Page 28 of Warrioress

“No?” Her smile widened. “Are you quite certain of that? Because it looks to me like you’ve been up to no good.”

Ava gave another desperate shake of her head, and Uma gradually shifted her hand lower so that she held her pinned lightly by the throat. Not hard enough to bruise or interfere with her breathing, but enough to keep her from going anywhere without Uma’s express consent.

“I swear,” Ava gasped. “My... my cousin was just talking to me, nothing more. I promise you. It meant nothing. I admit that I have been a bit annoyed lately with the triad for throwing their weight around on my block, but I wouldn’t do anything to them. I am just happy to see them go.”

Uma ran a finger along Ava’s cheek as she considered her words. “So you didn’t hear that this triad was poisoned?”

Ava licked her lips and shook her head as the color drained out of her face. What a little liar. Uma fought to keep her lips from twitching. She knew. She may not have been directly involved, but she knew.

“I... I wouldn’t say that I’d be sorry,” Ava stammered. “They have been a pain in the ass since they showed up and obviously didn’t know their place enough to show proper respect to my authority as a warder. But as to their poisoning, I had nothing to do with it. Besides, they told me they were leaving as soon as their lead was recovered enough to travel. Why would make a scene now?”

Why indeed but to cause attention? Uma narrowed her eyes on the woman, her expression turning chilly. If Ava were involved, even afterward, she wouldn’t have called any attention to a conflict between herself and the Ragoru while one of their males was obviously very sick. No official reports had been filed, not even from Ava after clearly being aware of the situation. This meant that she didn’t want word to reach the guild or higher ups regarding what was going on. She was covering for someone. Perhaps even biding her time, waiting to see if the male would die before she moved in for the kill. And wouldn’t this be the perfect moment to bring the full weight of the citadel’s authority down on the Ragoru if she drew the males out into an ugly confrontation with dozens of witnesses?

Uma gave her a hard smile and patted her cheek harder, making certain that it stung as she watched Ava’s every flinch.

“If that is the case, then mind your manners and go say farewell properly,” Uma instructed as she yanked the warder away from the wall and shoved her out into the street. “And remember that I will be right here watching.”

Ava stumbled back as she rubbed her throat, her eyes dark with anger, but she nodded quickly before whirling around to head toward the wagon where Betani was finally getting settled with her children and mates. Uma crossed her arms over her chest as she watched with a smile, wonderfully entertained as Ava was forced to stop a short distance away to keep her face from being chewed off. The woman’s body language and expression spoke volumes of her anger as she was forced to stand impotently by and watch as the wagon finally pulled away.

Uma dragged in a deep, satisfied breath and nodded. It was a pity that she hadn’t caught the culprit of the poisoning before Betani left with her mates, but it was just as well. They were getting a clean start somewhere else. They didn’t need any shadows of a new potential threat from the citadel following them.

Shoving her hands lazily into her pockets, Uma turned and a smile broke over her face as three large Ragoru stood at the ready in front of her while one small human man was held up off the ground, the tips of his shoes not even grazing the street as he dangled in Vrin’s grasp.

The man’s face turned red, and now that she was getting a better look, she would put good odds that he was indeed the server from the tavern. He matched the description perfectly.

“You can’t do this to me,” he sputtered. “This is against the law. I haven’t done anything wrong. I will file charges. I will take the complaint straight to the Council if I cannot get satisfaction from the guild. I will—”

“Shut up,” Vrin growled, and Kam laughed at his side before turning to her with a broad smile.

“He talks far too much, and all of it threats he has no hope of accomplishing, but I am assuming that you wanted him, yes?” Kam inquired cheerfully, and Uma nodded, her own smile widening further in response.

“Oh yes,” she agreed with a dark chuckle. “Let’s escort him back to the station for a moment before we leave, shall we?”

She didn’t have time to get her answers now, but she would see to it that he was held indefinitely if needed to make sure that she got her answers from him when she returned.

Chapter 21

Laro loomed behind Uma, his fur bristling to make himself seem even larger and more intimidating as the human male anxiously glanced over at him, repeatedly. It was one of the few times he did not mind the fact that his hideous scars inspired fear.

Although the human was clearly inferior compared to his captain, he did not trust him to not do something stupid in a moment of desperation. Even a rog would fight to kill if cornered, fearful and desperate to save their own life. He did not even wish to wager what this human might attempt to do to Uma in order to escape the station.

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and the male flinched. Given that he was determined to live a peaceful existence among humans, that should not have pleased him as much as it did, but at least the male’s mouth was no longer moving. In fact, not much of him was moving at all since the guardswomen had his hands chained and shoved into a chair. A clever male could still improvise for the attack—a smart male, however, would start talking—and quickly before Laro, or worse, Vrin, whose temper seemed to be fraying by the moment judging by the ferocity of his snarl, lost his patience.

Truthfully, if not for Vrin, he would not mind the male resisting just a little to give him a reason to teach the male some respect for his captain. But Vrin... Laro sighed inwardly. While Kam was, as usual, the dubious picture of good humor, Vrin was more likely to cause an incident that would get them killed on the spot before they ever had a chance to escape the citadel with Uma.

He mentally paused over that, his ear flicking. He had not thought too closely about it since his focus had been on getting through the Withering Days—but leaving was a better reward than he imagined, all because they would have Uma with them. Out in the border lands, she would be free from her responsibilities within the citadel—free to experience a new way of living that he and his triad could show her. They would offer a glimpse of a future she had likely never imagined, and if she agreed to be theirs, out there no one would be able to take her from them.

And they could already be far from the citadel by now if it were not for coming across the miserable little male and the warder. He bared his teeth reflexively, and the worm flinched and shrank into his seat at the sight of Laro’s fangs. Uma’s head turned his way, however, and Laro immediately resumed a neutral expression as he met her gaze. Her brows raised slightly but he could almost see her internal shrug as her shoulders twitched and she turned back to the male. She lifted two fingers toward the guardswoman she called Katiera, who nodded in turn and lifted a small metal stick to set the tip on a small collection of paper that humans seemed to collect obsessively by his observation.

“Name?” She squinted at him. “And I would suggest not lying to me. We have Ragoru here, and they can sniff out lies.”

She glanced over at Laro, seeking affirmation and he merely blinked at her for a moment, caught by surprise. While it was true that particularly nervous individuals could give away their thoughts with changes in body scent, it was not as common as she seemed to think. Or she was simply trying to scare the male into telling her the truth. Settling on the latter, he inclined his head, and she turned a sharp smile on the human who appeared to look even unhappier and more nervous.

“You see? And he really isn’t the sort you want to lie to if you want to keep all your limbs attached and the features of your face in the right place,” she added in such a matter-of-fact voice that Laro just barely refrained from scoffing.

Thankfully his brothers had the discipline to maintain an unaffected appearance as well so that he did not have to worry about them giving away the game. At best the corner of Kam’s mouth twitched faintly and Vrin’s brow over his right secondary eye climbed slightly in reaction. It was noticeable enough to Laro since, as lead, he always paid close attention to the shifts in mood among his triad, but it was obvious that it was far too subtle for the human to pick up on. The male’s expression turned sour, but his reluctant sigh was the sound of their impending victory over him.

“Adrin Meril,” he grumbled.

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