Corian blinked heavily and leaned far back in his chair, scanning the chamber. “I know she was with us.”
The halfling caught Maleshi’s gaze, and the general shook her head. “Wasn’t the Golra, kid. You can relax.”
Corian asked, “How the hell do we lose one of our own that size? She was right.”
A furious bellow burst into the chamber, followed by a laughing L’zar being thrown across the room through one of the open arches. Thunderous footsteps followed as the drow scrambled to his feet and smoothed back his hair. Nu’ek’s broad shoulders tufted with red fur squeezed through the archway, followed by her massive head and the two horns protruding from her long red hair. She snorted and stomped toward L’zar, fists clenched at her sides. The bat-like wings that looked so strange on a creature her size stretched to their full span, sending a buffeting wind across the bunker’s main room that spilled as many drinks as the rebels had been tossing all over themselves.
“I’m just playing, you overgrown bat.” Grinning, L’zar stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “I’d tell you to work on your anger issues, but you’ve already made considerable improvement.”
“You are my anger issue, drow.” Nu’ek loomed over him and stabbed a huge, claw-tipped finger into his chest. “My quarters are off-limits, and I don’t care if I’m lying dead in them. Got it?”
“Well, now I do.” Laughing, L’zar turned back toward the table, his mischievous air back in full swing. “Touchy.”
“What the hell is that?” Ember muttered, staring at Nu’ek’s hulking form as the Golra brushed dirt, plaster, metal parts, and dried blood off the front of her leather vest.
Cheyenne grinned and pushed herself up from the table. “Come on. I like this Golra, and I’m pretty sure she likes me. I’ll introduce you.”
“Pretty sure?” Ember floated out of her chair and moved hesitantly behind the halfling.
“Yeah. I mean, hey. Compared to L’zar, I’m like the tame drow everybody appreciates.”
Ember snorted. “Wonderful.”
Nu’ek saw them approaching and jerked her chin at Cheyenne. Folding her wings behind her back, she gazed across the chamber and scowled. “Sakrit! You said you were prepared.”
“I am!” The ogre laughed and headed for his secret pantry of O’gúl alcohol. “You take so damn long doing whatever it is you do after a fight. I never know when you’re ready to show up.”
“The only thing you need to know is that I’m here and need a drink.” Nu’ek glared at the ogre until he shot her a rude gesture. Then she laughed and turned her attention to Cheyenne. “Well done, halfling. You returned to do the impossible.”
“I didn’t do it all by myself.” Cheyenne smiled up at the huge Golra and stuck a thumb out toward Ember. “This is Ember.”
“A pleasure. Not many fae come down into these tunnels.”
Ember’s eyes widened, and she chuckled in disbelief. “Yeah, I’m not sure many fae become a drow’s Nós Aní and suddenly have the magic they thought they were born without, so it’s a day of firsts for everyone.”
Nu’ek laughed deeply and nodded. “A good day. Excuse me. I think Sakrit needs a good reminder of how easy it would be for me to rip his head off his shoulders if he doesn’t hurry up with my refreshments.” The Golra stomped toward the ogre, pretending to ignore the cheers from the other rebels she passed.
“That is one seriously gigantic magical,” Ember whispered.
“Not even the biggest I’ve seen on this side, Em, but yeah. She’s pretty big.”
L’zar stepped up behind his daughter and the fae girl and bent toward the space between them to mutter, “And a thousand times more reliable than the scurrying little bastards you can’t keep tabs on no matter how hard you try.”
Cheyenne stepped away from him and shot him a deadpan stare. “Were you planning on telling me I might have to fight your sister if she refuses our so-called terms?”
“Oh. Not necessarily.”
“Come on, L’zar. Can we cut through all this bullshit of what not to tell Cheyenne unless she calls everyone out on it?” His daughter frowned at him.
He laughed and shrugged, his hands still in his pockets. “There are so many other immediate things to think about right now, it honestly slipped my mind.”
“Oh, yeah? It slipped your mind that I might have to fight her to the death, and if I end up losing, the rest of you are screwed?”
“That won’t happen.” L’zar grinned and set a hand on her shoulder, squeezing tightly. “My daughter slapped her coin down on that altar without lifting a finger. She’s got a hell of a lot more up her sleeve.”
“She also thinks it’s stupid to talk about her in the third person.”
Chuckling, he let go of her shoulder and gestured around. “Just in case anyone else was listening.”
“I doubt it. Me almost getting my ass handed to me in that courtyard is hardly as exciting as all the drinking going on.”
L’zar’s smile faded. “The forces that met you when you threw yourself over the edge of that balcony into the Heart did not belong to Ba’rael. Not her magic. That was everyone she’s been feeding off of for centuries. If you end up having to fight, it’ll be your power against hers. Only hers. You could take her with one hand tied behind your back.”
“And you can’t?”
“That’s not how this works, Cheyenne. My time has passed. I’m freely handing it all over to you, and I will find that perfect combination of offer and pressure to make my sister step down off her decomposing pedestal. She can’t do anything for two weeks. That’s more than enough time to find her weak spot.”
“You say that like you know she has one.”
“Everyone does. Even you.” L’zar spread his arms and shot her a mocking wink as he turned away to join the raucous party again. “Even me.”
“It better not take longer than two weeks.”
“You might not believe it, but I work best under pressure.”
