She turned and let out a wry laugh. “Got it. Hey. Thanks for telling me what I wanted to hear.”
“The truth? Sure. Wouldn’t be doing either of us any favors if I didn’t hold onto what I know.” With a final quick smile, Marsil nodded and turned down the hall away from the lobby. He picked at the front of his scrubs and snorted, shaking his head.
Cheyenne made her way toward the clinic’s front doors. At least I know this is a safe place, and that L’zar’s “rebels” have a lot longer fuse than I do.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Two hours later, Cheyenne slipped behind the wheel and closed the door behind her. “How’d it go?”
“Fine, I guess.” Ember stared at her legs and shrugged. “Still couldn’t get these things to move again. I’m guessing it’s one of those ‘activate your paralyzed limbs under duress’ kinda things.”
“But you’ve done it once.” Cheyenne buckled up, turned on the engine, and pulled out of the clinic’s parking lot. “It’ll happen again, Em. And until it does, you’ve got one of the best physical therapists in Virginia working on getting you there the old-fashioned way.”
“You mean, the human way.” The fae chuckled. “Somehow, I can’t see a bunch of O’gúleesh on the other side lining up to get their Western-medicine fix.”
“Yeah. There’s probably a lot more magic involved.”
“Probably.”
They rode in silence for the first half of the drive back to the apartment, then Cheyenne shot her friend a quick glance. “So, what did you and Corian talk about while you guys were waiting for me to stick my foot in my mouth and realize not everyone’s lying to me?”
“A few things.” Ember clenched her fists in her lap and slowly opened them again. “Which I kinda want to talk to you about too.”
“Sure. Corian told me to give him a call when we get home, which probably means he’s got some other weird mission for me to try not to screw up. And he asked if I had the rest of the day free, so whatever it is, I’m guessing it’ll take a while. When I get back, though?”
“Actually,” Ember said, “I don’t think you wanna wait for this.”
Cheyenne did a double-take and frowned. “What did he do?”
“What?”
“I mean, he’s a total asshole sometimes, but I didn’t think he’d screw with your head.”
“He didn’t. He was totally normal and polite. I guess. Made some jokes.”
“Okay, so what happened?”
“He told me a little more about this whole Nós Aní thing.”
“Oh.” Cheyenne sat back in the driver’s seat and loosened her grip on the steering wheel as they rolled up to a red light. “What, like how he’s been L’zar’s for forever? And that should be enough to convince you that the most wanted drow on both sides of the Border isn’t a bad guy, just misunderstood?”
Ember barked out a laugh. “Sort of. He said he might wring L’zar’s neck someday.”
The halfling grinned. “I bet that was cool to hear.”
“I mean, I get it, and I’ve only met the guy once.”
“There’s more, though, isn’t there? Come on, Em. Spit it out.”
“Fine. Okay.” Ember stared at her lap. “Basically, I’m almost your Nós Aní, and he wanted me to know it’s a lifelong thing where we’re bonded to each other by some drow ceremony so we both get superpowered magic, and if I choose to do this, I can’t back out of it somewhere down the road unless one of us dies.”
“What the fuck?”
Ember glanced at the traffic light and pointed. “Light’s green.”
“What did you say to him after that?”
A car honked twice behind them. “Cheyenne, the light!”
“If I keep driving right now, I’m gonna crash this brand-new car.” Cheyenne shifted into park and turned to face her friend. “Did he try to make you agree to this?”
“No, he didn’t try to make me do anything. He said it was totally my choice.”
Two more cars honked and really laid on their horns this time.
“Maybe you should just pull over up at the next street.”
Without looking away from her friend, Cheyenne rolled down the passenger-side window and stuck her hand out to flip the bird at all the drivers losing their minds behind them. Then she punched the emergency lights and raised her eyebrows. “Please tell me you didn’t give him an answer before telling me about this.”
“Well, nothing’s official until whatever ceremony thing happens.”
“Ember.”
“Yes, I gave him an answer. Which was, of course, I’m ready to be your Nós Aní, so let’s do it.”
“No. No way.”
Ember turned to look at the halfling with minor irritation. “See? I knew before I brought this up that you’d be against it if I told you everything. That makes me perfect for it.”
“I didn’t want you dragged into all this.” Cheyenne ran her hand down her cheeks and closed her eyes. “That is why we did the whole thing with the apartment, Em. To keep you safe, not to put you front and center in this whole O’gúl rebellion thing.”
“You didn’t put me anywhere, Cheyenne.” Ember leaned forward and tried to catch her friend’s gaze. “I’m choosing this.”
“I can’t let you do that.” Cheyenne shook her head and chewed the inside of her cheek, unable to look the other girl in the eye. “I let you down once by not standing up when it counted, and I won’t let that happen again.”
“Oh, my God. Come on.” Ember slapped her thigh. “This happened because I got shot by an asshole orc, not because you failed. But if you’re worried about letting me down, I can tell you right now that not stepping up to let me be this for you when it’s what I want is just another form of running away. Maybe worse. You can’t do all this on your own, halfling. I can help you better than anyone else. I mean, yeah, that’s what Corian said, but I
