rolling her eyes, Cheyenne took some determined steps toward the back wall of the warehouse, then paused. “You know what there isn’t a shortage of?”
“Cheyenne, I couldn’t begin to guess.”
She whirled around to face him, and the grim realization in her golden drow eyes made him step back. “Ember’s blood.”
“I thought we just went over that.”
“Yeah, with your stupid ideas. Open a portal.”
His nose wrinkled in irritation. “I’m the one who barks orders at you, kid.”
“Open the goddamn portal, Corian!”
The door to one of the small, square offices behind him shot open and hit the wall with a bang. “Is it really too much to ask for a little peace and quiet? Ever?”
“Cheyenne.” L’zar propped his hands on either side of the doorway and grinned. “For some reason, no one thought it was a good idea to tell me you were here.”
Corian cocked his head when L’zar turned his discerning gaze on his nightstalker second in command. “It was on my to-do list.”
“Tell him to open a portal to my apartment.” Cheyenne jabbed a finger at Corian. “Otherwise, I’m running all the way back to Richmond, and I don’t think I have the time for that.”
L’zar’s grin faded. “What’s she talking about?”
“She hasn’t gotten around to telling me yet, either.”
“Jesus.” Cheyenne smoothed her hair back from her forehead. “We were talking about blood, Corian. Ember spent two weeks in the hospital after she was shot. They took enough samples there to start a whole new blood bank and name it after her.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Your fae friend?” L’zar stepped out of the doorway slowly as if sudden movements would make his daughter explode.
“Ember.” Cheyenne stared at him, fighting to keep herself under control. “That’s her name.” She took off after Corian, who was halfway across the warehouse and headed for the circle of ward stones.
L’zar grimaced and followed them. “I know her name, Cheyenne. I met her this morning. What did she do?”
“Apparently, all she had to do was be my friend. How long is this gonna take?”
Corian grunted, his fingers moving quickly as he muttered the portal spell. “It’s a little more complicated than the regular ‘toss up a hole through space’ kind. We need to make sure no one can follow us back here.”
L’zar cleared his throat. “I know you two have had the luxury of spending a lot of time together over the last few weeks, but I haven’t, so I’d love to know what the fuck is happening right now.”
Cheyenne growled in frustration, but Persh’al saved her from having to reply.
The troll rolled back in his chair and caught L’zar’s attention. “One of the old machines was activated and found Cheyenne in Peridosh. She crushed it, but it caught her signature, and a fun little chat with Lex made them realize the thing was tracking Ember instead of Cheyenne. Programmers assumed they’d be together, they were, and now everyone who’s behind this first wave of war machines knows how to find Cheyenne and how to hit her where it hurts.”
L’zar raised an eyebrow at his friend and dipped his head. “Thank you.”
“Because apparently someone stole a bunch of fae blood from a hospital, and that’s how they’ve been tracking Ember.”
“I heard them work that one out, Persh’al.”
“Right.” The troll nodded curtly, spun back around to face his desk, and got down to some serious typing again.
L’zar turned his gaze to Cheyenne, and a tiny frown flickered across his eyebrows. “Does she mean that much to you?”
I was gonna say that looked like empathy until he opened his stupid mouth. “She’s my best friend. My only friend, for a while, so yeah, she means that much to me. I’ll fight you with everything I have if you tell me I should just let her deal with it herself.”
He eyed her, then looked at Corian.
The nightstalker nodded, and the rest of his portal bloomed into place within the circle of stones. “No one’s leaving Ember to handle this on her own. That isn’t an option.”
“Good. I hope she doesn’t need us.” Without another word, Cheyenne stepped over the ring of stones and headed through the portal leading into her living room.
Corian and L’zar shared glances, which were cut off by the nightstalker disappearing through the portal behind the halfling.
The portal closed almost immediately. L’zar hissed, stalked the two yards toward the couch, and roared in frustration. He sent his foot crashing into the side of the sunken brown couch, and it flew across the warehouse with a screech and the sharp crack of snapping wood. The couch hit the back wall in a puff
