“So, it made him lose his mind?”
“Pretty much.” The general pushed her rolled sleeves even higher, then stopped fidgeting with them and folded her arms instead. “That and paying the Sorren Gán another visit. The way I heard it, his first meeting with that thing took him as close to the brink of madness as he’s ever been without falling off the edge.”
“Yeah.” Cheyenne glared at the corner around which L’zar had disappeared, fighting the urge to run after him when another flashing burst of red light flickered against the stone walls. “That’s the way I heard it too.”
“From him?”
The halfling shrugged. “It was a weird conversation.”
“I’m sure. Two maddening endeavors in the last two days, kid. I’d say he pulled himself together a hell of a lot better than the rest of us expected. He wanted to make sure everything went as planned in Hangivol, which it did. For the most part.” Maleshi gestured toward the blood splatter, chunks of broken stone, and crushed metal crates strewn across the courtyard. “All this? Well, this is how L’zar Verdys made a reputation for himself in the very beginning.”
Cheyenne snorted. “As a drunken asshole?”
“Yep.”
“I couldn’t care less about his reputation, Maleshi. He needs to pull himself together before we head out to find this other drow.”
The general leaned toward her, her close-lipped smile barely growing. “You mean, your cousin?”
“You know what? Let’s stick to calling him the secret prince or something, okay?” Cheyenne rolled her eyes when Maleshi chuckled. “I’m not looking to strengthen my familyties over here right now, especially when I’m already dealing with L’zar.”
“I imagine he feels very much the same way, kid.”
“Whatever he’s feeling, he needs to work that out too and fast. A fighting, pissed-off, wasted L’zar Verdys trying to talk his recently discovered nephew into helping us doesn’t build a lot of confidence.”
Maleshi raised an eyebrow and dipped her head. “Neither does a daughter who loses her faith in him.”
Cheyenne scoffed and turned toward the arch in the courtyard that led into the building holding their guest quarters. Shadows played along the wall in the tunnel, growing closer with the echo of half a dozen pairs of footsteps and the telltale click of Foltr’s staff smacking the stone floor. “Kinda hard to lose faith when I didn’t have any to begin with. But if he can prove me wrong, I won’t say I’m not open to the possibility.”
Maleshi chuckled. “What a compromise.”
The sharp retort that hadn’t fully formed on Cheyenne’s tongue disappeared when the raug chief stepped through the arch into the courtyard, followed by five of his hulking guards. Foltr trailed after them, the old raug’s shoulders hunched as he slowly walked along with a deep frown, leaning on his staff for support.
Cazerel eyed the bloody stone floor, took a deep sniff, and turned toward Maleshi and Cheyenne. “I would ask if you and your party are prepared to set out, but something tells me you’ve been held up.”
“Not quite.” Maleshi gave the raug chief a respectful bow of the head and ignored the gray-skinned magicals behind him, who still didn’t bother to hide their disdain for General Maleshi Hi’et taking refuge in their city.
Cheyenne had no problem eyeing the raugs right back, those who were sober and stoic and way more prepared to set out on the journey that lay ahead of them. Even the ones coming with us hate her. This will be a fun trip.
“Make it quick, then. Our supplies are ready and waiting for us at the gates. Gather the rest of your party. We’ll wait for you there.’
“We’ll be there shortly, Zokrí.”
A raug guard snarled at the general’s use of that moniker for their chief. Maleshi met his gaze without any expression, and Cazerel thumped a hand against his guard’s chest to pull him out of the staring contest. “We leave in ten minutes, General. With or without the rest of you.”
With another glance around the destroyed courtyard, Cazerel snorted and took off toward the open streets in the same direction as L’zar.
Cheyenne said, “Ten minutes for us, but I bet he’d wait all day for Ember if she needed it.”
“He does seem oddly fond of her, doesn’t he?” Maleshi shrugged. “Guess I would be too if she drew that poison out of me.”
Foltr turned away from the raug chief’s disappearing procession, eyed the general, and snorted. “And you seem oddly fond of wearing clothes that don’t belong to you.”
She lifted her chin and shot the old raug a sidelong glance. “With all due respect, Grandfather, that’s none of your business, either.”
“I should say not. But you’re the one standing here like that for everyone to see.” When the general didn’t move or open her mouth to retort, the old raug snorted again. “Whatever it is, Hi’et, settle it before L’zar clears his head. I can smell the liquor in his blood from here.” Foltr shot Cheyenne another glance and nodded. “Eight minutes now.” He cracked the end of his staff on the stone and went after Cazerel and his hulking raug entourage toward Hirúl Breach’s front gates.
Cheyenne ran a hand through her hair. “Weird way to start a quest for the Crown’s secret kid.”
“Agreed. Better hurry.”
“I’m already—”
Maleshi disappeared in a flash of silver light without a real end to the conversation.
“—packed.” The halfling rolled her eyes and looked up at the open balcony of the main room she shared with Ember.
The fae girl stared down at her with luminous purple eyes, her arms folded as she sat motionlessly in the crawler.
Cheyenne spread her arms. “What?”
Ember merely tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, okay. I’m coming.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Got everything?” Cheyenne slung her backpack over her shoulder and stopped at the wooden door to their guest quarters. When she glanced over her shoulder, she found Ember grimacing at her.
“Right now, I’m pretty sure the only thing I need is this
